The Big Day

Gearing up for the big day?

We don't mean Super Bowl Sunday.

This week and next bring town and school deliberative sessions, and those should be circled dates on the calendar, just as much as the annual Super Bowl party.

We have the unusual opportunity, as New Hampshire residents, of being able to express our views in a forum specifically designed for that purpose, and to offer changes to the articles up for vote if we deem that necessary. Remember, it's the articles that come out of deliberative session that we will be voting on in March by secret ballot, and their wording - thanks to action at deliberative session - may not be the same as what we started with.

The deliberative is a hybrid animal - no up or down voting on an article takes place, as it would at the old-style Town Meeting, but voters - no quorum required - can propose and vote on amendments to the article, thus altering what goes on the ballot in March.

And that's a powerful position for a voter to have.

Of course, it's only a position of power if we choose to exercise it. Staying home conveys no power at all. And changes in warrant articles are often determined by a small cadre of voters with a specific agenda.

That's why it's so important not only to attend deliberative session, but to stay for the duration. In some towns, that takes an hour or so. Other sessions hang on for four or five hours. And in some, it can mean 10 or 11 hours of your free time.

But think about it. One Saturday or one evening a year? That's not so much to ask.

Go to a deliberative, and you have the ability to change a town or school budget up or down. To cut back or increase road spending.

But only if you bother to attend.

Put your town's deliberative session on the calendar. You won't regret going. But if you don't go, you just might have quite a bit to regret.

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