Greetings From the "Switzerland of North America"

My brother wonders if he'll need a passport to visit me:

At Riverwalk Records, the all-vinyl music store just down the street from the state Capitol, the black “US Out of Vt.!” T-shirts are among the hottest sellers. But to some people in Vermont, the idea is bigger than a $20 novelty. They want Vermont to secede from the United States – peacefully, of course.

Disillusioned by what they call an empire about to fall, a small cadre of writers and academics hopes to put the question before citizens in March. Eventually, they want to persuade state lawmakers to declare independence, returning Vermont to the status it held from 1777 to 1791.

*Sigh*

I know, I know. There aren't any more kooks in Vermont than there are anywhere else - they just stand out more. Still, it's just sad, you know? We live in the greatest country in the world, with more freedom and opportunity to live our lives the way we want than any other place you could think of, and these yo-yo's make it seem as though we're living in the last days of Caligula's Rome. Oh, wait. Wasn't that the 90's?

Personally, I loved this bit:

Thomas Naylor, 70, a retired Duke University economics professor and author, wrote the manifesto and founded a secession group called Second Vermont Republic.

His 112-page manifesto contains little explanation of how Vermont would make do without federal aid for security, education and social programs. Some in the movement foresee a Vermont with its own currency and passports, for example, and some form of representative government formed once the secession has taken place.

Yeah, and our currency would look like this: