Vermontian to the marrow, soaked in the ethos of direct democracy, playful and yet thoughtful enough to have won the enthusiastic approbation of George Kennan and John Kenneth Galbraith, these Green Mountain Boys and Girls didn't achieve divorce, but they did give us an alluring glimpse of the shape that hope takes in a darkening empire. The new Republican president has also catalyzed an independence movement, this one in the Golden State, though so far it lacks the intellectual seriousness, rooted radicalism, and wit of the Vermonters.