Deborah Markowitz
Vermont Secretary of State

Naturalization Ceremony in Newport, Vermont

On behalf of the United States of America I also want to tell you how honored we are that, of all the countries in the world, it is ours that you chose to make your home, to raise your families, to invest your future.

Today's ceremony is the culmination of a lengthy process – a process through which each of you faced and resolved key questions about yourselves as individuals, and about the responsibilities, privileges, and meaning of being a United States citizen.

It is particularly fitting that you enter citizenship here in Vermont. Two hundred and eight years ago Vermonters collectively debated the potential benefits, and pitfalls, of United States citizenship. For fourteen years Vermonters governed themselves as an independent republic. Some Vermonters opposed joining the union. They feared that Vermont's unique concerns and beliefs would be drowned out in national councils. One opponent argued that, "if Vermont came into the union, the sacrifice she made must be great--her interest must then bend to the interest of the union..."

Supporters countered that United States' citizenship opened opportunities that could never be achieved as a small, independent republic. "Received into the bosom of the union," they argued, "we at once become brethren and fellow-citizens with...millions of people;...here is a scene opened that will expand [our] social feelings;...the channels of information will be opened wide and far extended; the spirit of learning will be called forth by every motive of interest and laudable ambition; [and] our general interests will be the same with those of the union."

At the personal level, this long past debate must be familiar to you. What do you leave behind by becoming United States' citizens? What new opportunities will now be opened? Your presence here is an acknowledgement that you choose to pursue the opportunities offered by United States' citizenship.

But opportunities are just that. It will be up to you, as individuals, to turn those opportunities into whatever personal achievements you choose to pursue.

And with the opportunities of citizenship come its obligations. Indeed, if we fail to meet our obligations as citizens, we diminish our opportunities.

This is as true today as it was two hundred years ago. Vermonters then talked of interests; how do you balance your individual interests with the common interests of the state? How do you balance the interests of your state with those of the nation? Those early Vermonters called this balance between personal interests and the common good, "civic virtue."

You as new citizens of the United States must find your own path to civic virtue. The obligations of citizenship, the expression of civic virtue, require participation. At its simplest level this means making the best possible effort to understand the issues of our public dialogue. And then expressing that understanding through the informed use of your vote.

The joy of citizenship, however, extends beyond the ability to debate and vote upon issues that effect our lives. Civic virtue includes a willingness to participate in the structures of self-government.

Someone once calculated that Vermont has almost 11,000 local officials. These range from selectboard members to town library trustees; from school board members to cemetery commissioners. This is a remarkable number of officials in a state with a population of just over 560,000. It works out to about one local official for every 53 Vermonters.

Many of these officials receive little or no compensation. They volunteer their time to make sure that local democracy works. They must listen to the concerns and perspectives of their neighbors; and then translate those concerns into policy. They must occasionally resolve difficult issues that divide their neighbors. Their actions do not effect some distant, nameless set of citizens. Rather these decisions effect their friends and neighbors, people they encounter in the day to day activities of their lives. That so many Vermont citizens understand and practice their civic virtue is one of the things that make this a special place.

These citizens, now your fellow-citizens, know that citizenship cannot be a spectator sport. They know citizenship requires an active interest in community and informed participation in its decision making.

In turn, you can offer valuable insights to your fellow citizens. You, more than most, have had to think of what citizenship means. You have had experience with citizenship within other countries. With the whole world before you, you reached a decision to become U.S. citizens. We can learn from you.

Fourteen years ago a new governor delivered an inaugural address to the Vermont General Assembly. Madeleine Kunin, served as governor of Vermont from 1985 until 1991 (She was one of two foreign-born Vermont governors in last fifty years.) In her address she spoke of her mother, who as a widow, came to America from Switzerland with two small children, in 1940, as war was spreading over Europe. Kunin spoke of how, in addition to a limited knowledge of English, her mother carried with her to these shores a "limitless dream of what this country could offer her and her children." She talked of how "this dream continues to send a message of hope, just as it once did . . . for the generations of Irish, Italians, Polish, French and Canadians, who came to work in the granite sheds, woolen mills, railroads, farms and factories of Vermont...." And she described that spirit of hope as "a spirit, which instills in our children the belief that anyone can achieve anything in this country with hard work, an education, and a fair chance."

Governor Kunin is a wonderful example of how one citizen by choice realized both the opportunities and obligations of citizenship. Whatever your own dreams are, I wish you well. You, by your actions today, have made us a better country. We welcome you.