 |
Promote
citizen participation in local government
"Experience has shown that the hereditary branches of modern
government are the patrons of privilege and prerogative, and not of the
natural rights of the people, whose oppressors they generally are." _
T. Jefferson
Although not hereditary in the strictest sense, for too long Epping has
been governed by the same faces decade after decade. They have managed to
create power blocs by their easy access to public assets and institutions which
have afforded them a considerable edge over their challengers. As a
result, Epping government is fraught with cronyism and patronage
whereby friends and relatives of those in power have an edge with respect to being
appointed or elected to Town and School boards and committees,
access to Town and School employment
opportunities and in seeking the services of government in one form or
another.
This comes at a great cost to residents who seek equality under the law
and to those residents who are forced to pay for the patronage and the privileges that
they themselves are often denied. To break this stranglehold, we encourage
residents to get involved, make it a point to follow what local government
officials are doing. Inquire as to who is doing what, for whom and
for what purpose. Inquire as to whether all residents benefit from the
actions taken by local government officials or whether only a minority of
the residents are being served by their largesse. We encourage residents to attend the
public meetings and to ask questions. To seek explanations when public
officials appear to act as if to ingratiate themselves, their
friends and relatives at the expense of the general public.
"Unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted
with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to their own
oppression and to the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals
and their families selected for the trust." _ T.
Jefferson
|
|
|
Promote
fair and even-handed government
"The equal
rights of man and the happiness of every individual are now
acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government."_ T.
Jefferson
The residents of Epping should be treated the same under the law.
But all too often, special circumstances are accorded some but not to
all. Although local politics is considered non-partisan, by and
large, it is far from ideology free. We encourage Epping residents to
demand that local government act to reflect the general good and not just
the interests of the special interest. We encourage all residents to
ascribe to the premise that "what goes around comes around".
Meaning, residents who are benefiting by some special privilege ought to
take into account the privileges they receive today will become the burden
of their offspring in the future. Said another way, "there's no free
lunch". While privileges may be free to those who receive
them...some Epping resident was taxed to pay for them.
"It becomes expedient for promoting the public happiness that
those persons whom nature hath endowed with genius and virtue should be
rendered by liberal education worthy to receive, and able to guard, the
sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens; and
they should be called in that charge without regard to wealth, birth, or
other accidental condition or circumstance."_ T. Jefferson
|
|
|
Promote
open and lawful government
"The whole art of government consists in the art of
being honest."_ T. Jefferson
As noted in the New Hampshire Supreme
Court case, Girard v Allenstown, "[T]owns
only have such powers as are expressly granted to them by the legislature
and such as are necessarily implied or incidental thereto."
Hence, New Hampshire is not a home-rule state; local officials are bound to
follow State law. These laws are first and foremost: the New
Hampshire State Constitution (the highest law in the State), next those
that are made by the New Hampshire Legislature (Statutory Law) passed pursuant ( in agreement with) to
our State constitution. Local officials are also bound by the
common-law and regulatory rules providing that the New
Hampshire Legislature has given the regulatory agency the authority to make rules relative to that
agency's purpose.
Laws passed by the New Hampshire Legislature are
called Revised Statutes Annotated more commonly referred to
as RSAs. This said, residents are encouraged to know their
rights by knowing the laws that protect them; for, local boards have
been known to stretch the law to mold it like putty in their hands in
order to obtain a desired result.
"Laws are made for men of ordinary
understanding, and should therefore be construed by the ordinary rules of
common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical
subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing, at
pleasure."_ T. Jefferson
|
|
|
Promote
fiscally responsible government
"I am for a government rigorously frugal and simple."_
T. Jefferson
Local government is funded, for the most part, through the property
tax. Hence, it is important if taxpayers are to be able to afford the
upkeep of their homes that government keep the size of government
small and its cost to the taxpayers at a minimum. Government has the means
to achieve these two objectives by restricting its activities to only
those which define its primary purpose.
What is the primary purpose of government? Strictly this: to provide
the proper level of protection for the safety of its citizens and the
protection of their individual rights; namely: the property they have in
themselves, their rights of conscience, their personal values, their
labor and their landed property. It is to this principle that we subscribe
wholeheartedly.
"The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond
income, [and] growth and entailment of a public debt are indications
soliciting the employment of the pruning knife...I think, myself, too many
parasites living on the labor of the industrious. I believe it might
be much simplified to the relief of those who maintain it."_ T.
Jefferson |
