The writer represents District 9 as a member of Brattleboro's Representative Town Meeting.
BRATTLEBORO-Recently, a 19-year old-friend gave the best and most memorable speech that my wife and I have heard in years. The seasoned politicians who bookended those 12 minutes, I am sure had important things to say, but they didn't quite meet the moment with the clarity, compassion, and passion that young man did.
He challenged us to look past the cultivated divisions in our society as the only constructive way out of the mess we are in.
Stoking division has been the shortcut to power and wealth for a very long time. It should be no surprise that the three richest people are in charge of the three biggest social media platforms. Almost all of us have been snared to some degree by their algorithms.
Over my lifetime I have watched as generations of politicians have used different, more or less subtle, methods to manipulate and divide us, all in an effort to win elections. In the 1960s, narratives relating to race and the Cold War (which got quite hot in many parts of the world), were popular.
We are now experiencing the least-subtle attempts at division (with a heavy dose of racism, of course), with sides of unfettered bullying and the most completely naked corruption the we have seen here. This last part will hopefully wake people up to the destructive results that come from allowing ourselves to be so manipulated.
If we're going to kick this habit, we need to find common ground with all those around us. We need to look for win-win solutions that sadly rarely grab the headlines but just quietly solve problems.
Even our favorite warriors for the downtrodden in Washington are more likely to keep articulating what "the problem" is, without bringing forward any real win-win solutions. It's as though it would be too much to have to come up a new and more inspiring narrative.
Legislators' lies of omission are likely as prevalent in D.C. as the ones that flow out of many of their mouths, rivaling the flow of the Potomac. In the end, I am not sure which is more destructive.
Our remaining traditional Town Meetings here in New England are in stark contrast, where normal people have real conversations about how to deal with issues that affect them and their communities.
Regardless of whether one is completely happy with the outcome, Town Meeting is a small investment of time in a remarkably transparent process.
This is why I am deeply concerned about talk of eliminating our Representatives Town Meeting. It is the one elected body that manages to avoid partisan nonsense almost entirely, as we help chart the path for our community for the next year.
Fric Spruyt
Brattleboro
The writer represents District 9 as a member of Brattleboro's Representative Town Meeting.
This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons.
This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the news sections, represents the opinion of the writer. In the newspaper and on this website, we strive to ensure that opinions are based on fair expression of established fact. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, The Commons is reviewing and developing more precise policies about editing of opinions and our role and our responsibility and standards in fact-checking our own work and the contributions to the newspaper. In the meantime, we heartily encourage civil and productive responses at voices@commonsnews.org.