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Vermont Commons is a print journal and online forum for exploring the idea of Vermont independence – political, economic, social, and spiritual. We welcome your letters, thoughts, and participation.
Issue 30 - Summer 2009
SUMMER '09 EDITORIAL: Minting New Vermont Patriots (Rick Foley)
On Monday, May 11, 2009, at UVM’s Dudley Davis Center, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders stood up in front of close to 500 Vermonters at the “Summit on the Future of Vermont” conference and stated: “I know there are some Vermonters who believe we should secede from the Union.”
Brushing aside the sporadic cheering, Bernie launched into the argument that Vermont might become a national leader on – you guessed it – Bernie’s litany of cure-alls: single-payer health care, green economy, and communications/transportation revolution, for starters.
SUMMER '09 BOOK REVIEW: Woden Teachout's Capture The Flag - A Political History of American Patriotism (Rob Williams)
Three times a year without fail when I was a kid – Labor Day, Independence Day, and Memorial Day - my dad would hang a large American flag from a portable wooden pole off of the wrought iron banister of our suburban front porch in a little town 1 hour north of New York City.
Keith Brunner: Leaving The Empire - In Defense Of Vermont Independence (PAGE ONE)
“Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of [Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness], it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
The Declaration of Independence, 1776
Bill Morancy: Leaving The Big Top - What Circus Smirkus Teaches Us About Secession (FEATURE)
I moved to Vermont several years ago after having spent four summers here in the mid ‘90s. I came to escape the overcrowded summer conditions on Martha's Vineyard, which had been my home for some 25 years. I found the relief from stress I was looking for and also discovered a place filled with sensible, decent folk.
Carl Etnier: Transition Times - White River Junction Makes Change Fun (TRANSITION TOWNS column)
The Transition Town movement is growing quickly in Vermont. By my count, 14* cities or towns have adopted the “Transition Town” moniker, even if they’re just taking the first steps. And Transition Town Montpelier made national news in May, with the nation’s first vegetable garden at a State House or Capitol. We’re just beginning the Transition from oil dependency to community resilience, but we’re moving!
Adrian Kuzminski: Vermont - The First Populist Republic (FEATURE)
Few Americans are aware that Vermont, the fourteenth state admitted to the Union in 1791, was not a colony like the others; it was a pre-existing independent republic spontaneously created by its residents who rejected the authority of neighboring colonies, particularly New York which had the strongest claim to its territory.
Robin McDermott: Good-Bye to Rural Vermont’s Exceptional Leader, Amy Shollenberger (LOCALVORE LIVING column)
Something that comes as a surprise to many people when they start getting interested in local foods is the state and federal barriers that prevent Vermonters from becoming less dependent on the industrial food system. Even more shocking is the fact that many Vermont laws around food are much stricter than those at the federal level.
VERMONT VOX POPULI: Carolyn Baker "Crosses the Rubicon" With Author Michael Ruppert (INTERVIEW)
Carolyn Baker: Mike, I want to thank you for taking time out of your incredibly busy schedule to answer these questions for Vermont Commons. Many of our readers are familiar with you and read From The Wilderness during the years it was being published from 1998-2006.
Tyler Wilkinson-Ray: What Are Young Vermont Farmers Reading This Summer? (FREE VERMONT MEDIA column)
Agriculture has long been at the heart of Vermont’s identity. The logging, potash, and charcoal industries went to work on Vermont’s forests soon after statehood, and by 1890 80 percent of Vermont’s landscape was cleared.
Ron Miller: A Holistic Perspective on Education (EDUCATION BY DESIGN column)
What do educational alternatives bring to the arena of public policy? At first glance, taxpayers, legislators, and those who work in public education would seem to have little reason to consider the relevance of homeschooling or independent schools. Let a small minority choose those options and pay for them, they might say; it is the public schools that serve the needs of our communities and most of our young people.
Ben Falk: Homestead Security: Post-Oil Land Use, And The “Other” 90 Percent of Vermont’s Landscape (HOMESTEAD SECURITY column)
One Unit of Production for 9 Units of Consumption
The Greenneck: On Concussions, Motorcycles, and Responsibilities (GN column)
He’s still a wee foggy, having only two days ago come detached from his motorcycle at a fair rate of speed, necessitating a night in the hospital with the fat, clucking nurse shining a flashlight into his eyes at two-hour intervals. Pleasant.
But then, he couldn’t remember the name of his second-born, nor could he come up with the proper word for the wide sail of fabric they’d gently tucked around his shredded skin (blanket! Yes! That’s it!). So he supposes he got pretty much what he deserved.
Frank Joseph Smecker: Crafting a New Praxis - The Art of Excoriating Technology For the Sake of the Natural (FEATURE)
It is imperative, when acting from one’s ethical sensibilities, or hankering for conditional propitiousness, to remain grounded in craftsmanship.
CALLING ALL VERMONT MUSICIANS: "Free Vermont Radio" Is Now Launched!
Send us your music and we'll mix you into the online rotation.Spread the word!
Free Vermont Radio
Attn: Artist Submissions
P.O. Box 28
East St. Johnsbury Vermont 05838
[img_assist|nid=2171|title=Free Vermont Radio.|desc=|link=node|align=center|width=640|height=160]
Thomas Naylor: Vermont Patriots - Alternative To Empire (VERMONT LIBRE column)
What do Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Bernie Sanders, Mitch McConnell, Howard Dean, Jim Douglas, Keith Olbermann, Bill O’Reilly, Rachel Maddow, and Ann Coulter all have in common?
They are all loyal to the U.S. Empire – the largest, wealthiest, most powerful, most militaristic, and arguably most violent empire of all time.
Kirpatrick Sale: Is Secession Talk a Sign of a Human-Scale Alternative? (DISPERSIONS Column)
Nearly 30 years ago I wrote in a book that Western civilization was at “a momentous turning point” as it came to the close of the modern era (1500-2000) and that future historians might well mark “a new age beginning somewhere within our lifetimes.”
SUMMER '09 BOOK REVIEW: Rowan Jacobsen's Fruitless Fall-The Collapse of The Honey Bee... (John Maclean)
Editor's Note: Vermont author Rowan Jacobsen has written a profound book for our times. Vermonters, fire up your apiaries!