Regarding the Town Meeting article that would convert our government from Open Town Meeting to representative, I am a mother of young children and I support Open Town Meeting. One of the great benefits of living in town is the many knowledgeable and dedicated townspeople who volunteer and attend Town Meeting. The relatively small number of people attending Town Meeting is not indicative of a problem, but is quite the contrary – it signals satisfaction with the decisions made. Duxbury doesn’t suffer from apathy – the local paper has a very high subscription rate and any conversation with a resident will reveal awareness of local issues and a strong opinion! Any time residents disagree with the voting decisions of the ‘regulars’ they will turn out en masse, as recently happened with the new school vote.

Attending Town Meeting to add to the majority is the not the best use of my time, so I freely acknowledge my gratitude to the excellent job by the dedicated regular attendees. Many of our town’s seniors are among the dedicated, and I respectfully acknowledge my debt for their excellent job and sparing my time. We have a perfect democracy and don’t need to compromise (unlike for state and national issues due to sheer number of voters) to representative democracy, and the cynicism, waste of money, money-powered lobby interests and problems that brings. I have the right to cast votes exactly per my wishes and this article would take it away and replace it with a reduced right to a representative who would never cast my votes exactly like me. That’s not progress.

Elaine Philbrick

Congress Street