In the July 2020 Beacon, Louise Andrus and Natalie Wells made it clear that, if elected, they would be unwilling to work with moderate members of their own caucus and others for bipartisan solutions to the state’s challenges. On everything from Second Amendment interpretation to taxation and the “New Hampshire Advantage,” these two candidates desire a limited government that they say protects individuals’ rights. But what of the greater good, the good of the community, or, as a young student of mine once called it, “community unity?”

The “New Hampshire Advantage” currently benefits the wealthy and big business in the state. We do not need tax breaks for corporations nor the current system of revenue collection; we need a limited income tax and the Senate finance committee’s proposed payroll tax on higher incomes, both of which would greatly help in financing public education, from kindergarten through the New Hampshire university system. Property tax funding of education is grossly unfair, as it disadvantages the neediest of our residents when they should be given every opportunity to succeed.

We need to end this squabbling over Second Amendment rights, especially as it pertains to schools, and focus on the health and safety of our children. We should be making efforts to legislate as expediently and efficaciously as possible, especially in the time of this pandemic. We need a governor and legislature who push for reform and progress. We really, when it comes right down to it, need to take care of each other through our system of “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” And that means all of us…