"Thomas Naylor: shut up. Shut Up. SHUT UP!!"

Despite the use of phony polling to suggest growing support for secession and the Second Vermont Republic (see polling section in the right column), Vermont seceshers have been seeking to extricate themselves from their "image" problem so as to improve from their abysmally poor performance in the 2010 election, wherein the head of their ticket, Dennis Steele, garnered less than 1% of the vote.

For more than a year and a half, various endeavours have been formulated to reset and refocus their effort to what some of them feel are more achievable goals, mostly with half-assed results.

Perhaps more importantly, disagreement with Thomas Naylor's leadership has been increasingly voiced by supporters. On October 2, 2010, secession supporter Paul Parsons wrote:

Just as any people who love their country should be able to differentiate between the nation and its leaders when the latter prove to be detrimental to the former (ie. supporting the U.S. vs. supporting Bush), anyone who truly desires Vermont independence should not be afraid to recognize when their leaders (even if they are the founders) are sabotaging the cause.

I began following Thomas Naylor's written thoughts on the website for the Second Vermont Republic, because he was saying so many intelligent things that I could agree with. Now I only keep up to date with what he is going to say next because of how crazy he sounds. I do not doubt his convictions, and I don't think he means to hurt the movement, but I believe he is doing so none the less.

Mr. Naylor is showing some signs of being obsessive. He brings up the Israeli lobby in almost every single one of his essays. No matter what the subject of the essay, he brings up the Israeli lobby.

I know that it is obvious that the U.S. is far from being impartial in the Middle East crisis, and has not done nearly enough about the suffering of the Palestinian people. There is however a world of difference between that, and believing, as Naylor has stated over and over again, that the Israeli lobby is in direct control of the United States government. He has even gone so far as to say that we are directly controlled from Tel-Aviv. This is not far from the language of extreme right-wing groups that talk about the ZOG (Zionist Occupied Government). This will not help the SVR distance itself from claims of being associated with neo-Confederates.

Thomas Naylor has gone beyond this however. He has gone so far as to speak admirably of Iran's president. He might not be on the U.S. payroll like Noriega was, but make no mistake, Ahmadinejad is a tyrant and a mad man of the worst sort.

Most recently, Naylor has even suggested that the U.S. was lying about who was actually behind the 9/11 attacks.Perhaps some of you believe that there was a 9/11 coverup, or at least that the government has sought to take advantage of this tragedy the same way they would if it was an inside job. Be aware however that it is a very taboo subject.

For any movement to succeed, it must have enough popular support, which requires a diverse coalition that is united by one or two specific causes. It is hard enough to get people to share your views on one issue, let alone several. That is why it is important to stay focused, and not make any demands that people share all of the same views as you concerning erroneous issues like Israel and Iran.

If I was a conspiracy theorist (I'm not), I would think that Thomas Naylor was working for the FBI, like one of their COINTELPRO plants that they used in the 60s against groups like the Black Panthers. Most of what he says can only alienate support, and hurt the cause of Vermont Independence.

Let me just say that I am not a resident of Vermont. I love Vermont as a neighbor from a fellow New England state, and wish them nothing but the best, but know that I should have no vote in determining their future. Those votes should be limited (solely) to the people of Vermont, and the only people in Washington D.C. with a say should be those who were sent their by Vermonters as their elected representatives. Regardless of what path the people of Vermont (take), I think it is important for them to have all options open to them.

Even if the(y) don't secede, sovereignty movements can still be a positive force. The Parti Quebecois has helped get recognation of Quebec's nationhood, and achieved a good deal of autonomy, despite having so far failing to win independence. Any union that is preserved should be a fair and just union, and one way to do that is to remember that a union is supposed to be a partnership of choice, with the benefit of all. Having stated that I think the Second Vermont Republic can be a positive force, I have just one more thing that I would like to say to its founder, Thomas Naylor: shut up. Shut Up. SHUT UP!!

Indeed.

Update 1.5.11, 12:00 PM: Welcome, to all the new CNN online readers/viewers!

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