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E-book
Author Robinson, Donald L., 1936-

Title Town meeting : practicing democracy in rural New England / Donald L. Robinson
Published Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, ©2011

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 261 pages) : illustrations, maps
Contents Part I : origins -- Becoming Ashfield -- Baptist troubles -- Governing through a revolution -- Interlude -- Transformation -- Part II : tales of modern governance -- Town hall and town meeting -- Tinkering with the system -- Building a sewer system -- Controlling the police -- Educating children -- Finally, a town common -- Conclusion : implications for democratic practice and theory
Summary At Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln described government by the people as "the great task remaining before us." Many citizens of modern America, frustrated and disheartened, are tempted to despair of realizing that ideal. Yet, it is a project still alive in parts of New England
This book traces the origins of town-meeting democracy in Ashfield, a community of just under 2,000 people in the foothills of the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. Donald Robinson begins by recounting several crises at the town's founding in the eighteenth century that helped to shape its character. He shows how the town has changed since then and examines how democratic self-government functions in the modern context
The picture is not pretty. Self-government carries no guarantees, and Ashfield is no utopia. Human failings are abundantly on display. Leaders mislead. Citizens don't pay attention and they forget hard-earned lessons
But in this candid account of the operation of democracy in one New England town, Robinson demonstrates that for better and for worse, Ashfield governs itself democratically. Citizens control the actions of their government. Not everyone participates, but all may, and everyone who lives in the town must accept and obey what town meeting decides
"I very much like what Donald Robinson does in this book: he provides a personal account and record of the sorts of issues that a New England town deals with in the modern era and demonstrates why town democracy of this sort is so valuable in generating in citizens the habits and skills necessary to sustain a political system."--John Dinan, author of Keeping the People's Liberties: Legislators, Citizens, and Judges as Guardians of Rights --Book Jacket
Notes OldControl:muse9781613760369
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-251) and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Direct democracy -- New England -- History
Political participation -- New England -- History
Municipal government -- New England -- Citizen participation -- History
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Political Ideologies -- Democracy.
Direct democracy
Municipal government -- Citizen participation
Political participation
New England
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2010044988
ISBN 9781613760369
1613760361