The following announcement was provided by Progressive Watertown:
WBUR characterized the end of the 2023-2024 MA legislative session as “a showcase of dysfunctional governance that was [as] demoralizing as it was infuriating to witness.” “Deeply broken” was a headline in the Boston Globe. Activists are boiling over with frustration!
What’s going on? Why does the MA legislature pass so few bills? Why couldn’t MA pass a climate bill after the hottest summer on record? Bills are routinely negotiated by a very few legislators meeting behind closed doors, out of sight of the public and even most of their colleagues. How can we advocate for change?
Let’s talk about this! Come to a Free Public Forum entitled “Behind Closed Doors: What’s Wrong with our State Legislature.” Join former Watertown State Rep Jonathan Hecht and Harvard Professor Danielle Allen on Sunday, October 27, from 3-5 PM at the Coolidge School Apartments Auditorium, 319 Arlington Street.
Rep Hecht is on the leadership team of Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts and the steering committee of the Coalition to Reform Our Legislature. Danielle Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard and Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at Harvard’s Kennedy School. We are thrilled to have these two distinguished speakers share their insights about the MA legislature. There will be ample time for questions and discussion as well. The Forum is sponsored by Progressive Watertown, a chapter of Progressive Massachusetts.
It’s understandable that the people might be unhappy living under an unelected despot. But why are they unhappy living under elected despots? Out of a combined 200 seats in the Mass House and Senate, only 29 are held by dreaded Republicans. The people spoke, almost as one; yet they are “demoralized” and “infuriated” by “dysfunctional governance”. As an unenrolled voter in Mass, I sympathize with feeling disenfranchised in my own state and town. I’m used to voting for the losing candidate in just about every election. But the vast majority in this state have exactly the governance they voted for, with no Republican Governor to get in their way. Yet they’re still “boiling over with frustration”. The fault, dear voters, is not in your stars, but in yourselves.
If you run candidates like Geoff Diehl, who the majority of Massachusetts voters find offensive to their values, yes you are going to lose. It seems like the Republican party has gotten more and more extreme and more and more irrelevant in Massachusetts.
Precisely. We had a series of conservative “Massachusetts Republican” Governors since the 1990s. And then MAGA took over the state GOP. And here we are! Most of the elected GOP legislators are also conservative but not MAGA. They have that noose around their neck as they try to elect more GOP candidates!
Indeed. Progressives complaining about the One MA Party Government, primarily because their liberal agendas are not implemented fast enough. It brings schadenfreude to a higher level of enjoyment.
Democrats are about 45% of registered voters here. Unenrolled, like you and me, are 44%; the “dreaded” ones a mere 11%. But we lose miserably election after election. Do unenrolleds fail to vote in sufficient numbers or most are aligned with center to left (or worse) policies and politicians?
Maybe those “boiling over in frustration” are the very people whose party or ideological compatriots are not in power? Just a thought. Particularly after looking at those leading the discussion!
As the article quotes: “Deeply broken” was a headline in the Boston Globe. Activists are boiling over with frustration!” It refers to the people who voted for those in power, both liberal democrats.
Reading slowly helps, sometimes.
Actually “Deeply Broken” was the headline of an article, designed to attract attention no doubt. It was a quote from one activist who was interviewed. Reading thoroughly and not sensationalizing things helps sometimes.
I quoted “Deeply broken” was a headline in the Boston Globe…” You reply “Actually “Deeply Broken” was the headline of an article” Really? Brilliant. Was the article in the Boston Globe?
I don’t care about “Deeply Broken”. It’s the next bit that matters.
Let’s try again for the last time. I will write very slowly, hoping that it may help.
“Activists Are Boiling With Frustration”
Who are the activists? Who are the legislators? They are not Republicans. They are liberals. They are the ones in power because the “activists” voted for them. Your original comment trying to blame others is simply wrong.
“Just a thought”? Please. Not even close.
Not at all. Smiling ear to ear. Internecine party warfare is a beautiful thing. Not good for the Commonwealth, but good for a laugh.
UPDATE: This will be broadcast on WCA-TV at a future date. Many thanks!!
Approximately 50 people attended yesterday’s forum and it was very informative. Not only did former Representative Hecht and Professor Allen talk about the current process in the State House and elements of the constitution that reinforce this process, but they also provided ideas to encourage representation, responsiveness and transparency – supporting a local paper is one of them. Both also support Ballot Question 1, and think it is a good step in the right direction.
Professor Allen is a professor of political philosophy, ethics, and public policy at Harvard University and Founder of PARTNERS IN DEMOCRACY, an organization with the mission to renovate democracy. To join the e-mail list, go to https://partnersindemocracy.us/
Representative Hecht, is serving as a member of Watertown’s Election Commission. Contact him directly to find out more about his thought for changing the process.