“Democracy is under assault and in retreat around the globe, a crisis that has intensified as America’s democratic standards erode at an accelerating pace.”
-- Freedom House report
There are handbooks on becoming a dictator. You have to have the taste for it and the talent but, if you do: create an oligarchy, encourage thuggery, undermine checks and balances and silence the press.
“Americans today are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism in the twentieth century. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so.”
-- Timothy Snyder, from ‘On Tyranny’
In her letter to the editor, Honey Sharp writes: “AVR will reduce unnecessary paperwork, save taxpayer dollars in the long run, and make our elections more secure.”
In his letter to the editor, Eli Newberger writes: “John Hasse gave a daring, arching, and comprehensive examination of the salutary and urgently-needed contributions of the creative arts to our personal and social worlds.”
No matter one’s capacity for imagination in waking life, in dreams, there is a democracy of imagination-- some more, some less, but all of us busy through the night and sleep making up dreams.
In her letter to the editor, Tela Zasloff of Williamstown writes: “My husband was a World War II veteran, awarded the Purple Heart … We have to keep it up, defending democracy during the next years of the new presidential administration.”
Have we developed systems that protect lies? Have we confused unfiltered with accurate? Has truth become the victim of policy? If truth is holy, then who is protecting it and how?
We would prefer that those choosing to comment on The Edge would be willing to -- as they say -- "own" their viewpoints and observations by identifying themselves, much as they would at a New England town meeting.
Even if you think “Jeb Can Fix It” or “Cruz to Victory” are cringe-worthy, they are not as bad as “Return to Normalcy” or “Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge.”
Whether considering hotels in Great Barrington, police contracts in Stockbridge, or formulas for school payments in Sheffield, the most important single issue is to protect the last of the direct democracies.
The majority of the comments are thoughtful, well-written and advance the discussion of the issues at hand. But some are mean-spirited and irrelevant to the topic.
In her letter to the editor, Beth Carlson writes: "The Mahida team, after all, is doing what is truly American, engaging in our free market capitalist economy and running a business. The volunteer town boards are doing their best to interpret the laws and bylaws."
