One week ago, a roomful of local teens heard a real-life lesson in democracy at the annual Law Day observance at the Franklin County Justice Center.
Established in 1958 by President Dwight Eisenhower and officially designated by Congress in 1961 to take place every year on May 1, Law Day marks the nation’s commitment to the Rule of Law. This year’s theme, set by the American Bar Association, was “Separation of Powers: Framework for Freedom.”
Attorney Stewart “Buz” Eisenberg of Ashfield infused what could have been a dry lesson on the three branches of government with local immediacy by applying it to students’ own towns. At this, its most basic level, the Selectboard is the executive branch and the Town Meeting is the legislative body, deciding how to raise and use the voters’ money. To the 18-year-olds in attendance, Eisenberg said, “You are our legislators, you are our lawmakers,” and down the road, “hopefully, a part of our executive branch.”
It’s a theme apropos of the season, as towns in Franklin County and the North Quabbin area hold their annual Town Meetings and elections throughout the spring A dozen towns just this past Monday held elections or Town Meetings. At stake are some of the most important issues in our lives: the education of our children, how we want our police officers to deal with undocumented residents, how we pay for big, expensive projects, how we govern the sale of recreational marijuana, whether we allow pot shops and growers within our boundaries, and the election of men and women to the Selectboard and other committees.
“It’s always a challenge to marry the theory of governance to the reality of how it’s operating,” said Eisenberg, who is a civil rights lawyer and Ashfield’s town moderator. But Eisenberg found common ground with this year’s crop of students as he equated recent protests of gun violence in schools with protests against the draft and the Vietnam War if the 1960s and 1970s. Many of the students present, who came from Greenfield High School, Frontier Regional School, Four Rivers Charter Public School, Franklin County Technical School and the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, with the support of teachers and school administrators, planned and participated in peaceful walk-outs inspired by the Parkland, Fla., school shooting tragedy.
Prior Law Day topics have included the 14th Amendment, which governs due process and equal protection under the law for all citizens — called the most litigated words in the U.S. Constitution; a mock Grand Jury trial; and “Social Media and the Decline of Privacy Rights.” Every year, those lucky enough to attend — and not just students — enjoy a perspective on democracy offered by luminaries of the local Bar in the august setting of our state-of-the-art justice center.
“Law Day provides an exciting opportunity for students and community members to learn about our justice system,” Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan said.
The Greenfield Recorder is proud of its coverage of annual Town Meetings and elections. To our reporters, they are anything but dry: They are the stuff of drama as democracy gets played out on the nuts-and-bolts level. It seems especially fitting that Law Day coincides with Town Meeting season.