Funeral for the Second Vermont Republic

Cathy Resmer did a great article in the new Seven Days... 'Funeral for the Second Vermont Republic?' Seems like their little get-together was a bit lonely.

The mood was more somber last Sunday, when seven SVR supporters — including founder Thomas Naylor, his son, and Jim Hogue, dressed in period garb as Ethan Allen — huddled in the snow around Allen’s gravesite in Burlington for a second mock funeral. Naylor opened the short ceremony by playing a recording of Chopin’s death march.

Turns out the deceased may as well have been SVR itself. The drop in attendance and change in tone is the result of a recent controversy; as reported here last week, in early February, Vermont bloggers began questioning SVR’s ties to white supremacist groups such as the League of the South. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies LOS as a hate group.

Naylor also got caught lying about why the Langdon St event was moved:

Naylor says he was told the collective that runs the Montpelier café was “skittish” about hosting his event, so he decided to relocate rather than feel unwelcome.

Langdon Street collective member Wes Hamilton offers a slightly different spin — “My interpretation was that they didn’t feel comfortable with possibly being confronted,” he says.

It's funny, because I remember when the possibility of it being cancelled by the LSC folks came up, they decided against it for the very reason that it would give people a chance to ask questions, something that Naylor was apparently afraid of doing.

I know, I know, we're all pretty tired of hearing about this now. I keep hoping that every time I write about it will be the last time. I'm guessing that this will probably be the last one for a while.

As Thomas Naylor continues into the twilight years of his life, he will most undoubtedly continue to blame this on us nasty bloggers. I'm sure he wil curse John Odum on his deathbed. It is really sad that a man with the academic credentials and intelligence of Naylor seems to be so incapable of looking inward to why his dream that offered hope to some so quickly turned into a bad one. Here's to hoping he figures it out.