It's beginning to sound like Canada-- where nearly all the provinces want to become independent for one reason or another. Unrest is everywhere.
--
Melinda C. P. Skinner
Richmond, VA
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> Secessionists meeting in Tennessee
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> By BILL POOVEY, Associated Press WriterWed Oct 3, 3:15 AM ET
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> In an unlikely marriage of desire to secede from the United States, two
> advocacy groups from opposite political traditions — New England and the
> South —
> are sitting down to talk.
> Tired of foreign wars and what they consider right-wing courts, the
> Middlebury Institute wants liberal states like Vermont to be able to secede
> peacefully.
> That sounds just fine to the League of the South, a conservative group that
> refuses to give up on Southern independence.
> "We believe that an independent South, or Hawaii, Alaska, or Vermont would be
> better able to serve the interest of everybody, regardless of race or
> ethnicity," said Michael Hill of Killen, Ala., president of the League of the
> South.
> Separated by hundreds of miles and divergent political philosophies, the
> Middlebury Institute and the League of the South are hosting a two-day
> Secessionist Convention starting Wednesday in Chattanooga.
> They expect to attract supporters from California, Alaska and Hawaii,
> inviting anyone who wants to dissolve the Union so states can save themselves
> from
> an overbearing federal government.
> If allowed to go their own way, New Englanders "probably would allow abortion
> and have gun control," Hill said, while Southerners "would probably crack
> down on illegal immigration harder than it is being now."
> The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly prohibit secession, but few people
> think it is politically viable.
> Vermont, one of the nation's most liberal states, has become a hotbed for
> liberal secessionists, a fringe movement that gained new traction because of the
> Iraq war, rising oil prices and the formation of several pro-secession
> groups.
> Thomas Naylor, the founder of one of those groups, the Second Vermont
> Republic, said the friendly relationship with the League of the South doesn't
> mean
> everyone shares all the same beliefs.
> But Naylor, a retired Duke University professor, said the League of the South
> shares his group's opposition to the federal government and the need to
> pursue secession.
> "It doesn't matter if our next president is Condoleeza (Rice) or Hillary
> (Clinton), it is going to be grim," said Naylor, adding that there are
> secessionist movements in more than 25 states, including Hawaii, Alaska, New
> Hampshire, South Carolina and Texas.
> The Middlebury Institute, based in Cold Spring, N.Y., was started in 2005.
> Its followers, disillusioned by the Iraq war and federal imperialism, share the
> idea of states becoming independent republics. They contend their movement
> is growing.
> The first North American Separatist Convention was held last fall in Vermont,
> which, unlike most Southern states, supports civil unions. Voters there
> elected a socialist to the U.S. Senate.
> Middlebury director Kirpatrick Sale said Hill offered to sponsor the second
> secessionist convention, but the co-sponsor arrangement was intended to show
> that "the folks up north regard you as legitimate colleagues."
> "It bothers me that people have wrongly declared them to be racists," Sale
> said.
> The League of the South says it is not racist, but proudly displays a
> Confederate Battle Flag on its banner.
> Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence
> Project, which monitors hate groups, said the League of the South "has been on
> our
> list close to a decade."
> "What is remarkable and really astounding about this situation is we see
> people and institutions who are supposedly on the progressive left rubbing
> shoulders with bona fide white supremacists," Potok said.
> Sale said the League of the South "has not done or said anything racist in
> its 14 years of existence," and that the Southern Poverty Law Center is not
> credible.
> "They call everybody racists," Sale said. "There are, no doubt, racists in
> the League of the South, and there are, no doubt, racists everywhere."
> Harry Watson, director of the Center For the Study of the American South and
> a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said
> it was a surprise to see The Middlebury Institute conferring with the League
> of the South, "an organization that's associated with a cause that many of us
> associate with the preservation of slavery."
> He said the unlikely partnering "represents the far left and far right of
> American politics coming together."
> ___
> On the Net:
> Middlebury Institute: http://middleburyinstitute.org/
> League of the South: http://www.leagueofthesouth.net
> Second Vermont Republic: http://www.vermontrepublic.org/
> Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org/index.jsp
>
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