As town moderator of Cummington, the following is a statement I read to open annual Town Meeting on May 2: Tonight we convene to maintain and renew a tradition of self-governance practiced for 400 years. But we meet tonight at a time when many are gravely concerned about the future of democracy in America. Many may be inclined to ask, so to be reminded, “What does democracy look like?” “Can you tell me what democracy looks like?” I would like to affirm that tonight, what we convene to do here, this tradition of town meeting — “this is what democracy looks like.” Local participatory democracy. One person, one vote.

According to Only One Cummington, the first formal meeting held in the township — eight years before the town became a town — took place at the house of Stephen Warner on the 19th of June, 1771, with Captain Daniel Reed as moderator and William Ward as clerk. On June 23, 1779, the General Court of Massachusetts passed the necessary legislation and Cummington became incorporated. In the interim between those two dates began the American Revolution and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, just a few weeks ago we celebrated 250 years since Paul Revere’s famous ride to launch the war that would free our colonies from the tyranny of the crown of England.

At the time it was local democracies like ours, that by their nature taught Americans the virtues and responsibilities of self-government. It was through the conduct of town meetings like ours that the Colonial American public embraced the inalienable right of self-determination which, in turn, sparked a revolt and fueled a revolution.

Furthermore, it was the towns of Massachusetts that individually voted to create the state of Massachusetts, which in turn would vote to ratify the U.S. Constitution — a brand new form of national government “of by and for,” “we the people.” For as long as I have been attending town meetings, which inspired me to run for town moderator, our townspeople who show up every year to make decisions crucial to the functioning and future of our town. They truly demonstrate how a group of people, who do not by any means always see eye to eye, may yet engage in sensible, honest deliberation of facts and circumstances, and in most cases achieve broad consensus, and remain brothers and sisters.

So in that spirit, I thank you all for being here tonight. Our warrant of articles have been properly posted with advance notice, alerting you all to the matters to be legislated tonight. Let’s continue to show the world what democracy looks like. Let’s get down to work.

Joshua Wachtel

Cummington