Direct Democracy

When students study about different forms of government, local government is underemphasized compared to the study of state and national governments. This is especially unfortunate because few people recognize that local governments are as responsible for maintaining the needs and requests of citizens as state and national governments. A noticeable method of maintaining stability and order in the locale is by allowing direct political participation by citizens themselves- greater participation compared to state and national governments where federalism (elected representatives produce and pass legislation for its people). Such process allowing citizens to directly participate in politics is known as direct democracy. As displayed at the TriBoard

Like legislatures such as the Connecticut General Assembly in Hartford and Congress in Washington, D.C., the Boards of Education, Finance, and Selectmen have the final word towards what goes into the legislation itself and approving it. Granted, the general public can voice their opinions at the town meeting where proposals are in the development stage, which is a privilege in and of itself, but there is no official public representation on either of the three boards. At the end of the TriBoard meeting on February 5, the TriBoard unanimously sealed the deal and approved of the deal by having each of the board members raise their hands and orate either “Aye!” or “Neigh!” and then repeating the vote with all three boards as a collective whole. As an analogy, the TriBoard symbolizes the legislative branch of government because they are responsible for creating new regulations such as the proposed renovation of William J, Johnston Middle School. If this is true, then the TriBoard regards the plan for the middle school to be an “amendment” to the town which the majority of voters must pass in order to “ratify” the proceeding. Unlike the embryonic stages of development, the voters have the final say in this stage of the