The Republic of Vermont

Here's the quote of the day, folks. It's from Russell Wheeler, constitutional law expert at the Brookings Institute, on why the plan to have Vermont secede from America - put forward by a group of academics, naturally - might not be very plausible:

"If Vermont had a powerful enough army and said, `We're leaving the union,' and the national government said, `No, you're not,' and they fought a war over it and Vermont won, then you could say Vermont proved the point. But that's not going to happen," he said.

That's from an old article. But the notion is in the news again and gaining some traction apparently, since the Vermont folks are meeting with some die-hard Southern secessionists to try and hammer up a plan that we'll serve both parties' interests.

You say potato, I say gay marriage. Let's call the whole thing off.

What a great country we live in - home to all manner of nutcase. And it's nice to see the tradition of self-determination endures, among crackpot Green and hoary old confederate alike. Even in their desire to break away and start all over again they are proving themselves to be posesses of such time-honored American traits.