Let’s not take up too much front page real estate with this during an election season, but for those who are looking for a distraction, click after the jump for some candid thoughts on the death penalty for lying politicians, mandatory population caps in a Vermont Republic, and some rather ugly misogyny-laced comments about a local woman reporter from Vermont’s fringiest…

(Note: AS expected, the links referred to below have been taken down. No worries, you can download it all right here.)

Some of you will recall the drama that ensued when I started blogging my opinions of the Vermont secessionist crowd’s unapologetic associations with (and frequent promotion of) the neo-confederate movement, which represents much of the most frightening racist, misogynist and homophobic elements in our culture. Not only have the leaders of Vermont’s movement embraced these scary people institutionally (bringing them to Vermont on several occasions for conventions and the like), they’ve casually lent their own platform (Vermont Commons) to individuals prominently featured on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of national racist and antisemitic leaders (people such as Thomas DiLorenzo, Robert Griffin, Franklin Sanders, Donald Livingston). And like their comrades in other states, when faced with those who do not approve of such values, their response has been to aggresively engage in campaigns of personal destruction, without ever addressing the core criticisms. In my case, that meant an ongoing campaign of harassment over the ensuing several years from SVR founder Thomas Naylor, coupled with a strange but steady parade of childish conspiracy theories from his partner, Rob Williams of Vermont Commons.

For my part, I said my piece a while back and moved onto other things. Partly because I have other things that have moved me, but also because, frankly, the whole business makes me sad. Here in the whitest state in the union, so many Vermonters would rather look the other way and roll their eyes at a movement they see as a cute, but crazy uncle who lives in the attic, rather than honestly confront the fact that the Vermont secessionists continue to defend, collaborate with and promote a national network of friends who wouldn’t hesitate to give the Matthew Shepard treatment to people I care about. It’s hard not to be appalled at that. Granted, Rob Williams has been very clever in nurturing this benign tolerance (and not just by co-opting the flag used by the Vermont National Guard). Over the years, he has aggressively courted contributions to his publication from local activists who have no idea their own piece may end up printed alongside the byline of a known neo-confederate racist. More clever, though, is how readily Williams hands out free advertising – sometimes himself, sometimes under the guise of it being an “anonymous gift” – in order to fill the pages with “ads” that create a permanent record branding the names and logos of numerous reputable businesses and nonprofits alongside his movement. This creates an incentive for those folks to look away from the secessionists’ associations, rather than invite criticism onto themselves. It’s very clever, and it’s the kind of approach that has won the open admiration (and emulation) of scarier members of Williams’ club, such as League of the South Founder (seen here on Glenn Beck’s old show with Naylor), Michael Hill.

Still, you may have noticed a flurry of activity on JD’s site, as well as the blog of online anonymous activist “Thomas Rowley” who first publicized the secessionists’ associations. JD has discussed the weird theories that he (and I, actually) is Rowley (as if either of us needs an alias to hide behind…? Perhaps Williams thinks his and Naylor’s multiyear campaign of personal harassment against me was effective after all). Rowley has looked at the secessionist concerns about the “Israeli Mafia” among other things. Both playfully imply they have a source, and have quoted from “leaked” emails.

But it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye I suppose. Not to spend too much time on these guys here, but it’s probably time to come out with the identity of that source – it’s the internet. Rowley noticed some time back that the secessionist crowd had done what is still so frequently done even in 2010; that is, left their complete email correspondence hanging out there on the web for anyone to read. Emails were read, chuckles were had, some eyebrows were raised, and links were shared with local activists as well as some in the national hate group tracking community, and “Tom” and JD took a few days to mess with them a bit before it was decided that there was a responsibility to go up with this. Sitting on it would just get tacky.

It was cathartic to be sure, but it’s time to move on. Where do these emails fall in the long, long history of leaked and exposed emails in the political or activist world? Nothing earth shattering per se, as we’re only talking a tiny fringe group here. There is the same civil war revisionism common to all the regional secession groups in the US on display. But there are some interesting insights into the psychology in play to be had.

Links will be provided, but no doubt this stuff will come down quickly. No worries, though, it’s all downloaded.

There’s a lot up there, but most of it quite benign. There is a little bit of campaign coordination that, without in-kind donation reporting, could well run afoul of campaign finance law. Some fretting about people calling them “racists,” which I don’t think anyone has done. Let me say for my part that there is such a thing as active racism and passively-programmed cultural racism, and certainly anyone who would freely and unapologetically consider leaders of the League of the South to be be their partners in building a Utopian world is at the very least guilty of the latter. I mean… good grief.

But from looking at the back and forth, it seems that most of the Vermonters actively involved in this cabal are more of the tagalong sort than committed to the cause. These are folks very much looking for an alternative politics and who tend to flit from counter-institution to counter-institution, and the “Second Vermont Republic” is just their latest stop. That’s, for example, how you likely get the bizarre disconnect in this document, which is set up as sort of a FAQ for the listserv, but then includes some of the individual candidates and menbers own particularized views of… er…utopia?

Atop the page, it says:

Tension Reduction. Consistent with Vermont’s long tradition of “live and let live” and nonviolence, we do not condone state-sponsored violence inflicted either by the military or law enforcement officials.

…and a bit further down the same page, Washington County Senate candidate Gaelen Brown advocates the death penalty for any elected official who is caught lying (I kid you not):

3. Lying in official duties, to the detriment of the populace, by Elected officials at any level is a capital crime

I guess the meaning of “state-sponsored violence” remains to be worked out in an independent Vermont.

Brown then offers the absurdity of these two statements in succession:

8. Live and let live “bill of rights”

9. Population cap and regenerative organic agriculture

No doubt the reproduction police will acquit themselves in an approriately Vermonty live-and-let-live manner (?!?!).

Again in the same page, gubernatorial candidate Dennis Steele’s first action as head of an independent Vermont would presumably be to engage the new Vermont military (?) to start a war with the United States, given this stated first order of business (emphasis added):

5. Close Yankee and seize all dams.

Then there’s this from Brown on September 1st, which probably speaks for itself:

Personally I believe that it’s likely that NASA has been collaborating

with beings from other planets to mine the dark side of the moon in

exchange for them giving us some of their technology.

(I’ve seen unexplainable UFOs several times and I know a man who works

for Carlisle who says there is heavy investment going on re

infrastructure to mine the moon for titanium, H3 (nuclear fuel), and

other minerals that are rare on earth.) I have also studied the

chem.-trail and HARPP systems/history and there’s a lot of sketchy

activity in this category as well.

But I’m not going to focus on these issues in my campaign.

There is a lot of unfocused rage, bitterness and (often understandable) frustration in circulation, hence the frequent discussions of how to become more engaged with the Vermont Tea Party movement. That rage does cross a bit into the creepy, though. Perennial candidate Dennis Morriseau shares his opinion of vtdigger’s Anne Galloway in terms that are rather disturbing. It’s odd that Galloway has earned their ire, as she has actually done them some favors. She herself has added her own byline to Vermont Commons by entering into an arrangement whereby her own digger pieces have been reprinted there. In fact, during the very month her piece appeared, she penned this article (without revealing her relationship with Vermont Commons, unfortunately), in which SVR founder Naylor was freely allowed to trash me personally over my own opinions of his associations, without any attempt by her made to approach me for the same article (I only became aware of it inadvertently).

Despite this favorable treatment, it wasn’t enough for State Senate candidate Morriseau (who refers to himself as the Vermont Republic’s “Foreign Minister”) who on February 16th of this year had this to say about how Galloway should be dealt with:

Because I savaged her in our first few exchanges.

Now I am making nice.  And she likes that better.  So she is liking me better……

Before I punched her, she did not know me or care a fig……..

Now she sees I can laugh, I am playful….possibly intelligent…and I differ with her……..

She begins to be intrigued.

We have to be lovers to these sorts……  I know that is a little crass….but it’s DO OR DIE time.

And later (May 28th):

No reason for her to breathe OR DO WHAT SHE DOES…..unless she is a SPOOK.

NOBOCY is that venal from stupidity.

Yikes.

The complete archive, for the moment, can be found here. Again, in the long, ongoing history of leaked emails and communications left hanging on the web, the Vermont secessionists’ blunder merits barely a footnote. It is, though, a reminder that this group is among the last we would want shaping society – and among the first likely to collapse under its own zaniness at any given moment.