Freedom depends on democracy

To the Editor:

Back on June 9, Dover residents once again had the democratic privilege to exercise one of this nation’s most distinctive freedoms — the right to vote. Did you cast your ballot or stay home?

Either way, have you questioned yourself why you chose to vote or to pass up the opportunity? Seems like a strange question, doesn’t it, but take a moment now to consider it.

If you voted, was it clear from the content of each warrant just exactly why the town was requesting the amount it was, and did you fully understand how our dollars, your money, was to be used. I kind of doubt it!

Think back, if you will, to a time when our ballots contained some 25 or 30 warrants, and the proposed expenditures were far more transparent. Now, town financial needs are lumped together on the ballot in such a way as to mask not just the need but also the purpose for the funds. Since there never is an in-depth accounting of town expenditures, we taxpayers are deprived of the ability to know how money, extracted as taxes, is really needed, jealously preserved and carefully spent.

Surely, when you go to the hardware or grocery store, you’ve got a good idea what you’re getting for your dollar. Can as much be said either about town budget requests or expenditures? Yet, as the town budget steadily increases from year to year, do you see or experience any definitive improvements or tangible savings?

Equally concerning is the apparent citizen apathy — or might it be described as despair? — when open seats exist on such important boards as the school and hospital. At the just-completed voting round, seats on both these boards weren’t filled by duly elected citizens but rather by write-ins at the tome if voting. The lack of community interest and commitment could well be reflective of the notion that, at least in Dover, the citizens’ voice can’t or won’t be heard. That should provide an even more compelling reason to express yourself in the voting booth, particularly when you’ve felt ignored or that your thoughts and suggestions failed to resonate either with the administration or the town’s elected officers. Your vote is the true voice of democracy — the very freedom given to us by our Constitution.

It is a sad day when the ballots are devoid of a candidate’s name. Not to have a choice is to permit others to make our choice for us, and in so doing we may have inadvertently given our power to those who might not act in our best interest.

To “sit out” any opportunity to vote is to permit the power of an apparently unaccountable administration to perhaps perpetuate financial abuse by “writing in” candidates of their own choosing.

Dover-Foxcroft, like so many towns, faces numerous challenges and it is the rekindling of our own individual spirit that will help foster transparency in both financial matters and in the way we select a candidate for office. It will be our individual resolve that can bring about a collective spirit to a town that needs not tempt citizen despair or promote public apathy.

It’s time to get involved, to stand and speak, to present and promote your ideas. Our incredible nation has its roots in small towns just like ours, and those roots have been nurtured through conservative values, fiscal austerity and citizen activism. Dover calls itself a “service town” and we, the taxpayers, deserve all the service benefits for which we have so generously paid.

It’s time to set aside notions of the status quo and you can do it — do it the next time there’s an available voting booth. Be informed and concerned about how your tax dollars are being used and ensure no blanks exist for any board position. Voting is your freedom to choose and to guarantee democracy rules out tyranny.

Don Benjamin

Dover-Foxcroft