To the Editor,
The Power of Human Nature is a formidable force. A mother’s protective instinct for her children and the “hero” rescuing people from burning are examples of how our innate human spirit can rise to right a wrong or protect the innocent. While we celebrate these Higher Angels, we are less proud of the Fallen Angels that also direct Human Nature.
“Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely” is a well know axiom that acknowledges one of our Darker Angels.
Although we deny this Human Nature exists in ourselves, its siren song cannot be ignored. I have run team building workshops where we played a ”game“ in which I surreptitiously favored one group over another and gave them the power to make the rules for the rest of the game. Invariably (i.e., 100% of the time), the group with power abused those without, and the game ended with lessons hard-earned.
At our last town meeting, a motion was put forth to require future zoning changes be placed on the ballot.
This article was put forth because 1) Town meetings routinely have less than 10% of the voters in attendance and 2) Permanent and far-reaching Zoning changes were frequently being put forth with no opportunity for the other 90% of the voters to be heard. The motion was not passed because a small minority of voters at the Town meeting absolutely did not want to share their power.
There is a petition circulating to put this same motion on the ballot at the next Town election. This will give the 90% a chance to make their voices heard on life-altering zoning decisions such as the MBTA zoning, cluster housing, and accessory dwelling units. I urge you to sign the petition to restore our democracy and give power back to the governed. To get a copy of the petition, please send a request to Ballot01944@gmail.com.
Jonathan Keefe, Manchester