I think it’s important to realize that our local government in Andover works differently than it does in Concord or Washington, because the rules are different. In just a couple paragraphs, I will try to outline how democracy, “people’s rule,” is set up to work in Andover, focusing particularly on local lawmaking. If you want to get even deeper into more details and depth, please explore the Town website at andover-nh.gov and click on “Boards and Committees,” and begin digging….

In order for our local democracy to work best, lots of people (ideally, all the adults in town) need to exert their power as citizens. This means voting and participating in Town Meeting, and perhaps even volunteering to serve on a town board or committee. This is how responsible individuals can exert a great positive influence on everybody’s quality of life in Andover.

The word “democracy” stems from ancient Greek words meaning “people’s rule.”  Because we live in New Hampshire, we are fortunate that our town government is one of the purest examples of “direct democracy” in the country. 

Every person who can participate in Town Meeting can make their voice heard and cast their vote on issues of local importance. This is what I describe as “bottom-up government,” in which local voters have control over nearly all local issues, from setting taxes to changing Town ordinances.

On Town matters, the Selectboard fills a predominantly executive function, the Zoning Board of Adjustment is quasi-judicial, and the Planning Board is quasi-legislative, drafting ordinances and providing advice to citizens about subdivision and site planning. At every Town Meeting, those citizens in attendance are “The Legislative Body” of Andover, and that’s when town laws or ordinances get passed.

At every level of our constitutional government, federal, state and local, it is not (in normal, non-emergency circumstances) the top executive office that “gets the ball rolling,” but rather the most representative, most democratic branch that proposes and presents new laws or ordinances. In Andover, new ordinances are drafted by the Planning Board and then presented to citizens to vote up or down on Town Meeting Day.

From the Town website: “The Planning Board has a variety of duties under state statutes. The Board is responsible for developing and updating Andover’s master plan, adopting subdivision, site plan review, and driveway regulations, developing and proposing zoning ordinance amendments to Andover’s voters, and implementing local ordinances through site plan review.” 

The sections in italics are especially important this year, since the Master Plan is updated once per decade. People of Andover have the opportunity now to make their voices heard, merely by attending the Master Planning meetings. (The next one will be held on Saturday, September 16 at 10 AM, in the AE/MS gym.)

At higher levels of state and federal government, we have what is called a “representative democracy,” where we elect people whose responsibility it is to speak and vote for the majority of us who voted for them, to represent our best interests. The state and federal government have the authority to make “top-down” decisions from the government’s highest executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and impose those decisions on the states, on down to individual citizens. However, if that “top-down” rule becomes the normal procedure for lawmaking, that government is described as “authoritarian,” not “democratic.”

I’ve heard people say things like, “Our Government is so bad!” On one level, such a statement puzzles me. How can we have bad government, when our form of government is a democracy? 

You don’t believe that it is because we, as humans, are bad? Or do you believe that we don’t hold our elected representatives accountable, and we keep re-electing them? Whichever you believe, greater citizen involvement makes democracy work better and reduces authoritarianism.

Sometimes, even when democracy is working properly, things don’t go the way we think they should from a New Hampshire perspective. Perhaps this is inevitable in a democracy since, for example, 13 million Pennsylvanians (with 17 US Representatives) may largely disagree with 1 million New Hampshirites (with 2 US Representatives) on some issue of federal jurisdiction (say, coal subsidies). Then we in New Hampshire find ourselves on the short end of the stick.

In others cases, however, New Hampshire has prevailed in spite of our small size. The federal ban on cancer-causing MTBE as a gasoline additive resulted because a legal action (originating due to a gasoline storage tank leak contaminating Laconia’s drinking water) rocketed up the judicial system and exploded over the whole country, just like fireworks at the Andover Fourth of July. Gasoline in the US no longer contains this harmful chemical.

Please get more involved in Andover’s civic and governmental future, and come to the Master Plan meeting on Saturday, September 16, at 10 AM, in the AE/MS gym!