To the Editor:
Do we govern from our Town Meetings, or no? The state considers it beyond our legal authority when we attempt to use our local governing process to protect our communities from state-issued permits that allow any number of harmful activities such as water extraction, landfill expansions, waste to energy incinerators, sludge application, mining, fossil fuel pipeline infrastructure, even unsustainable “renewable” energy projects; or when our communities attempt to create sanctuary and equity for all inhabitants, including rights for Nature.
Why are we denied the right to protect our health and safety, and not able to create the kind of communities we envision at the local level? New Hampshire’s state governing structure follows the Dillon’s Rule doctrine; which is to say that the legal relationship between the state and any municipality (town, village, city, district) is as a parent to a child. A municipality may exercise only the authority the state determines it should have. This is why municipalities are referred to as merely, “an administrative arm of the state.” We need to alter this present framework of our state government and establish a new framework for community self-governance where the state is an administrative arm of the municipality. What we need is for government to serve the people, not the other way around.
How can we change the status of our municipalities from that of servitude to empowered, self-governing communities? Demand state constitutional change that recognizes our right to locally self-govern in matters of health and safety, and ecosystem rights. Advocate for an amendment to the N.H. Bill of Rights that establishes state law as a floor upon which people can use the Town Meeting process to locally increase, but not decrease protections. Support and join the N.H. Community Rights Network (NHCRN) in the effort to reintroduce the Community Self-Government Amendment. Contact the NHCRN and visit our website at www.nhcommunityrights.org to learn more.
Michelle Sanborn
Alexandria N.H.
President of NHCRN
Michelle:
You raise quite an interesting public policy question. Unfortunately, our credentials for answering it are suspect. Rather than spending his formative years studying public policy in ivied splendor, the Alleged Editor was documenting carnage in the enlisted ranks of the U.S. Army. Come to think of it, he’s still documenting carnage…oh, well.
Having given that disclaimer, though, we’ll take a crack at it anyway.
For the most part, issues decided at the town meeting level do not directly impinge on the presumed rights of capital.
The Editor