Burlington area locals: I want to organize a local pro-democracy group

The idea would be for it to be as broad based as it can reasonably be (i.e., somewhere even libertarians and worried conservatives could feel comfortable), and for it to be more activist than chit chat.

For starters, Vermont does use potentially vulnerable Diebold optical scanners. There are some protections under VT law, but nowhere near enough. And lest anyone think we're so comfortably liberal nothing would ever happen here, remember back just a few years to the backlash after the civil unions bill passed. It wouldn't take much more than some pretense of a wedge issue, lots of Virginia money handed out to whatever reactionaries they could find in VT (all to provide the cover), followed by plenty of vote cooking, and yes, it could even happen here if we don't prevent it.

We also need to educate our fellow citizens about the illegitimacy of the national government. And I think we should start thinking, now, about how we can protect targets of persecution (GLBTQ folks, political activists, etc.) both from outside the state and within it.

PM or e-mail me if you're interested in creating such a group.