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James Howard Kunstler, author of the book about Peak Oil The Long Emergency,
will be the keynote speaker at The
Vermont Convention on Independence to be held in the House Chamber of the
State House in Montpelier, VT on Friday, October 28th, 2005. Sponsored by the
Second Vermont Republic,
the convention, which will begin at 9 am and conclude at 5 pm, is open to the
public and free of charge. This historic event will be the first statewide
convention on secession in the United States since North Carolina voted to secede
from the Union on May 20, 1861.
Organizers of the convention say it has two objectives: First, to raise
the level of awareness of Vermonters of the feasibility of independence as a
viable alternative to a nation which has lost its moral authority and is unsustainable.
And second, to provide an example and a process for other states and nations
which may be seriously considering separatism, secession, independence, and
similar devolutionary strategies. The Second
Vermont Republic describes itself as "a peaceful, democratic,
grassroots, libertarian populist movement committed to the return of Vermont
to its status as an independent republic as it once was between 1777 and 1791."
Earlier this year, Vermont secession activists published their opening salvo,
the Middlebury
Institute Letter. It declared: "We believe that, of the options
open to those who would dissent from the actions and institutions of a government
grown too big and unwieldy and its handmaiden corporate sponsors grown too powerful
and corrupt, the only comprehensive and practical one is some form
of separatism. Exploring this option is not a step to be taken lightly,
because there are established forces that will hamper and resist, and yet it
is a legal and viable enterprise, squarely in the American tradition...
"Moreover, the accumulating signs point to a series of major crises
that will seriously disrupt and may even destroy the American system in the
near future. These include economic disruptions in the wake of global
“peak oil” production before 2010, deterioration
of the power of the dollar through mounting and uncontrollable national
debt and trade imbalances, continued degradation of vital ecosystems
on which the nation depends, climate change and severe weather
causing widespread devastation of coastal areas, extended use of military
force worldwide leading to increased terrorism and the reinstitution
of the draft, [and] judicial takeovers at the Federal level
by rightwing ideologues capable of altering fundamental legal rights... Those
who want to absent and cushion themselves from suchlike devastations would reasonably
want to explore ways of removing their communities and regions from dangerous
national political and economic mechanisms that are incapable of reform."
Read the
complete Middlebury Institute Letter
Go to Original Article >>>
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