All these conversations call for a full examination of both the origins and history of practice and the evolution of laws regarding how we govern ourselves.
Some of this will begin as we prepare for our celebration of the 250th. The Lincoln250, the Lincoln Historical Society and the Bemis Free Lecture Series will offer programs and events to explore how we evolved up to 1775, and will set the stage for a comprehensive look at how we got to where we are today. It may well call for the re-creation of the Governance Committee-a free-standing committee of volunteers not already serving on boards, committees and commissions-to examine existing laws/legal frameworks for governance, best practice, what others have tired, what has worked and what hasn’t, and come forward with recommendations. That would be a healthy exercise and get expanded citizen involvement into the deep dive required to advocate for change … or not. Examination, diagnosis, and only then, prescription. In the meantime, we do know that we could make a simple and immediate way to make Town Meeting more efficient and user-friendly …the implementation of clicker voting! It has been used by neighbors and they have given it the seal of approval. The only thing that appears to stand in the wya os the political will to find $$ in the budget and implement before the March Town Meeting. ------ Sara Mattes > On Dec 23, 2023, at 11:04 AM, Margo Fisher-Martin > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi, > > I wonder if town meetings were optional, and people could vote by ballot, how > many people would ACTUALLY show up. Many, many things have changed in the > past since 1774, which make the town meeting process archaic. For example, it > wasn’t that long ago that the “stewards of the land” were trying to restrict > development - and now those “stewards” are promoting it. Information can be > shared in so many ways - prior to a vote. Today it would be possible for > people who could not attend an 8 hour meeting to still obtain the information > and debate prior. Obviously if only 800 people show up for a town meeting and > there are approximately 5000 possible voters, something needs to be changed. > Life has changed. > The current town meeting process is “exclusionary” - a term many people here > in Lincoln like to throw around recklessly. If people who are disabled and > serve our country in the military cannot vote at a town meeting, then THAT is > what I call exclusionary. It’s going to be 2024 in just over a week, and > thankfully, we’ve come a long way, since the Puritan days! > > Respectfully, > > Margo Fisher-Martin > > On Sat, Dec 23, 2023 at 8:05 AM Allen Vander Meulen <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> This is from the Town of Sutton, MA website… >> >> Town Meeting Origin >> "Town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they >> bring it within the people's reach, they teach men how to use and how to >> enjoy it." >> --Alex de Tocqueville >> >> The history of Town Meetings is the history of liberty in Massachusetts. >> Massachusetts’s residents began holding Town Meetings over 350 years ago, >> shortly after the Puritans arrived from England, seeking liberty. >> >> One reason that Massachusetts’s colonists revolted against Great Britain was >> the British attempt to ban most Town Meetings except by permission. In 1774, >> British Soldiers tried to stop a Salem Town Meeting in progress, but the >> citizens barred the door of their town house and continued to meet. >> >> On the American Revolution's first day of fighting, members of the Lexington >> militia gathered on the town common at around 2:00 in the morning on April >> 19,1775. There they held an impromptu open-air Town Meeting to "consult what >> might be done" about the British soldiers marching from Boston, as the local >> minister later wrote. >> >> Attending Town Meetings was once mandatory for freemen who owned land. >> >> ========== >> >> I might also add that a long series of debates preceding the “Boston Tea >> Party” were held from November 29th, 1773 until December 16, 1773: first at >> Faneuil Hall and then (due to lack of space) moved to the Old South >> Meetinghouse in Boston, were officially a Town Meeting. The meeting was >> continued from day to day until the night of the Tea Party itself. It is >> said that around 5,000 people attended those meetings. >> >> ========== >> >> As is widely known, many towns in Massachusetts used their meetinghouses >> both for Town Meetings as well as religious services. Massachusetts at that >> time was a Theocracy: church and state were one. This practice persisted, >> gradually evolving and ultimately fading away, finally ending entirely with >> the Disestablishment Act of 1833. This act was adopted in response to the >> numerous church splits occurring at the time due to the Unitarian >> controversy: the State finally gave up trying to arbitrate which church >> merited the state’s financial support following each split. —Numerous >> lawsuits were filed as each congregation tried to claim those funds for >> their own use. >> >> =========== >> >> Thoughts... >> >> The free and open debate of issues in a public forum is a dangerous thing - >> by its very nature it is a challenge to centralized authority. If done >> well, they generate widespread consensus, which in turn form the basis for >> communal action. This is why the British authorities tried to suppress the >> practice in Massachusetts in the years leading up to the Revolution, and why >> dictators (and would-be dictators) to this day continue to try and shut down >> public debate in any form. >> >> I think it healthy to question if (and how) we should continue the tradition >> of Town Meetings here in Lincoln, and throughout Massachusetts. >> >> It was never a perfect system. Many towns - including Lincoln - were >> established because local families found it very difficult to get to the >> local parish that they were required to attend on Sunday mornings, >> especially in inclement weather, this included attendance at Town Meetings, >> too. Also, as noted above, early Town Meetings were hardly representative >> of the population since women and non-landowners were excluded. >> >> On the other hand, Town Meetings have long been crucial in promoting a >> healthy, active, frequently entertaining, and often deeply thoughtful public >> debate on the issues of the day. It has always been critical in generating >> strong consensus and support within the community on how to confront and >> address such issues. >> >> I also think we can separate the issue of debate - which is where the Town >> Meeting has long been central and effective - from the act of voting. >> >> As political life has evolved in Massachusetts, the two have separated, but >> remain complementary: we need both the debate, which may be prolonged, >> strident, and exhausting; but which, by virtue of its nature, might be >> attended throughout by only a subset of the town’s population. We also need >> the vote that follows, which confirms the consensus generated in those >> debates via a vote that the whole of the town is able to engage-in should >> they choose to do so. >> >> - Allen Vander Meulen >> -- >> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >> To post, send mail to [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>. >> Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >> Change your subscription settings at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >> > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to [email protected]. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >
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