Statement of Purpose
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