Not our usual town meeting....
Jun. 9th, 2006 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gerisullivanToday's mail (my, it's nice to walk up a paved driveway to the mailbox) included the annual report for the Town of Wales and the Warrant for our Annual Town Meeting, which is being held a week from this coming Monday. I'd already made plans to be home that day in eager anticipation of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
decadentdave's first visit here. He'll be at Concertino in Worcester over the weekend and is stopping by on his way back to Baltimore.
After reading the Warrant, I'm very glad I'll be in town for this particular Annual Town Meeting. This year will mark the making of a tradition -- it will be the third such meeting I've attended. But it will be the first of the three where the Town is deciding whether or not to petition our legislative representatives to file articles of impeachment against the nation's President, Vice President, and Secretary of State. Yes. Really. It's the last of 38 Articles we'll be considering. Unlike 34 of the other Articles, this one does not end with the phrase, "or take any other action thereon" or its equivalent.
Article 38 isn't even the one that had me up and cheering. That honor went to Article 35, to see if the Town will vote to accept the "Resolution for Wales on the Patriot Act." I was more than a tad worried when I saw that title. The first three WHEREAS statements were bog-standard, but the fourth...the fourth gave me hope as I turned the page to read the rest of the resolution:
"WHEREAS an infringement of the constitutionally guaranteed rights of any person under the color of law is an abuse of power, and a breach of the public trust, a misappropriation of public resources, and is beyond the scope of governmental authority; AND"
Oh, yeah.
The fifth WHEREAS states that Federal counter-terrorism policies adopted since 9/11 have unlawfully authorized the federal government to infringe upon fundamental liberties guaranteed by the United States and Commonwealth of Massachusetts Constitutions. And the seventh WHEREAS, the seventh WHEREAS sings the song of my soul:
"WHEREAS the Town of Wales believes that it is fitting to honor the memory of all those who died or were injured as a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, not only by protecting national security and defending against terrorist attacks, but also by defending the fundamental constitutional freedoms and protections guaranteed to all persons living in the United States" [emphasis mine]
The resolution itself affirms the Town's "strong opposition to terrorism, but also affirms that any actions to end terrorism must not be waged at the expense of the fundamental civil liberties, rights, and freedoms of the people of Wales, the United States, or the world." To the extent legally possible, it directs that Town resources are not to be used for unconstitutional activities "in whatever manner or under whatever circumstances that may be presented". It encourages our Representative and Senators to actively work for the repeal of the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, the Homeland Security Act, and related subsequent legislation, executive orders, and DoJ regulations that are found to unlawfully infringe on civil rights and liberties (paraphrased from the original).
There's various other administrative bits and details, making the Resolution severable so if any portion is found to be contrary to the Constitutions of the country or commonwealth, the rest will remain valid; sending copies to various governmental authorities; providing guidance regarding any new Town security measures, and such.
There's no guarantee it will pass, of course. There's no guarantee we'll have anything approaching an insightful discussion before we vote, either.
Town meetings are what they are, and what's really quite remarkable is that the old bear still dances at all.
Still. About two years ago, I first heard a snippet of Greg Brown singing, "I Want My Country Back" when checking out albums I didn't have at the iTunes music store. I immediately bought and downloaded "In the Hills of California" and I've been saying I want my country back ever since. There's something incredibly powerful, incredibly reassuring and reaffirming to say it with my voice and vote as the Town of Wales decides what to do with Article 35 on June 19th. In many ways, it doesn't matter to me which way I decide to vote on the night itself, or whether the resolution passes or fails. The fact that it's there for us to vote on at all gives me faith. It demonstrates and reminds me that the America I know and love is still alive and kicking.
decadentdave's first visit here. He'll be at Concertino in Worcester over the weekend and is stopping by on his way back to Baltimore.After reading the Warrant, I'm very glad I'll be in town for this particular Annual Town Meeting. This year will mark the making of a tradition -- it will be the third such meeting I've attended. But it will be the first of the three where the Town is deciding whether or not to petition our legislative representatives to file articles of impeachment against the nation's President, Vice President, and Secretary of State. Yes. Really. It's the last of 38 Articles we'll be considering. Unlike 34 of the other Articles, this one does not end with the phrase, "or take any other action thereon" or its equivalent.
Article 38 isn't even the one that had me up and cheering. That honor went to Article 35, to see if the Town will vote to accept the "Resolution for Wales on the Patriot Act." I was more than a tad worried when I saw that title. The first three WHEREAS statements were bog-standard, but the fourth...the fourth gave me hope as I turned the page to read the rest of the resolution:
"WHEREAS an infringement of the constitutionally guaranteed rights of any person under the color of law is an abuse of power, and a breach of the public trust, a misappropriation of public resources, and is beyond the scope of governmental authority; AND"
Oh, yeah.
The fifth WHEREAS states that Federal counter-terrorism policies adopted since 9/11 have unlawfully authorized the federal government to infringe upon fundamental liberties guaranteed by the United States and Commonwealth of Massachusetts Constitutions. And the seventh WHEREAS, the seventh WHEREAS sings the song of my soul:
"WHEREAS the Town of Wales believes that it is fitting to honor the memory of all those who died or were injured as a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, not only by protecting national security and defending against terrorist attacks, but also by defending the fundamental constitutional freedoms and protections guaranteed to all persons living in the United States" [emphasis mine]
The resolution itself affirms the Town's "strong opposition to terrorism, but also affirms that any actions to end terrorism must not be waged at the expense of the fundamental civil liberties, rights, and freedoms of the people of Wales, the United States, or the world." To the extent legally possible, it directs that Town resources are not to be used for unconstitutional activities "in whatever manner or under whatever circumstances that may be presented". It encourages our Representative and Senators to actively work for the repeal of the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, the Homeland Security Act, and related subsequent legislation, executive orders, and DoJ regulations that are found to unlawfully infringe on civil rights and liberties (paraphrased from the original).
There's various other administrative bits and details, making the Resolution severable so if any portion is found to be contrary to the Constitutions of the country or commonwealth, the rest will remain valid; sending copies to various governmental authorities; providing guidance regarding any new Town security measures, and such.
There's no guarantee it will pass, of course. There's no guarantee we'll have anything approaching an insightful discussion before we vote, either.
Town meetings are what they are, and what's really quite remarkable is that the old bear still dances at all.
Still. About two years ago, I first heard a snippet of Greg Brown singing, "I Want My Country Back" when checking out albums I didn't have at the iTunes music store. I immediately bought and downloaded "In the Hills of California" and I've been saying I want my country back ever since. There's something incredibly powerful, incredibly reassuring and reaffirming to say it with my voice and vote as the Town of Wales decides what to do with Article 35 on June 19th. In many ways, it doesn't matter to me which way I decide to vote on the night itself, or whether the resolution passes or fails. The fact that it's there for us to vote on at all gives me faith. It demonstrates and reminds me that the America I know and love is still alive and kicking.
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-09 11:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-10 12:29 am (UTC)The standard language of the Warrant that introduces the business at hand is "GREETINGS: In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby directed to notify and warn the inhabitants of [insert town name] qualified to vote in Elections and Town Affairs to meet [where] [when] to act on the following:....
I love "...notify and warn the inhabitants..."! It's appropriate, though. The words, "...or take any other action thereon" reflect the reality that the people who show up and vote can decide pretty much any crazy or brilliant thing on the subject as they wish to. The town could decide that instead of entering into an Inter-municipal agreement with one or more other governmental units to provide public health services, that it instead is going to seek out Inter-municipal agreements to fund the Alien Invasion Defense Force I wrote about in March.
The Town's Attorney attends the Meeting and does his or her best to keep us from doing anything blatantly illegal or horrifically stupid. Last year we had to have a special meeting a month or so after the regular one because we hadn't approved the transfer of some funds in the precise way the law required. The Town Meeting regulars were very glad I showed up at that one -- it took most of 40 minutes to assemble a quorum for the 45 seconds of business we needed to conduct. The guy who does the local cable TV community call-in show gave everyone who came a historical Wales postcard. I chose one of Lake George. (The one here in Wales, not the more famous one in New York.)
The Town Meeting only controls the governing of the Town. We use electronic voting machines for Massachusetts and national elections. Most of the Town Meeting votes are by voice or hand, but I did have the fun of helping count paper ballots at the last Town Meeting I attended.
WooT!
Date: 2006-06-09 11:29 pm (UTC)I wish I lived
Date: 2006-06-09 11:40 pm (UTC)Here we have to have security guards at the fricking school board meeting to keep the board members from clawing one another apart to defent their various fiefdoms. sigh.
Re: I wish I lived
Date: 2006-06-10 08:25 pm (UTC)I'm very glad Wales is considering on now. More widespread public pressure is more helpful in influencing the federal government.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-10 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-10 04:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-10 05:39 am (UTC)How many people normally attend a regular town meeting in your town? I have the 1990 census here and it says the total population was 1,566. Small enough that a genuine meeting consensus might be possible.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-10 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-11 05:24 am (UTC)Hard to think of any town around here that would be making motions like Geri's. I'm quite jealous of her.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-11 01:14 am (UTC)