Sustainable Tyranny Spreads
Reprinted with permission from the author
Who Will Decide Town and School Issues?
Will it be you the taxpayers, or a corporate PR firm?
One of the most shocking goals of the Water Sustainability Commission, a group created out of thin air by virtue of an executive order of Governor Lynch’s in 2011 (residual damage) is to get a law passed that would deem all water, including the water in the well under your land, as property of the state of NH… to be metered, taxed, and controlled. After all, those of us who paid a lot of money for well pumps and maintenance of same, are getting our water “too cheaply”. (Their words not mine.) That is just one of the goals that are typical of things that no resident asked for. Theirs scheme does not just stop with the environment, but extends to housing, energy, health care, transportation and education.
The nine Regional Planning Commissions, created in the 1960s by the legislature, claim to have no authority to create laws, but have plenty of your taxpayer dollars, married to outside corporate money, to form public-private partnerships bent on accomplishing goals which align with the Water Sustainability Commission’s vision. We’ve been observing the PR firms employed by these entities, as they have tried to steer the conversation from the top down at planning board meetings. These groups are claiming to represent your “community” but they clearly originate from the outside.
Upon further investigation, we find they have invaded our high schools for the purpose of recruiting students, and now are appearing in our yearly town and school meetings, where they “facilitate” for passage of certain warrant articles. The Carsey Institute is the culprit here; this group works out of UNH and other colleges in NH. (Marcy Carsey was the Hollywood producer of many television programs from the 70s and 80s whose fortunes provide funding for this foundation.)
The institute has set up a PR firm called “NH Listens” (one of two in use) which of course has a title that seems contrary to its purpose. They regularly train “facilitators” who are now not just conducting the foundation’s own discussion sessions prior to and during planning board meetings, but are “facilitating” discussions at town and school meetings, where normally the townspeople would interact with the moderator. Attendees are broken into small groups where facilitators steer the debate using the Delphi Method.
Who hired them to conduct Delphi sessions at our regular town and school meetings? Who invited these “change agents” to run these meetings? How are they being paid? Do town and school officials even have the legal right to use our own tax dollars against us in such a manner in order to ensure a particular outcome?
As the Hon. Greg Hill recently wrote in an LTE to the Laconia Daily Sun: “Apparently, all-day kindergarten is such an important issue to the administration that they feel the need to bring in an outside group to “shape” public opinion their way. The news article in The Echo described the meeting as “structured and focused”. I thought the job description of our paid school district moderator included keeping our discussions structured and focused, didn’t you? Ah, but the difference is that this outside group, NH Listens, keeps us focused for one reason and one reason only: to achieve the outcome the school administration wants. That’s right, we will be focused and structured until we give the facilitators the answers they want. N.H. Listens is highly trained in the Delphi Technique, and this very liberal organization knows how to work us over so that in the end, the school administration gets what they want.”
If this all still does not make sense to you, think of it this way: What do you think would happen if any of us unfunded taxpayers showed up at the town or school offices and said, “Hello, we represent groups of residents, taxpayers, and the real community in this town, and we would like facilitate your meetings”. Do you think we’d be accommodated? Why are private corporations being allowed, and even paid to do this? Think about that for a bit.
We agree with Hill’s statement that “Our system of open-forum community discussions run by a moderator has worked just fine for 200 years. We don’t need facilitators standing between us and our elected representatives or district employees.”
So, who will decide what measures will pass at town and school meetings in NH this spring? Will it be the taxpayers, or corporate PR firms from outside the state that were invited to conduct a structured discussion meant to lead you in a single, pre-determined direction?
Laconia Daily Sun Letter from Greg Hill:
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/index.php/opinion/letters/65098-we-don-t-need-outside-group-trying-to-help-wrsd-officials-get-around-2012-kindergarten-vote
Update: This letter is so important we decided to include the full text here with Rep Hill’s permission:
We don’t need outside group trying to help WRSD officials get around 2012 kindergarten vote
Published Date Saturday, 19 January 2013 01:41
To the editor,
For 200 years we’ve had community conversations about big issues — open conversations in public session with a town or district moderator. I recall a few years ago a debate over the Winnisquam Regional School District apportionment formula and another about football. All that is about to change.
Apparently, all-day kindergarten is such an important issue to the administration that they feel the need to bring in an outside group to “shape” public opinion their way. The news article in The Echo described the meeting as “structured and focused”. I thought the job description of our paid school district moderator included keeping our discussions structured and focused, didn’t you? Ah, but the difference is that this outside group, NH Listens, keeps us focused for one reason and one reason only: to achieve the outcome the school administration wants. That’s right, we will be focused and structured until we give the facilitators the answers they want. N.H. Listens is highly trained in the Delphi Technique, and this very liberal organization knows how to work us over so that in the end, the school administration gets what they want.
In this case, the administration wants a public “consensus” for all-day kindergarten. We didn’t give it to them at last year’s district meeting after an open discussion in which all voices could be heard by all, so they’ll try to get it in a structured session (i.e., not an open discussion), facilitated by an outside group. If they get it, we’ll see the same article that we turned down last year brought up again this year without any new justification.
Come to the community meeting January 23rd and respectfully tell this outside group that the message for the administration is, “No means No.” Our system of open-forum community discussions run by a moderator has worked just fine for 200 years. We don’t need facilitators standing between us and our elected representatives or district employees. 6:30 at the WRSD Middle School.
Greg Hill
Northfield
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Groups involved:
Carsey Institute
http://carseyinstitute.unh.edu/
NH Listens
http://www.nhlistens.org/
Granite State Future
http://www.granitestatefuture.org/
Plan NH
http://www.plannh.org/
NH Association of Regional Planning Commissions
http://nharpc.org/
Water Sustainability Commission
http://www.nh.gov/water-sustainability/
Related: Here is an example of one the ‘facilitators’ who have appeared at local meetings, straight from the Annenberg School of Community Organizing. They are talking to our students and training our teachers. Bad enough that domestic terrorist William Ayers has been doing this for years, now we are inviting ‘community organizers’ to use our tax dollars against us.
The problem with the Tucson program described in the article was, they were using the schools to foment communist revolution… not just teaching heritage. We know this because one of our national researchers lives in Tucson and fought to remove this program. This program was teaching radical revolutionary concepts to encourage students to take back the land for Mexico… it was not just about studying their heritage. It was using the students for political purposes.
From a participant: What happens at a facilitated discussion group.