(2007-04-02) Vermont Secession

Ian Baldwin and Frank Bryan on Vermont interest in Secession. Vermont did not join the Union to become part of an Empire... Nor did Vermont sign on when imperial Washington demanded that the state raise its drinking age from 18 to 21 in 1985. The federal government thereupon resorted to its favored tactic, blackmail. Raise your drinking age, said Ronald Reagan, or we'll take away the money you need to keep the interstates paved. Vermont took its case for state control to the Supreme Court - and lost. It's quite simple. The United States has destroyed the 10th Amendment, which says that "powers not delegated to the United States by the US Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."... In preparation for Vermont's bicentennial in 1991, public debates - moderated by then-Lt. Gov. Howard Dean - were held in seven towns before crowds that averaged 230 citizens. At the end of each, Dean asked all those in favor of Vermont's seceding from the Union to stand and be counted. In town after town, solid majorities stood. The final count: 999 (62 percent) for secession and 608 opposed. More info .