Elizabeth Willing Powel, wife of the mayor of Philadelphia, after a strenuous Constitutional Convention: “Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy?”

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

The U.S. Constitution, fashioned largely after New Hampshire’s, established a republic in which representatives are democratically elected by a majority of the people, and power is distributed among three branches of government. The definition of “the people” has greatly expanded since 1787, often with heroic effort and bloody resistance, but what hasn’t changed is that the “you” Dr. Franklin referred to is us. We are the keepers of this republic, and it’s up to us to maintain a system of majority rule and separation of power.

We’re seeing and feeling the erosion of the Founders’ democratic ideals in recent years. The Trump administration has corrupted many of the institutions established to serve the people by placing profiteers in charge of them. Those he can’t corrupt, like the postal service, the CDC, and the free press, he tries to discredit. In 2020, the results have been catastrophic, physically and economically. As the pandemic rages, he and his servants around the country are also undermining access to the vote and sowing mistrust in this most basic right. The goal is minority rule by those already in power. As long as their stock portfolios are well, they’re all right with the rest of us suffering.

We see blatant minority rule in here New Hampshire. Gov. Sununu calls himself “a Trump man, through and through,” though I personally don’t think he’s that corrupt. He hasn’t lied nearly as much about COVID19, and he’s signed on to some police reform measures. But he’s still diverting funding for public education and pandemic relief to his corporate cronies, and his veto record is solid evidence that he’s every bit as anti-democratic as his friends in DC. His 79 vetoes in the last 2 years tell us all we need to know: he thinks New Hampshire is his state, not ours.

We the people want clean and accessible elections, but the Governor doesn’t. Our legislature passed bills in the last 2 sessions that would have increased online registration and created a secure statewide database to keep voter information updated; established an independent redistricting advisory commission to ensure fair representation; and reined in the corrupting power of money in politics. They passed by solid majorities, but Sununu killed them with his veto pen. What he has done is legal, but it’s an abuse of the system in service to un-democratic power.

We the people are suffering needlessly because the Governor thinks NH is his kingdom. In the last 2 years, our representatives twice passed bills to establish a mechanism for paid family and medical leave so our workers could care for their families without losing their income. We twice passed bills to establish a $12 minimum wage for NH workers, who now work under the pathetic, insulting $7.25 federal minimum. We passed a bill creating a duty of good faith for mortgage lenders and preventing evictions for nonpayment of rent during the pandemic state of

emergency. We established a fund to conduct a needs assessment for long-term care facilities, develop health and safety protocols and reporting procedures, and support training for nurses’ assistants to alleviate our desperate shortage of skilled nursing care. As winter looms, infection rates rise, and our essential workers get sick or lose their jobs, or both, the governor killed every one of these life-saving bills.

The people want a fairer tax structure. We want to lift restrictions on clean energy production so more of us can create and benefit from hydro, wind, and solar power, and we can contribute to the fight against climate change. We (both gun owners and non-gun owners) want stronger background checks and red flag laws to reduce injury and death by firearms. All these bills were supported by a majority of NH voters and our representatives in the legislature. They were killed by special interests and their representative in the Governor’s office.

On Oct. 24, Greater Nashua Rights and Democracy, in collaboration with the Kent Street Coalition, is bringing New Hampshire’s Veto Cemetery to Nashua’s City Hall. There is a gravestone for each of the 79 bills vetoed by Governor Sununu in the last 2 years. But this event is not just about the death of individual bills; it is about the life of democracy itself. As long as Gov. Sununu is in office, or until we elect enough State Senators and Representatives to override his vetoes, we don’t have representative government in New Hampshire. We invite the public to attend this event from 2-4 PM, learn what all these vetoes have cost us, and resolve to vote on Nov. 3rd, or before, for Dan Feltes for Governor and for Democratic Senators, Representatives, and Executive Councilors committed to restoring representation in our state institutions.

The work doesn’t stop there, though. We know where complacency leads. We have a President and a Governor who seem to have mistaken themselves for kings. It’s up to us to reject with our votes, then with our vigilance and our voices, all efforts to establish a “monarchy” here and in Washington DC. We still have a republic, if we decide to keep it.