Tag Archives: Town Meeting

Town Meeting 2023 – Part 2

As we approach the 2024 town meeting in my town of Cambridge, Vermont, it may be useful to reflect on last year’s town meeting. See Town Meeting 2023 – Part 1 for the series of Front Porch Forum posts that … Continue reading

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Town Meeting 2023 – Part 1

As we approach the 2024 town meeting in my town of Cambridge, Vermont, it may be useful to reflect on last year’s town meeting. This post is about a series of Front Porch Forum posts that I published last year … Continue reading

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Alternative for VLCT

This post is part of a series of posts on Questioning DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). Please see the link for an introduction, a disclaimer, and a list of the initial posts in this series. DEI is a focus area … Continue reading

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Is Town Meeting Obsolete?

Is Town Meeting Obsolete? That was the question of an online debate sponsored by the Moore Free Library of Newfane, Vermont, on March 16, 2021, two weeks after Town Meeting Day. Arguing for the question were: Richard Watts, Ph.D., a … Continue reading

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Town Meeting 2021

There was no traditional town meeting in my town of Cambridge, Vermont, this year. Like the majority of Vermont towns, we voted all items by Australian ballot because of the pandemic lockdown. In-person voting took place on Town Meeting Day, … Continue reading

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Vermont’s superpower

The following commentary in VTDigger by Susan Clark on 2/05/2021 is excellent: Vermont’s superpower, revealed: The ability to practice local democracy Susan’s thesis is that: a) civic skills acquired by actively practicing local democracy, especially in Vermont’s town meetings, are … Continue reading

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Rumble Strip: Town Meeting

The Rumble Strip podcast by Erica Heilman on 2/05/2021 titled “Town Meeting” is excellent! It is well worth 30 minutes of your time. [Town meeting] is the most civilized and surprising social gathering of the year, every year. [Erica at … Continue reading

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Democracy in the Mountains

The Varnum Memorial Library in my village of Jeffersonville, Vermont, recently hosted a talk titled “Democracy in the Mountains: The Vermont-Switzerland Connection” by Susan Clark. Several posts on this blog have discussed town meetings in New England generally, and specifically … Continue reading

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Voting Methods at Town Meeting

This post is part of a series of posts on “Learning about town government” in my town of Cambridge, Vermont. Please see the link for context, a disclaimer, and a list of posts in this series. This post is about … Continue reading

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Freedom of Speech Painting

Norman Rockwell’s 1942 painting Freedom of Speech was a huge success. (This was one of four paintings he did to illustrate President Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms. See Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms and Rockwell’s Four Freedoms.) Rockwell himself liked it the best … Continue reading

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