I think it’s the best system possible for our rural communities, and that those who take issue with the system and traditions have expectations and priorities that are in some ways incompatible with living in a rural area where every aspect of local government and services rely almost entirely on volunteer labor and continual community engagement.

If you can’t make it for a few hours once a year to debate/discuss issues, and don’t want to look your neighbor in the eye while you cast a vote that could be for example financially devastating to their interests or raise taxes to the point they can’t afford the land that’s been in their family for 6 generations, then you probably also aren’t volunteering on the local fire department, mowing the athletic fields or serving on any local boards to actually implement the issues you’re voting on.

Many of the people demanding a switch to ballots just want to swoop in, vote based on a superficial understanding of town business while applying a heavy lens of the national (un)civil discourse and pop culture and swoop out not unlike how our national political system works. That’s simply not workable for small town life. Those people lack even a basic understanding of local history or dynamics and additionally usually have no respect and often times hold significant contempt for the people who actually dedicate significant chunks of their lives into the town on a volunteer basis.

Go to town meeting. Be engaged enough to know what you’re even voting on. Join your local volunteer fire department or rescue squad and raise your kids in a way that they learn the necessary values and life skills to do the same. Volunteer to mow the cemetery and athletic fields. Push back vigorously against those who try to inject the national discourse into our small town way of life.