NON PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID MORETOWN, VT Vermontwww.vtcommons.org CommonsNumber 20 |Fall 2007 PERMIT NO. 9 VOICES OF INDEPENDENCE “A Gem — literate, thought- U.S. Out of Vermont provoking, radical.” Orion magazine Eat Locally: Growing A The New England Vermont Commons is a print and online forum for exploring the idea of Vermont independence—politi- Statewide Localvore Secession Tradition cal, economic, social, and spiritual. We are unaffili- ated with any other organization or media, and inter- Movement PART III ested in all points of view. We welcome your letters, thoughts, and participation. By Robin McDermott By Donald W. Livingston IN THIS ISSUE t was two years ago this past August that a small In this issue we present the final installment of Profes- Igroup of women in the Upper Valley (the White sor Livingston’s three-part series discussing the roots of 1 Growing A Statewide Localvore River Junction/Hanover NH area) decided they a New England secession tradition. Readers can find Movement, by Robin McDermott would try eating only local food for the month of Parts 1 and 2 in the Spring 2007 and Summer 2007 1 The New England Secession Tradition, August. Inspired by a group who were doing issues of Vermont Commons, or on the web. Part III, by Donald Livingston something similar in San Francisco who called 2 Long Live The ‘Untied States,’ Editorial themselves Locavores, the Upper Valley women he Convention of 1814-1815. This decade- 3 Letter to the Editor decided to call themselves Localvores (with an “l” Tlong movement was not a revolution, but a 5 The Great Hydropower Heist; How in local) and started a food movement that has lawful action legitimated by the Constitution. Corporations Colonized our Watershed changed the way Vermonters are eating in just How so? As Jefferson and Madison taught, the Commons, Part II, by Richard Foley two short years. Last summer, it is estimated that Constitution is a The first serious secession move- 6 Vermont Vox Populi: An Interview with more than 1,000 people across the state of Ver- ment began in New England in 1804 and culmi- Filmmakers Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller mont took the EAT LOCAL Challenge. While this nated in the Hartford compact ratified by sover- 8 Secession’s Arrival in the Blogosphere; year’s numbers are not yet in, the Localvore group eign states. As a sovereign party to the compact, Notes from the Middlebury Institute, in Burlington is predicting 1,000 participants in each state has the right and duty to protect its cit- by Kirkpatrick Sale their area alone. New Localvore groups have izens from an unconstitutional act of the central 10 The Food Less Traveled, by Enid sprung up across the state and range from large government by nullifying it, thereby forcing a Wonnacott groups in Burlington, Montpelier, Rutland, and decision by the other sovereigns on the constitu- 12 Leaving an Imprint, The Greenneck Brattleboro, to groups of just a handful of partici- tionality of the act. And as a last resort, a state can 13 The Virtues of Local Bookstores and pants in smaller towns like Brookfield. secede from the Union. This constitutional right Businesses, by Christopher Morrow continued on page 4 continued on page 20 22 Endgame Trilogy: Peak Oil, Global Warming, and Terrorism, by Thomas Naylor 24 BREAKING NEWS! U.S. Not the Great- est, by Kirkpatrick Sale FALL ON THE WEB • John Dowlin on “State of Emergency: Bringing Home the VT National Guard” • Carl Etnier on “Peak Oil: Vermont’s Virtual Planning Forum • Don Livingston’s “New England Secession Tradition:” – Downloadable PDF • Your cards and letters • NEW! “U.S. Out Of Vermont” T-shirts Join the Conversation: www.vtcommons.org to subscribe to our free electronic newsletter, contact [email protected] Road Food: September saw dozens of signs sprouting up along central Vermont's Route 100, urging Vermonters to take the Localvore Challenge. CREDIT: ROB WILLIAMS 2 VERMONT COMMONS SUMMER 2007 Editorial U.S. Out Of Vermont: Long Live the “Untied States” ast June, the Associated Press’ Vermont from a state that has willingly sent its own sons between the captains of D.C.’s beltway and the LBureau ran a news story entitled “Vermont (and now daughters, too, in the Iraqi desert and captains of industry. Independence Movement Gains Traction.” Picked Afghani mountains) to fight and die on behalf of What’s hot now, in our globalized 21st century up by the national news wire, the article, written America since the independent republic of Ver- world, is what author Naomi Klein refers to (in by Bureau Chief John Curran, made its way mont joined the United States in 1791? her new book) as The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of around the world via the Internet, prompting Perhaps the citizens of Vermont, along with the Disaster Capitalism – simply stated, the “shock and words of encouragement and ridicule, condemna- rest of the world, are beginning to realize that the awe” creation of stupendous profits by the very tion and support, from citizens all over the world. United States is no longer the democratic republic few through exploiting the misery of the many. And at Montpelier’s Riverwalk Records on State it once was. This includes war-making and counter-“terror- Street, one of the season’s hottest-selling items Indeed, as Americans, we are now citizens of an ism” efforts (increasingly confused as the same became a simple black T-shirt reading “U.S. Out Empire ruled by an ever-more-powerful thing), and the profiting from other disasters: real Of Vermont.” Despite the steep price – $20 each – military/industrial/media/energy complex. (Katrina), imagined (Avian Flu), or manufactured the store sold more than 500 of them this past And the problem, the tragedy, of the United (9/11). summer alone. States is one of scale. We are simply too BIG. This is what the U.S., as an Empire, has become, “U.S. Out Of Vermont.” How to explain the We are a nation where each member of our as we enter the 21st century. popularity of such sentiment? House of Representatives is supposed to represent And no amount of big-heartedness, generosity, Some of the energy is faddish, no doubt, while more than 635,000 individual citizens. We are a or good will – qualities that actual working Amer- other left-leaning Bush-bashers reflexively point country where even state and local elections are icans of all political stripes possess in spades – will to, as a primary cause, the past seven years of now (mostly) conducted via computerized touch turn the ship of Empire away from a rendezvous “King George” and Vice Resident Cheney’s Belt- screens controlled by proprietary corporate com- with destiny, in the form of climate change, global way reign. puter codes. We live in a surveillance state, where Peak Oil, an endless war (“on terror”), global But “U.S. Out Of Vermont”? This from a state all of our daily transactions are increasingly mon- financial meltdown, and the fruitless (though very that has enthusiastically contributed, to the rest of itored, collected, and stored by a faceless few profitable, for some) pursuit of an imperial policy the country, Ethan Allen’s defiance, John Deere’s whose identities we seldom know. We move in the of “full-spectrum dominance” – America the plow, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, Robert Frost’s midst of what former Bush I HUD regulator Colossus attempting to bestride the entire world, poetry, Joseph Bentley’s science, Grace Potter’s Catherine Austin Fitts, writing for Vermont Com- and (no joke) outer space, too. music, John Dewey’s pedagogy, and more pancake mons (Summer 2006), calls an imperial “tapeworm Unless. syrup than you can shake a maple limb at? This economy,” a system created by an unholy alliance Unless we “untie” the United States. U.S. out of Vermont. And Kansas. And Florida. And Mississippi. And Ohio. And California. Contributors Indeed, citizen movements in no fewer than 25 other states are exploring secession. Vermont is Keith Davidson is a cartoonist, musician, and handyman who lives in Vermont’s Mad River Valley, not alone here. where he tends bar at American Flatbread restaurant. The “Untied States.” Erik Esckilsen lives in Burlington, where he teaches college writing and writes novels for young But where do we start? readers, short fiction, and screenplays. We start where we live. And work. And play. We’ve been exploring this question for more than Richard Foley, of Brattleboro, is a professor at Keene State College in New Hampshire, where he two years now, in print and online. has taught energy policy and technologies for the past 25 years. Here’s a short list: ‘The Greenneck’ lives and writes in the rusted-out shell of a one-ton Chevy pickup somewhere in We start with “homestead security”: inventing Cabot. new forms of renewable energy to power our homes, our workplaces, and our communities. Donald Livingston is professor of philosophy at Emory University, whose latest book is Philosophi- We start with “food sovereignty”: learning how cal Melancholy and Delirium, Hume’s Pathology of Philosophy (University of Chicago Press). He is to grow, harvest, and store our own food again, currently writing a book on the moral, legal, and philosophical meaning of secession. and supporting our struggling family farmers all Robin McDermott is a co-founder of the Mad River Valley Localvore Project. She and her hus- over the country who are doing the same. band, Ray, operate their business, QualityTrainingPortal, from their home in Waitsfield, where We start with “people power”: re-inventing local they also grow much of their own food.