Second Vermont Republic (SVR) is a secessionist group within the U.S. state of Vermontwhich seeks to return to the formerly independent status of the Vermont Republic (1777–91).

Flag adopted by the SVR movement

History

The organization was founded in 2003 by Thomas Naylor, a former Duke Universityeconomics professor who published the book The Vermont Manifesto that same year.Previously in 1987, University of Vermont professor Frank Bryan, who is on the Advisory Board of Second Vermont Republic, had co-authored with Bill Mares OUT! The Vermont Secession Book, a tongue-in-cheek scenario for secession that begins with the exploding of bridges connecting Vermont with its neighboring states.

In 1989, Bryan, with John McClaughry, president of Vermont's Institute for Liberty and Community and who, during the administration of Ronald Reagan, was Senior Policy Advisor in the White House Office of Policy Development, authored a call for the restructuring of Vermont democracy in their book The Vermont Papers, Recreating Democracy on a Human Scale. In it they propose replacing the structure of Vermont towns with decentralized shires that maintain more local decision-making akin to British county councils. The ideas put forth in this book were not reliant upon, nor called for, Vermont's separation from the federal union. In a September, 2006 Los Angeles Times story about SVR, John McClaughry said, "This really is a good-natured cult. Intellectually, they've got some horsepower, but mostly this is the whole left-wing litany, seen through an interesting prism." Secession, said McClaughry, "is not going to happen, and no one believes it is going to happen." However, in June 2007 Bryan stated that "the cachet of secession would make the new republic a magnet" and "People would obviously relish coming to the Republic of Vermont, the Switzerland of North America."

The Second Vermont Republic web site asserts the group is "committed to the peaceful return of Vermont to its status as an independent republic and more broadly the dissolution of the Union." Supporters of the Second Vermont Republic endorse Vermont's current commitment to small and sustainable towns, farms and businesses, and encourage residents of the state to buy products made locally and sold in small locally-owned stores. They also believe in direct democracy at the local level and desire to turn back as much power as possible to local communities.
Flag of the Green Mountain Boys used by Vermont during the period it was an independent state, 1777–1791, and after statehood through 1804.

The flag adopted by the Second Vermont Republic is similar in design to the flag used by Vermont while it was an independent state from 1777 until 1791. Vermont continued to use the flag after admission to the United States until 1804. The flag was first used in the 18th century by the  Green Mountain Boys as a regimental or war flagsupporting Vermont's quest to become an independent state.

Though the group no longer issues memberships, as of January 2005, the Second Vermont Republic claimed it had 125 card-carrying members. As of January 2008 the organization's website claimed "nearly 1,000 supporters."

The Second Vermont Republic hosted a "radical consultation" in Middlebury, Vermont in November, 2004 which resulted in the creation of the Middlebury Declaration and the establishment of the Middlebury Institute. In April, 2005 members of Second Vermont Republic started the Vermont Commons quarterly publication. In November 2006 its representatives attended the First North American Secessionist Convention in Burlington, Vermont which brought together secessionists from a broad political spectrum. The convention issued the Burlington Declaration.

In May 2008 Feral House published Thomas Naylor's book Secession: How Vermont and all the Other States Can Save Themselves from the Empire. Author Kirkpatrick Sale wrote the foreword. Professor Walter E. Williams of George Mason Universitywrites: "A serious examination of our God given right of self governance and that right’s implication for secession. Dr. Naylor has made a persuasive case of the identical response to today’s ‘train of abuses’ that led the Founders to secede from King George’s tyranny."

In January 2010 nine Vermonters announced they were planning to run for governor, lieutenant governor and seven seats in the state Senate on a Vermont secession platform. The candidates did not organize a formal political party organization but are running as individuals under the “Vermont Independence Day Party” label. Lieutenant Governor candidate Peter Garritano said the idea to run came during a meeting two months before with Thomas Naylor.

Controversies

In early 2007 an anonymously written blog revealed some advisory board members had affiliations with Neo-Confederate groups, such as theLeague of the South (LOS), resulting in internal and public controversy. The blog was written by someone with "a long history of monitoring hate groups" and drew its initial criticisms from material published by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

In reaction, SVR co-founder Thomas Naylor told The Vermont Guardian that the organization has no direct link to LOS, except a link on the SVR website, and that SVR is not racist. He told a radio audience: "The SPLC is a well-known McCarthy-style group of mercenaries who routinely engage in ideological smear campaigns on behalf of their wealthy techno-fascist clowns. It’s all about money, power, and greed." In June 2008 Naylor denounced the SPLC exposé of Second Vermont Republic as a "CIA witchhunt." However, in July 2008 Naylor asked the League of the South to consider several "actions aimed at eliminating once and for all any perception that the LOS is a racist organization." Then, in 2009, Naylor once again received attention from the SPLC when he agreed to share the stage with prominent Neo-Confederates at a secessionist conference in February .