Town Meeting Monday at 7

I am urging the few, the proud, the brave-the readers of this blog to attend town meeting. There are plenty of important things to discuss this year, and I have strong opinions about many of them. However, I'm not going to spend any time here urging you to vote my way. I'm just asking you to show up and help save the town meeting form of government. Town meeting is threatened by two groups who want to have a smaller government they can more easily control.

On one hand are the ideologues, mostly the folks that want the federal government to be smaller and equate town government with the evils of Washington. They're the folks who never want to spend money on anything-probably a wise idea when talking about subsidies for oil companies or foreign aid for Pakistan, but what this group forgets is that in town government there is no evil "them" stealing our money. Town government is us. Everything we do directly effects ourselves, our friends, our neighbors. If there is ever a reason for government to do something, it has to be at the local level. Who better to decide than all of us who take the time to show up for town meeting rather than some small representative body that is all too easily controlled by the ideologues.

Ironically, the other threat to town meeting comes from people who work hard every day to make our town government succeed. I've often heard elected officials complain that they have spent months and numerous meetings planning something. Then they are faced at town meeting with people who never attended a single meeting or spent more time thinking about an issue than it takes to read the warrant article. Frankly, I've never thought much of this complaint, and today I suddenly understood why-I did this 180 days a year for 35 years as a history teacher. At least, the folks at town meeting are there voluntarily and presumably have an interest in the topics at hand! History isn't rocket science and as a history teacher I felt that if I explained something well, kids would understand it with their native intelligence even if they hadn't done their homework. Patience was my hardest lesson to learn (I'm still learning). I also had to learn that on any given day someone in my class would have something to teach me whether they had studied or not. For the most part, town government isn't rocket science either. Knowledge of what can and cannot be done under the chapter and verse of the Massachusetts General Laws and Regulations is a skill that the average citizen should respect just like my students should respect my ability to list all the President's in order with accomplishments for each (Andy Jackson #7-the spoils system, Trail of Tears, Panic of 1837), but the recognition that dear Andy was an egotistical ass is something any student with a knowledge of human nature can understand. I think most things we do at town meeting: buying land, balancing spending among several competing options, and making rules for ourselves are comprehensible for everyone too. Of course, my faith in town meeting isn't always justified-I believe, for instance, that Don Bennett's concerns about pharmaceuticals in our drinking water weren't well understood by the members of town meeting when we approved Doug King's 40R project. On the other hand town meeting clearly understood the value of Dean Mill while the Finance Committee, the Chair of the Conservation Commission, and the Zoning Board of Appeals were out of touch.

I think citizens lately have been more informed about town meeting issues thanks to an improved town website and better coverage in the media, but knowledge isn't enough-you have to show up. It's the leaders job to provide direction, data, and a check on the enthusiasms of crowds, but the town meeting is also there to provide a check that the knowledge of the expert is valid, accurate and responsive to the needs of the community. You can't do that sitting at home, and if you have time to go to a Christmas Party don't tell me you're too busy for town meeting!