Letter to the Editor, November 8, 2018: The Importance of Bedford’s Special Town Meeting on November 13

November 8, 2018

By Sue Swanson

In author Bill McKibben’s 2017 novel, Radio Free Vermont, the protagonist talks about the importance of town meeting to our democracy.  He says, “We all need to be reminded that democracy isn’t just voting for president every four years and then trusting him to fix things.

Democracy is about getting together with your community to think together about your future.  Sometimes it’s dull, and sometimes people get long-winded, and sometimes they get stiff-necked.  But town meeting has been going for three hundred years…”

Bedford’s own Special Town Meeting is next week (in the Bedford High School Auditorium, Tuesday, November 13th, at 7:30pm).  As a relative newcomer to this form of town government, I agree that it is sometimes dull and often long, but town meeting is the place where ordinary citizens have the most direct say in government, where every voice and every vote counts.

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This year we have important decisions to make about the Historic District (Article 2), zoning (multiple articles), our schools (Articles 9 and 10), and our town budget (multiple articles at the end of the Warrant).  I hope you can join your neighbors next Tuesday as we gather to think together about the future of our community, the future of Bedford!  I look forward to seeing you there!

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