American Secessionists Are Rooting for an Independent Scotland

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This week, National Journal talked to the leaders of secession movements in the U.S. about what the campaign for Scottish independence means for them. Vermonters may think they have little in common with Southerners, and Southerners even less with Pacific Northwesterners, but independence advocates in each of these parts of the U.S. are watching intently as Scotland heads to the polls next week.

The Green Mountain State has an independent streak that reaches back centuries. For 14 years in the 18th century, the Republic of Vermont stood alone before it became the 14th state of the still-fledgling United States. Now, a group of modern Vermonters are agitating for a Second Vermont Republic.

Rob Williams is a professor and the publisher of 2VR, an online journal that explores the idea of an independent Vermont. "I think the Scots have done a fantastic job of really making secession sexy," Williams told me. "If you look at the way the secession conversation has unfolded in the past several years, they've really tapped into what makes Scotland Scotland. That's something we've been trying to do in Vermont." Williams thinks Vermont should follow suit, playing up the symbols, culture, and history that make the state unique.

The Vermont independence movement has already taken some of these lessons to heart. The movement has its own flag—borrowed from Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys militia—and a "reasonably robust network" of activists. What they're missing, Williams said, is the grassroots power of the Scottish campaign.

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Brandon Letsinger is the director of CascadiaNow, an organization that raises awareness of a regional identity—social, geographic, and cultural—in the Pacific Northwest. The organization defines Cascadia as a biological region bound by its environment rather than political borders: It starts as far south as Northern California, reaching up through Oregon and Washington into British Columbia and part of the western coast of Alaska.

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He says he's been following the Scottish independence movement for some time. "If Scotland is successful, it will provide a clear pathway that is both peaceful and democratic, and rooted in a positive future and shared collective identity," Letsinger said. "That will have far-reaching impacts on other movements ... and we'll certainly be watching very closely."

The League of the South advocates for a "free and independent Southern republic," according to its website. The organization paints blurry borders around its proposed nation-state, calling the 11 once-Confederate states, plus Kentucky and Oklahoma, the most convincing makeup of a "cohesive political South."

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Michael Hill, president of the organization, says he is watching the Scottish independence campaign closely. "We think it's a great thing that the Scottish people actually get to go to the polls and decide their future with a vote," Hill said. "That's something that I hope that we can do one day."

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Hill said that the success of the Scottish movement is likely have a positive effect on his own cause. Scottish independence will be "a brick out of the wall of centralization and the old idea of empire-building," he said.

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"We support the Scots because we believe that every identifiable distinct people like that ought to be able to rule themselves," he said.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/american-secessionists-are-rooting-for-an-independent-scotland/380047/