There is talk in Vermont of secession. Not talk of the Late Unpleasantness down south, but of a dictatorial president violating civil liberties and waging an unnecessary and costly war. Yeah, Bush & Iraq. The language is a bit more ecumenical than that might suggest, though. “Over the past 50 years, the U.S. government has grown too big, too corrupt and too aggressive toward the world, toward its own citizens and toward local democratic institutions,” write two secessionist Vermonters in The Washington Post. “It has abandoned the democratic vision of its founders and eroded Americans’ fundamental freedoms.” Sounds like a Cato Institute op-ed.

The story goes on to involve Howard Dean, Duke University, the military-industrial complex, and other Google-bait. I feel compelled to point out, however, that it was published April 1.