Being from Vermont, I have always been entertained by my home state's secessionist movement. I have never examined its tenets, but found its self-seriousness to be humorous and endearing. I always assumed that it was based solely on a libertarian, if somewhat granola, platform, and its website does nothing but bolster that view. But according to the AP, some of the leaders of that movement are holding a "Secessionist Convention" with members of the League of the South, a Southern secessionist group. Here is what the Southern Poverty Law Center has to say about the League. It quotes the leader of the League as saying:
[I]t is time we demand that respectable members of the 'minority community' control their debased 'brothers and sisters.' If they refuse, then we can only believe that they secretly condone such behavior. Let us not flinch when our enemies call us 'racists'; rather, just reply with, 'So, what's your point?'What does the Second Vermont Republic have to say about the controversy and the League's racism: Its leader, Thomas Naylor attacks, not the League, but the SPLC, describing it as
a well known McCarthy-like group of mercenaries based in Montgomery, Alabama, who routinely engage in ideologically driven witch hunts and smear campaigns on behalf of their wealthy, techno-fascist clients.Just take a look at the SPLC's award-winning program "Teaching Tolerance." I wonder why Mr. Naylor feels a need to make such injudicious remarks about a widely respected organization that is known for supporting the public good. As this article demonstrates, the relationship between the Second Vermont Republic and the League of the South is extremely troubling. I'm not so entertained anymore.
