Facts Are Stubborn Things

No one likes a scold, but at the same time, facts are stubborn and we avoid them at our peril.

An Editorial in the April 15th edition of OLD COLONY MEMORIAL may have been annoying to read. We don't like to hear our faults catalogued for all to see. However, the editorial, published, coincidentally, on Tax Day, makes a compelling case for the poor job we Plymoutheans have done in participating in Town Government, specifically relative to the May 9th Town Election.

To wit:

The only town-wide race is for one seat on the Board of Selectmen.

Three candidates are running unopposed for School Committee

There is no race for the open seat on the powerful Planning Board

The incumbent on the Housing Authority is running unopposed.

There is no contest for the seat on the Redevelopment Authority

Barely half of the precincts have races for Town Meeting member seats. Four precincts do not have enough candidates to fill all the open seats.

And this, in a town with almost 60,000 residents

The editorial sums up the situation succinctly:

Democracy is inherently a participatory process. It requires citizens to get involved. It means they must, first, register to vote (which you still have a few days to do in time for the May 9 election). Next, they are responsible to educate themselves about the process, the issues and the candidates (we work day-in and day-out to help you with that). Then they have to actually cast ballots (imagine if a whopping 50 percent of the electorate actually cared enough to vote). And, of course, if they really give a darn what happens in town, they can extend their participation beyond election day and volunteer to serve the community in one of literally hundreds of positions. Perhaps, they’ll even run for elected office (there are at least 42 Town Meeting seats on the ballot every year).

We have been debating a new form of Town Government for at least the last ten years. Maybe we could just concentrate on getting the existing system to work better through increased participation.