[mac/dief]

- I meant to say assuming that everybody is progressive or liberal, didn't mean to write pretending.

[mac/dief]

Texas and Hawaii were technically independent republics for awhile themselves, but all in all (except for Hawaii in a few ways) culturally they are thoroughly American, so is Vermont. They're definately not culturally Canadian, they just happen to be a little more liberal than most of there fellow states.

[Brother Jonathan]

<b>lesouris</b>: Vermont is the only state that <i>currently</i> has an independent Senator (Jeffords) and an independent Representative (Sanders). The introduction of civil unions in Vermont was divisive; there was bitter opposition to it from a significant percentage of the population. It isn't the only state to consider the merits of "single payer" health care. Note that in the American civil war, the view of the USA as decentralized federation was generally held by the proponents of the Confederacy. <img align=absmiddle src='images/smilies/eek.gif' alt='Eek!'><br /> <br /> <b>KevinGagnon</b>: No politician here would publicly admit such a view.<br /> <br /> <b>Perturbed</b>: I doubt that many of Vermont's 600,000 or so people would "flood" Quebec.<br /> <br /> <b>Mr.Can-Euro</b>: Didn't Newfoundland join Confederation with significantly less than 90% of its population in favour? (That being said, I believe that it'd be quite the challenge to get 50% + 1 of Vermont to vote for secession - previous attempts to secede by other states in the 19th century didn't go unchallenged.)<br /> <br /> <b>Captain Flynn</b>: The most prosperous areas are around Burlington, Montpelier, Woodstock, and the major ski resorts. Prosperity certainly isn't common here in northeastern Vermont.<br /> <br /> <b>N Say</b>: I don't think that either Quebec or Vermont would be happy with such an amalgamation - Quebec would dilute its francophone majority, and Vermont would experience complete culture shock in the National Assembly.<br /> <br /> <b>mac/dief</b>: You raise a valid point. In tandem with Vermont's progressive politics (on the American scale) comes the least restrictive gun laws in the USA. I doubt that Vermont-flavoured politics would spread across Canada.<br />

[whelan costen]

Welcome to vive Brother Jonathan, thanks for the Vermont perspective...it's all about balance