This commentary is by Suzanne Lupien of Vershire. She is a 69-year-old farmer who lives with her two draft horses.
Exercising your right to express your point of view at Town Meeting has become a bit of a lost art these days. It makes people uncomfortable to speak in public, an opportunity once considered both an honor and a responsibility. You got hold of the town report fresh off the press, familiarized yourself with the Warrant, and prepared yourself for the discussion. Knowing that an article can be amended, or tabled, on the floor, kept things lively and in flux until the question was called and the vote taken. Even the auditory aspect of voting, the voice vote, gave you a sense of your community, shoulder to shoulder.
One thing is certain — democracy is not unanimity. It is not like-mindedness in the sense of having the same take on things. If, God forbid, we were all in agreement, we wouldn’t have a perfect democracy — we’d have a dead one. But if we can agree to disagree, meaning we accept everyone’s right to their opinion and are willing to listen carefully to those opinions, well, then we’re on the right track. Democracy is functional disagreement, civil and orderly discussion, patience and devotion to process, the ability to express our differences with dignity and the fortitude to find a workable solution. The more varied the points of view, the better the outcome. Where else but at Town Meeting will you find live, honest-to-goodness discussion and controversy, the challenges of opposing points of view expounded under one roof with a time honored mechanism and the collective determination to work it out on the spot? It is not always civil, tempers have been known to flare, but at the end of the day we know where we stand and how we got there. We have been invited to shape the question and to speak our vote, and so are usually content enough with the outcome.
Your idea plus my idea, spoken aloud for all to hear, is the very recipe for a deeper examination of the issue, and for compromise, the constructive evolution of opposing viewpoints. Precisely how a bunch of individuals become a body.
As individuals, we can and do decide many things affecting our private lives, however the act of deciding on behalf of the group is, naturally, best accomplished as a group. The sum total of individualized votes does not add up to group decision making. In other words, paper balloting does nothing to support the health and well-being of the group, it is rather an expedient to get it over with.
With a bit of practice, you can begin to shift your focus away from your personal preferences to that which better serves the common good. The realization that what I want may not be what we need, breathes new life into the broader perspective required for committing to the health and well-being of the common good, renewing and strengthening the hope and possibility that we can, despite our differences, live peaceably side by side, and benefit from the variety of opinions, rather than feel threatened by them.
Australian balloting is not a solution, but a convenience, and democracy is inherently inconvenient. Many necessary tasks are inconvenient, changing the baby’s diapers, putting supper on the table, and stopping at stop signs, to name a few. Some fall under the heading of personal life, others under We the People. I hear people say they can’t get to Town Meeting and for some, I’m sure this is true. Still, I sense there are many who would simply rather not go, and are using inconvenience as an excuse. Please do not do this.
Plain and simple, your personal right and obligation as a citizen to uphold your town’s democracy is real. If you forfeit your voice, your presence and your participation, your town will be the poorer, and so will you. There’s nothing like a little challenge to our opinions to shine them up and teach us to have the courage of our convictions.
It’s not so easy to get through open discussion. It take time and practice, and depends on strengths not called upon elsewhere in our lives. Getting up in front of a couple hundred people can be daunting, but it is a skill well worth developing, an essential way to offer your considered opinion, a way to contribute. The ability to listen carefully to your fellow townspeople is an art in itself, and an act of citizenship. It can be grueling, frustrating, infuriating and exasperating. It can also be illuminating, thought=provoking, entertaining, useful and sometimes hilarious. It is always an education.
It is our best chance to build togetherness and mutual commitment in a world of thin-skinned individualism.
For your sake, and for that of your town, plan to go and to bear witness. Arrange to get the day off. Bring a pie along with an open mind. You will be glad you did, and your town will be better off for you having been there, in person.
