Thomas Naylor
Encyclopedia
Thomas Naylor, born May 30, 1936, in Jackson, Mississippi
, is a Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University
, the author of thirty books, and a founder of the Second Vermont Republic
(2003). Naylor is author of ten academic books and three books advocating secession
.
with a Bachelor of Science in 1958 and a second one from Columbia University
in Industrial Engineering in 1959. He received a Masters in Business from Indiana University
in 1961 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from Tulane University
in 1964. He began his career at Duke as an Assistant Professor of Economics in 1964, teaching economics, management science, and computer science, ending his career there in 1993. He also has served as a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin, Middlebury College
and the University of Vermont
.
During the 1970s Naylor was president of a 50-person computer software firm with Fortune 500
clients worldwide. He also was an international management consultant advising major corporations and governments in over thirty countries.
His articles have appeared in The New York Times
, International Herald Tribune
, Los Angeles Times
, Christian Science Monitor, The Nation
, and Business Week. He has made appearances on all major American television networks as well as CNN
, Fox News, BBC
and National Public Radio.
, holding the statewide meeting in October 2003, where he announced the publication of his book The Vermont Manifesto.
Naylor was involved in the 2004 "radical consultation" among various grass roots secessionist groups in Middlebury, Vermont, which resulted in the creation of the Middlebury Institute
. He was mentioned prominently in reporting of the secessionist conferences of many of the same groups in 2006 in Burlington, Vermont
. and 2007 in Chattanooga, Tennessee
.
In 2007 Naylor was criticized when it was alleged that some advisory board members had affiliations with Neo-Confederate
groups, such as the League of the South
(LOS). Thomas Naylor told The Vermont Guardian that the organization has no direct link to LOS, except a link on the SVR website, and that SVR is not racist. He told a radio audience: "The SPLC is a well-known McCarthy-style group of mercenaries who routinely engage in ideological smear campaigns on behalf of their wealthy techno-fascist clowns. It’s all about money, power, and greed." In July 2008 Naylor asked the League of the South to consider several "actions aimed at eliminating once and for all any perception that the LOS is a racist organization." In 2009 SPLC
wrote that Naylor agreed to share the stage with what it labeled as "Neo-Confederate" scholars at an Abbeville Institute secessionist conference called “State Nullification, Secession and the Human Scale of Political Order.”
In May 2008 Feral House
published Thomas Naylor's book Secession: How Vermont and all the Other States Can Save Themselves from the Empire. Author Kirkpatrick Sale
wrote the foreword. Professor Walter E. Williams
of George Mason University
writes it is a "serious examination of our God given right of self governance and that right’s implication for secession. Dr. Naylor has made a persuasive case of the identical response to today’s ‘train of abuses’ that led the Founders to secede from King George’s tyranny."
In January 2010 nine Vermonters announced they were planning to run for governor, lieutenant governor and seven seats in the state Senate on a Vermont secession platform. Lieutenant Governor candidate Peter Garritano said the idea to run came during a meeting two months before with Thomas Naylor. After the candidates were labeled a "Green Tea Party" in a Huffington Post
article, Naylor disagreed, saying "While tea partiers think the system’s fixable, the secessionists believe America has become ungovernable — and that Vermont must break away from 'the empire' to survive."
In January 2011 Time
magazine named Second Vermont Republic one of the "Top 10 Aspiring Nations," mentioning Naylor as its founder.
Books on secession
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
, is a Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, the author of thirty books, and a founder of the Second Vermont Republic
Second Vermont Republic
Second Vermont Republic is a secessionist group within the U.S. state of Vermont which seeks to return to the formerly independent status of the Vermont Republic . It describes itself as "a nonviolent citizens' network and think tank opposed to the tyranny of Corporate America and the U.S...
(2003). Naylor is author of ten academic books and three books advocating secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
.
Biography
Naylor graduated from Millsaps CollegeMillsaps College
Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college located in Jackson, Mississippi. Founded in 1890, the college is recognized as one of the country's best private colleges dedicated to undergraduate teaching and educating the whole individual. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, Millsaps...
with a Bachelor of Science in 1958 and a second one from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in Industrial Engineering in 1959. He received a Masters in Business from Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
in 1961 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
in 1964. He began his career at Duke as an Assistant Professor of Economics in 1964, teaching economics, management science, and computer science, ending his career there in 1993. He also has served as a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin, Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
and the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
.
During the 1970s Naylor was president of a 50-person computer software firm with Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
clients worldwide. He also was an international management consultant advising major corporations and governments in over thirty countries.
His articles have appeared in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Christian Science Monitor, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, and Business Week. He has made appearances on all major American television networks as well as CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, Fox News, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and National Public Radio.
Second Vermont Republic activism
Naylor moved to Vermont in 1990. In 1997 he published with William H. Willimon Downsizing the U.S.A., which called for Vermont independence. After the United States invasion of Iraq Naylor began informal meetings of the Second Vermont RepublicSecond Vermont Republic
Second Vermont Republic is a secessionist group within the U.S. state of Vermont which seeks to return to the formerly independent status of the Vermont Republic . It describes itself as "a nonviolent citizens' network and think tank opposed to the tyranny of Corporate America and the U.S...
, holding the statewide meeting in October 2003, where he announced the publication of his book The Vermont Manifesto.
Naylor was involved in the 2004 "radical consultation" among various grass roots secessionist groups in Middlebury, Vermont, which resulted in the creation of the Middlebury Institute
Middlebury Institute
The Middlebury Institute for the study of separatism, secession, and self-determination is a political think tank and activist organization founded in 2005...
. He was mentioned prominently in reporting of the secessionist conferences of many of the same groups in 2006 in Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
. and 2007 in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
.
In 2007 Naylor was criticized when it was alleged that some advisory board members had affiliations with Neo-Confederate
Neo-confederate
Neo-Confederate is a term used by some academics and political activists to describe the views of various groups and individuals who have a positive belief system concerning the historical experience of the Confederate States of America, the Southern secession, and the Southern United...
groups, such as the League of the South
League of the South
The League of the South is a Southern nationalist organization, headquartered in Killen, Alabama, which states that its ultimate goal is "a free and independent Southern republic." The group defines the Southern United States as the states that made up the former Confederacy...
(LOS). Thomas Naylor told The Vermont Guardian that the organization has no direct link to LOS, except a link on the SVR website, and that SVR is not racist. He told a radio audience: "The SPLC is a well-known McCarthy-style group of mercenaries who routinely engage in ideological smear campaigns on behalf of their wealthy techno-fascist clowns. It’s all about money, power, and greed." In July 2008 Naylor asked the League of the South to consider several "actions aimed at eliminating once and for all any perception that the LOS is a racist organization." In 2009 SPLC
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
wrote that Naylor agreed to share the stage with what it labeled as "Neo-Confederate" scholars at an Abbeville Institute secessionist conference called “State Nullification, Secession and the Human Scale of Political Order.”
In May 2008 Feral House
Feral House
Feral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
published Thomas Naylor's book Secession: How Vermont and all the Other States Can Save Themselves from the Empire. Author Kirkpatrick Sale
Kirkpatrick Sale
Kirkpatrick Sale is an independent scholar and author who has written prolifically about political decentralism, environmentalism, luddism and technology...
wrote the foreword. Professor Walter E. Williams
Walter E. Williams
Walter E. Williams, is an American economist, commentator, and academic. He is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University, as well as a syndicated columnist and author known for his libertarian views.- Early life and education :Williams family during childhood...
of George Mason University
George Mason University
George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...
writes it is a "serious examination of our God given right of self governance and that right’s implication for secession. Dr. Naylor has made a persuasive case of the identical response to today’s ‘train of abuses’ that led the Founders to secede from King George’s tyranny."
In January 2010 nine Vermonters announced they were planning to run for governor, lieutenant governor and seven seats in the state Senate on a Vermont secession platform. Lieutenant Governor candidate Peter Garritano said the idea to run came during a meeting two months before with Thomas Naylor. After the candidates were labeled a "Green Tea Party" in a Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
article, Naylor disagreed, saying "While tea partiers think the system’s fixable, the secessionists believe America has become ungovernable — and that Vermont must break away from 'the empire' to survive."
In January 2011 Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine named Second Vermont Republic one of the "Top 10 Aspiring Nations," mentioning Naylor as its founder.
Partial bibliography
Academic books- Microeconomics and Decision Models of the Firm (with John Vernon). New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1969. Translated into Spanish.
- You Can't Eat Magnolias (editor with H. Brandt Ayers). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972.
- Strategies for Change in the South (with James Clotfelter). Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1975.
- Corporate Planning Models. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1979.
- Simulation Models in Corporate Planning (editor). New York: Praeger Press, 1979,
- Managerial Economics: Corporate Economics and Strategy (with John M. Vernon and Kenneth Wertz). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983.
- The Corporate Strategy Matrix. New York: Basic Books, 1986. Translated into Hungarian.
- The Gorbachev Strategy: Opening the Closed Society. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1988.
- The Cold War Legacy. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1991.
- The Abandoned Generation: Rethinking Higher Education (with William H. Willimon). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995.
- Affluenza (with John De Graaf and David Wann). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2001. Second edition, 2005. Translated into six languages.
Books on secession
- Downsizing the USA (with William H. Willimon). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1997.
- The Vermont Manifesto: The Second Vermont Republic. Philadelphia, PA: Xlibris, 2003.
- Secession: How Vermont and all the Other States Can Save Themselves from the Empire, foreword by Kirkpatrick SaleKirkpatrick SaleKirkpatrick Sale is an independent scholar and author who has written prolifically about political decentralism, environmentalism, luddism and technology...
. Port Townsend, WA: Feral House, 2008.
External links
- Thomas Naylor writings at Second Vermont Republic site
- The Vermont Commons
- The Middlebury Institute
- Jay Walljasper, How to Be an Expat Without Leaving Home, Utne ReaderUtne ReaderUtne Reader is an American bimonthly magazine. The magazine collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment from generally alternative media sources, including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music and DVDs...
, January/February 2004. - Christopher Ketcham,Long live secession! Salon.comSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, January 20, 2005. - Free Vermont, Bill KauffmanBill KauffmanBill Kauffman is an American political writer generally aligned with the paleoconservative movement. He was born in Batavia, New York, and currently resides in Elba, New York, with his wife and daughter....
, The American ConservativeThe American ConservativeThe American Conservative is a monthly U.S. opinion magazine published by Ron Unz. Its first editor was Scott McConnell, his successors being Kara Hopkins and the present incumbent, Daniel McCarthy....
, December 19, 2005. - John Schwenkler, States: if at first you don't secede, The American ConservativeThe American ConservativeThe American Conservative is a monthly U.S. opinion magazine published by Ron Unz. Its first editor was Scott McConnell, his successors being Kara Hopkins and the present incumbent, Daniel McCarthy....
, November 3, 2008. - The Divided States of America (Audio Documentary) featuring Thomas Naylor on Second Vermont Republic (solidprinciples.com) April, 2009