Where is Our Self-Government?

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 …

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National Popular Vote Is Best Option for Presidential Election Reform

By Patrick Rosenstiel I think most people agree that our presidential election system needs to be reformed. In New Hampshire, S.B.43 is a bill to replace the state’s winner-take-all system of awarding electoral votes with a system that allocates electors by congressional district. It mimics Maine and Nebraska’s system and does not require a constitutional amendment to be enacted. The sponsors of S.B.43 and I agree that the shortcomings of the current system present a clear threat to the future of American democracy. The idea of battleground states versus flyover states delivers chaos, instability, and tribalism, and it shakes the very foundation of trust in …

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Days of Infamy

To the Editor: December 7, 1941 and January 6, 2021 are days that will “Live in Infamy.” One was a clear sneak attack by a foreign power; one was a home-grown attack on our democracy by a delusional, misguided group of domestic terrorists trying to discount and nullify the votes of millions of Americans in numerous states and overthrow our government. As I write this, Washington, D.C. has become an armed camp of thousands of National Guard troops and police sent to protect the peaceful transfer of power when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are sworn in on January 20, 2021. How did America get …

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Thomas J. McIntyre, Senator from New Hampshire, on the Origins of Right Wing Lunacy

[Thomas J. McIntyre, of Laconia, represented New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate from November 7, 1962 until January 3, 1979. In March of 1978, after addressing the Senate regarding the Panama Canal Treaties, McIntyre spoke of an ominous political trend. – The Ed.] I want to express myself on the way the issue of the canal treaties has been politicized, and I will do so with no little anger and resentment. Perhaps what I am going to say is not precisely germane to the question before us, but I believe with all my heart that it must be said and said now. … Mr. President, …

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Flotsam & Jetsam

“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” – W. E. B. Du Bois, at the Pan-African conference in London, 1900.

The Other Phone Call

To the Editor: Call it treason; call it Sedition; call it illegal (a breaking of laws); call it an Impeachable Offense…but don’t call it “just Trump being Trump”! The widely-publicized extortion call President Trump made to Georgia’s Secretary of State and other Georgia election officials (his 19th attempt to reach and threaten them to “find 11,780 votes” to overturn the election) was/is a clear abuse of Presidential authority and power; end of story! If you do believe it is a case of “Just T being T,” then you must not believe any of President Trump’s efforts, behaviors, or actions are to subvert and undermine our …

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