A Motion Denied: The Slow Death of Democracy in Stoughton

In a town famous for civic pride and New England tradition, something deeply troubling happened at tonights Town Meeting—a public meeting where democracy should breathe and flourish. Instead, it gasped.

A member stood up and requested a personal privilege—to make a motion respectfully requesting the Town Moderator to recuse himself from leading Town Meeting while also being president of the Stoughton Media Access Corporation (SMAC), which is actively suing the Town of Stoughton. A reasonable request. A democratic one.

But the Moderator would not even let him speak.

He would not hear the motion. He declared it was out of order—before it could even be brought to the floor. Not only did he pre-judge the debate, he pre-judged in what appeared to be advance scripted knowledge. It was no off-the-cuff ruling; it was a silencing.

A few residents walked out in protest. Others applauded. Applauded the silencing of a fellow resident. Applauded the suppression of a motion rooted in transparency and accountability. One man shouted mockingly, “I’ll get the door for you,” as people left in disgust.

This is not how democracy is supposed to work.

Town Moderator is a trusted position—purported to be neutral, respecting process, and beyond personal motive. When such trust is doubted, the voice of the people must be heard. When the system isolates itself from the critic, then it is no longer a people's system.

We are not demanding guilt, but we are demanding process. And when even the right to request recusal is denied—by the very person requested to recuse themselves—that's not discretion. That's self-preservation disguised as authority.

Stoughton is better than that. It's deserves officials who respect the process even when it's painful. It's better than residents who get that democracy isn't applause lines—it's accountability. And it's better than a Town Meeting where no motion is too inconvenient to be heard.

Because if we can't ask questions, if we can't even speak, then democracy hasn't just died in Stoughton. It's been buried in applause.