Hi all - I think it's *obvious *(and hopefully absurd) to *enough *people that the colonial NE town meeting would not be a good idea today given the construct served white, male, landed individuals in one religious group and excluded others. The progress over the last two centuries was a good thing.
What may not be *obvious *-- as Margo says -- is that it is not a good thing and it is exclusionary to only have 15% voter turnout for even the most critical issues. There are likely other points of view to main status quo such as: *- You have to be an informed citizen to vote. And the only way to really get informed is to attend town meetings in person. Other information sources cannot be trusted. If you can't show up, perhaps you're not prioritizing the town and you don't deserve the privilege. * *- 15% voter turnout, even on critical issues, is OK. If we had 50%, it's not clear it would change the outcome as 15% is a good enough statistical sample size for the town. * *- It's expensive to seek alternate solutions such as multiple meetings, digital options, etc on top of figuring out the state legal constraints. Not to mention all the extra effort and time -- we're all volunteers. The juice is not worth the squeeze. * *- I'm deeply involved in all matters town-related. I want to debate and shape/amend the language of the motions at town meetings. It's more than getting informed and voting. I know a few dozen other people like.I don't want to sacrifice my empowerment to get more voters.* I personally like town meetings. I regularly attend. I like town-related matters. I serve on town committees. But I do think that we need to *include *a broader set of people and voting is the simplest way to do that. This especially rings true when we made inclusion a town priority. As we look to 2024, d*oing something actionable* about increasing voter turnout would be a great new year resolution. I would love for us to *lead *in this respect as opposed to point to past efforts like "we were a founding member of METCO in 1966" or join as a laggard in 2036 when "benchmarks show 71.36% of MA town meetings are more inclusive than Lincoln's." These are my personal views. They do not reflect the views of the town committees I sit on. They were not altered by ChatGPT or other LLMs. On Sat, 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]> 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]. >> 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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