GOOD CAUSES blogger Sherwood Ross runs an
Anti-War News Service. Email him at sherwoodr1@yahoo.com.

Why are some members of Congress suddenly upset the CIA lied to them when the Agency has been guilty of innumerable crimes that are far worse?

On Monday, May 11, 2009, at UVM’s Dudley Davis Center, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders stood up in front of close to 500 Vermonters at the “Summit on the Future of Vermont” conference and stated: “I know there are some Vermonters who believe we should secede from the Union.” 

Brushing aside the sporadic cheering, Bernie launched into the argument that Vermont might become a national leader on – you guessed it – Bernie’s litany of cure-alls: single-payer health care, green economy, and communications/transportation revolution, for starters.     

Three times a year without fail when I was a kid – Labor Day, Independence Day, and Memorial Day - my dad would hang a large American flag from a portable wooden pole off of the wrought iron banister of our suburban front porch in a little town 1 hour north of New York City.

“Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of [Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness], it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

The Declaration of Independence, 1776

I moved to Vermont several years ago after having spent four summers here in the mid ‘90s. I came to escape the overcrowded summer conditions on Martha's Vineyard, which had been my home for some 25 years. I found the relief from stress I was looking for and also discovered a place filled with sensible, decent folk.

The Transition Town movement is growing quickly in Vermont. By my count, 14* cities or towns have adopted the “Transition Town” moniker, even if they’re just taking the first steps. And Transition Town Montpelier made national news in May, with the nation’s first vegetable garden at a State House or Capitol. We’re just beginning the Transition from oil dependency to community resilience, but we’re moving!   

Few Americans are aware that Vermont, the fourteenth state admitted to the Union in 1791, was not a colony like the others; it was a pre-existing independent republic spontaneously created by its residents who rejected the authority of neighboring colonies, particularly New York which had the strongest claim to its territory. 

Something that comes as a surprise to many people when they start getting interested in local foods is the state and federal barriers that prevent Vermonters from becoming less dependent on the industrial food system.  Even more shocking is the fact that many Vermont laws around food are much stricter than those at the federal level.     

Carolyn Baker: Mike, I want to thank you for taking time out of your incredibly busy schedule to answer these questions for Vermont Commons. Many of our readers are familiar with you and read From The Wilderness during the years it was being published from 1998-2006.

Agriculture has long been at the heart of Vermont’s identity. The logging, potash, and charcoal industries went to work on Vermont’s forests soon after statehood, and by 1890 80 percent of Vermont’s landscape was cleared.