Vermont Town Meetings Model People-Driven Democracy
March 6, 2012 Voters in ten states take to the polls today for a 'Super Tuesday' focused mostly on the Republican race for the presidential nomination. As they do so, the national media busies itself cataloging the now requisite speculative horse race play-by-play while giving audience to uninvited strategic advice from political operatives and paid partisans. Quietly, however, in the thinly populated New England state of Vermont, a wonderfully quaint and seemingly-forgotten practice is taking place: democracy.
Tuesday, March 6th is Town Meeting Day for most Vermont cities and towns. Meeting day often doubles as election day for local officials, but they also offer a chance to discuss issues of public importance, help to set municipal budgets, and allow towns to make collective stands on policy or social issues of state, national, or even global, importance. This year, in addition to the various local issues, at least 52 towns in Vermont will be voting on town resolutions calling attention to the woeful influence that corporate money has come to exert over all levels of US government.
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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/03/06-4