Journal
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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 26 - Stick Season 2008
EDITORIAL: V for Vermont - Vanishing the U.S. Empire, Visualizing the Vermont Republic
The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public
debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered
and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed
lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance. - Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 B.C. –
People should not fear their governments. Governments should fear their people.
- V for Vendetta, 2005 -
Chris Martenson: The U.S. Government’s Bankster Bailout - The Greatest Looting Observation In History
Author’s note: I had planned to write a follow-up to Exponential Money in a Finite World (published in Vermont Commons,
Fall 2008), where I would continue to make the case that our financial
system is incompatible with reality and is due either for collapse or a
major overhaul over the next 20 years – max. National events have
obviously overtaken the publication schedule, so I will instead focus
on the recent bailout and what this means to each of us over the next
one-to-two years.
Christopher Ketcham: America's Secession Streak In Fine Fettle
Editor’s note: Christopher Ketcham contributes to GQ, Vanity Fair, Harper's and many online publications. He is writing a book on American secessionism. This letter first appeared in the Los Angeles Times on September 10, 2008, and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.Editor, Vermont Commons:
Sarah Palin's secessionist sympathies sparked minor hysteria last week.
Gary Beckwith: Electile Dysfunction? Vermont’s Vulnerable Election System
To learn more, get involved, receive a free newsletter, and to sign a
petition calling for random audits in Vermont, visit the Vermonters for
Voting Integrity website.
Begin by asking yourself this simple question: Who counts the votes?
Gaelan Brown Interviews Sun Systems' Marc DiMario: Sun Is Number One, and Wood Is Good (Energy Solutions for a 21st C. Vermont)
The following interview considers the feasibility of wood being a
primary heating-fuel source for Vermont. New wood stove technology,
combined with sustainable forestry, offers a real opportunity for
Vermont to become more energy independent. According to the Vermont
Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, Vermont’s landmass is 78
percent forest with 4.5 million acres of woodland and an average of 26
cord of standing wood per acre, for 117 million cord of total standing
wood.
Amy Kirschner: Sense Beyond The Dollar - A Primer On Local Currencies
"Money alone sets all the world in motion."
- Publius Syrus, 42 B. C.
“Yet habit -- strange thing! What cannot habit accomplish?”
So wrote Herman Melville in his epic novel Moby-Dick. More than 150
years later his face would appear on currency near his home in
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and his quote would become relevant not only
for describing a captain in search of an elusive whale, but also for a
group of citizens searching for an elusive economic vision.
Robin McDermott: What The Tomatoes Tell Us About Growing Locally
Damn it!
Our tomato crop is way down this year from
last. In 2007 our garden produced more than 230 pounds of
tomatoes that we canned, dried and froze, and enjoyed all the way up
through the middle of July of this year. But with less than a
measly 125 pounds from this year’s garden, I was starting to
panic. How would I fill the gap? Would I have to resort to
buying canned tomatoes in the grocery store?
Thomas Naylor: If At First You Don’t Secede: Or – Why Secession Is Still a Tough Sell in Vermont And Beyond (Part 2)
Even though 77 percent of the eligible voters in Vermont believe the U.S. government has lost its moral authority and 49 percent think the United States has become unsustainable politically, economically, militarily, and environmentally, only 11.5 percent are in favor of Vermont seceding from the Union and becoming an independent republic. Secession is one of the few subjects about which liberals and conservatives agree: it is an anathema.
Bill McKibben: Secession (Book Review)
Secession: How Vermont and All the Other States Can Save Themselves from the Empire
By Thomas Naylor
Feral House, 119 pages, $12
The Greenneck: Musings on the Meltdown
He writes this in the midst of the so-called debate over the so-called plan to bailout the Wall Street financial institutions mired in a demise of their own making. By now, the bailout will have long passed, and the heavy, sinking truth of its failure might well be rearing its tragic head. Recession. Depression. Whatever it is, it’s going to hurt, and he’ll feel it, too.
Kirkpatrick Sale: Push-Pull - The Third North American Secession Convention
This November the Middlebury Institute will convene the Third North American Secessionist Convention, in Manchester, New Hampshire – and when you think about it, that’s quite an amazing thing to say.
For the third time in modern history, delegates from some two dozen secessionist groups will meet to discuss strategy, trade information, and promote the disintegration of the nation, along with maybe 30 or 40 observers who want to see what’s going on in the secessionist movement and figure out how they might join in.
