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Durham Greene County New York is a community of
2,592 persons (according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2000
Decennial Census) -- each and every one of whom has hopes and
dreams and talents and gifts and insights and strengths and struggles
and challenges. And a voice. And as citizens of the United States of
America and of The Great State of New York, each one enjoys
the rights and privileges -- and bears the responsibilities --
that come with citizenship in a democracy.
Democracy -- Government of The People, by The People, for The People *
-- is by definition an active form of government. Every person who is
counted as a U.S. citizen has a voice in our government. The
Constitution protects each and every U.S. citizen's right to speak
their mind, to assemble, and to enjoy all the liberties and freedoms
granted to those who gather under the protection of the flag of the United States of America.
But with these great rights and freedoms comes great responsibility. As stated in the New York State Department of State Local Government Handbook (6th Edition; 2009), "[t]here is a fundamental perception, widely shared among Americans, that although governmental power can be used to benefit the people, it can also be used to harm them. This awareness has fostered a firm conviction in New Yorkers that the people must not only promote the desirable uses of governmental power, they must also carefully protect themselves from the abuse of such power." (page 3)
According to the Local Government Handbook, "If government does indeed exist to serve the practical needs of the people, it follows that local governments should reflect the desires of the people and devote efforts to the concerns of the people." (page 7) "Many towns in New York are still small governments providing basic services to rural residents and they continue the pattern of town government that originated before the American Revolution. Other town governments, caught in the mass population migrations of the Twentieth Century, have had to provide services usually associated with urban living. Both kinds of town governments -- and the gradations between -- must deal with problems such as protecting the environment and delivering municipal services against a fiscal background of ever increasing costs." (New York State Local Government Handbook, page 66) And, so, it follows that The People have both the right
-- and the responsibility -- to know whether and how their local government is
acting on their behalf and to voice their concerns and be heard.
"Respect. That’s what Open Government is all about. ...[M]ost
of us are at least a little bit skeptical when the government says 'No,
you can't have that information.' The government's business is the
public's business. Unless there's a very good reason, we expect
government to tell us what it's doing, and how it's doing it. In other
words, we expect [government] to be accountable to us. After all, we're paying
for it."
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