About Connections: Love it or hate it, history is a map. Those who hate history think it irrelevant; many who love history think it escapism. In truth, history is the clearest road map to how we got here: America in the 21st century.
This is a long tale with a happy tail end.
We all know the image. Norman Rockwell painted it based upon Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union. Although we in Berkshire County live it, Rockwell actually painted it in Arlington, Vermont. It illustrates freedom of speech. The man rises in what is obviously a Town Meeting and says his piece.
Berkshire County is made up of two cities and 30 villages. The villages are small and self-governing. They are the closest thing to pure democracy still extant, and that is not rhetoric. At Town Meetings, the people control the purse strings. How we spend is how we govern. What we vote to pay for and what we leave undone is who we are. Who we are is a people governed from within not from above.
At the polls and in Town Meeting, the people control, therefore, we must know what we are voting on; our representatives must enable us to make wise decisions by making the issues clear, and the warrant simple and direct. Only then can people vote to pay for the necessary, save on the unnecessary, and never abdicate our responsibility to self-govern.
We can lose the power of self-government if those elected are not open and fully informative. We can concede the power if we do not keep informed and engaged. There are so many “sayings” about democracy and how hard it is. They are all true. Democracy requires vigilance and intercession. Why? Power is tempting. Who doesn’t like having the say-so and getting his own way?
Folks have to know and understand the issues, even if officials are not always as transparent as they could be. As much as elected officials dislike the press and the loyal opposition, the people need both.
Aren’t we lucky?
Berkshire County not only has Town Meetings in which we can voice our opinion and cast votes, but we have many newspapers online and on paper. The Edge offers news and views but also a place to post comments. How fortunate — let us not waste it. Use it wisely. Share facts. Share your own views, experiences, even your own uncertainty. To be unsure in this complex world is valid and will help start an open conversation. What is invalid, is regurgitated propaganda calculated to rob you of your power over your own government. Learn the difference between truth and propaganda — learn how to tell.
I run a local, very local, newspaper called Stockbridge Updates. SU has space for opinions and it also has rules: no ad hominem attacks, keep it short, and all opinions and comments MUST BE ATTRIBUTED. No made-up names, no unattributed remarks. We want to know who thinks it, as well as what they think.
Don’t waste your breath on silliness. Do we really care why Alan Chartock writes about New York? If so, I can tell you. He was born, grew up, and worked in New York at SUNY and WAMC. He knows New York, the politics, and the players. Is there actually an important reason to attack his subject matter? Like all writers, he writes about what he knows. Leonard Quart also writes about New York — the city in which he lives and where he worked at CUNY. If New York is of no interest to you, don’t read it. Don’t waste your time writing that The Edge should drop the columns. Although New York may not interest you, perhaps it will interest your neighbor. Our newspapers are not for any one person, but all the people.
No Democracy without truth
Criticism is valid as long as the facts are correct. Spreading propaganda is actually harmful. Take responsibility to always share the truth. False information about COVID and COVID vaccinations have landed the entire country in a place where we will have to live with COVID forever. We did not defeat it because we could not do what every president (except Trump) begged the country to do. We could not agree on a common enemy and rally together against it. We could not defeat COVID as we defeated smallpox and polio and other viruses because we were too busy arguing about bleach and horse tranquilizers and nonexistent side effects. We have been capable of defeating deadly viruses since the 1700s, but because of the proliferation of falsehoods designed to divide and weaken us, we failed.
Democracy demands vigilance and good judgement. It’s so sad we were duped, because when we pull together, we can do almost anything. When we don’t, we end up living with a virus that we could have outthought and outmaneuvered.
If you are too close to see the damage carefully concocted lies cause in America — like who won the election and what to do about COVID and COVID vaccinations — look at Russia. Russia drove out or imprisoned honest journalists. The government suppressed the truth in the remaining outlets. Why? So the few rulers could commit atrocities: level a peaceful country, kill babies and the hospitalized. Kill those of no threat to Russia, in a country posing no threat. Why do it? Because a few individuals in power wanted to. Why lie about what they wanted to do? So the people would not have enough information to understand and want to stop them. Right here and right now, that is the same reason some are lying to us. Weakened and divided, we will lose our power and they will gain it.
The press and the loyal opposition
The press is important because the truth is important. What is important about the press is also important about a loyal opposition. We can lose everything right now because the opposing party has changed. A loyal opposition disagrees on issues BUT is absolutely loyal to the principles of democracy. Opponents will fight about every issue but come together and vote as one to protect our form of government and way of life. Here and now we are losing the press, and we are losing a loyal opposition. The new opposition is not committed to democracy. It is not going away, and they are not only in the nation’s capital, they are everywhere.
Even here
Warrant items can be tricky. Wording or position on the warrant can be a political strategy to push something unpopular through. In one of our villages, that happened. But this promised a happy ending, and so…
The people found out. Many people worked very hard to get the item as worded off the warrant. Word got out through the grapevine, email lists, and a man standing just as in the Rockwell painting, saying his piece. The people exerted pressure and the selectboard bowed to the pressure.
Yes, this is election season. Yes, it should work all the time, even between elections. But really, isn’t it nice to know that democracy was at work, and it did indeed work. The people spoke; the representatives listened.
That’s the good news: democracy works. We can rule ourselves; not be ruled over. Stay alert. Seek facts and truth. Do not be fooled by trolls and liars who lie in order to steal your power and your purse.
