We Are Changing The World

Above Photo: From Michael Magee

We have achieved a great victory over the tyranny of huge multi-national corporations and a system that is rigged to create more and more wealth and more and more power for the already wealthy and powerful.

The individual citizens, the people of Western Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire, working together, in a just cause, have won a stunning victory.   We said NO PIPELINE and we meant it.

Government only works, if we participate at the most basic level: each person doing their part, no matter how large or small, to bring about change. We stood up, we protested, we refused entrance onto our land, we called our elected officials, we pledged our money, we trained for civil disobedience, we attended vigils, we voted at town meetings, we put up signs, we wrote to local newspapers, we called friends and neighbors, we built a cabin, we marched, we sang, we prayed, we put up solar panels….

We did all the things that citizens must do every day to bring about important change and to stop harmful actions. Only active citizens can make that happen. The work of democracy is difficult. Government, corporations, and the super wealthy will not protect our rights. We, the ordinary citizens of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, must continue to labor for a clean energy future based on solar and wind power. We must continue to work to protect our precious land and water and wildlife habitat.

There is a famous story that, upon exiting the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was approached by a group of citizens asking what sort of government the delegates had created, a monarchy or a republic? His answer was simple, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Yes, democracies are based on the consent of the people; yet, the work of a democracy is not limited to voting on election day. A well-functioning democracy is dependent upon an active and informed citizenry.   The people of Western Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire have shown that they are active and informed citizens. Only we can keep our democracy.