On Watching Birds

Building on Vermonters' longstanding decentralist traditions and independence of spirit, the authors of this ringing call for grassroots democracy propose that the state of Vermont serve as a social laboratory. More than a utopian exercise in anti-bureaucratic thought, their detailed blueprint would divide Vermont into 45 shires, each larger than a town yet smaller than a county. The shires would foster human-scale community and self-sufficiency, with broad powers over education, welfare and local problems; the state government's functions would shrink, though it would serve as a protector of the environment and civil rights. The authors' eloquent manifesto--Bryan is a political science professor at the University of Vermont, and Vermont state senator McClaughry was a policy adviser in the Reagan White House--raises important issues and transcends conventional liberal/conservative labels. (July)