The Attleboro Democracy: Striving For Better Public Debate

Last week, I described to Attleboro Patch readers my hopes that more people would register to vote for this year’s elections, the deadline of which is Wednesday, October 19. A lack of voting is a common concern in civic affairs. Another concern is something that has become apparent in our country’s Capitol: a lack of civility and productivity in the public debate.

This week, I’m going to introduce to you all a project I’ve been working on for a little while, the goal of which is to help introduce more civility and productivity into the public debate. I’d like to introduce to Patch readers the: Attleboro Democracy Magazine. I am privileged to be the editor of this new seasonal magazine, one that focuses on country, state, and city affairs. The first issue focuses on jobs and the economy.

Now, to tell you the story of how the Attleboro Democracy came to be, I have to tell you a much different story.

As Patch readers might remember, back in August, Congress debated over the debt ceiling limit, and whether to raise it. Now, regardless of how you felt about the issue, it was not really handled well by anybody in D.C.

I remember watching some of the debates between members of Congress before heading down to the Cape, and the way they tried to “persuade” each other was just atrocious.

You would have one congressperson come up saying, “The American people want us to compromise. My party has been more than willing to compromise. However, the other side hasn’t.”

And then a Congressperson from the opposing party comes up and says almost word for word the same exact thing! I don’t know why it was so hard to compromise. They both agreed it was the other guy’s fault.

The significance of debating like the example above, which occurs all the time these days in D.C., is that no one is actually persuading anyone of their point of view.

That brings us back to the magazine. The goal is simple: add something good to the public debate. Now, while it will feature writers who seek to educate the public about issues that have no party tilt to them whatsoever, the Attleboro Democracy Magazine has many writers who will express Democratic points of view. It’s going to advocate for some Democratic opinions at times, and if you were ever interested in public life, encourage you to do so through the Democratic Party.

But what party the magazine is isn’t the point! I could care less if you’re a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or Yankees Fan. (Well, okay, maybe I’d care about the last part.) The magazine was written so that hopefully so that everyone can read it, regardless of their point of view, but still find what’s been written informative and engaging.

With that being said, I have attached the first issue of the magazine to this blog post as a PDF (you can click on it: it's in the top right corner of this blog post). The whole magazine is there for you to read. If you have questions or comments about the magazine, feel free to leave a comment below. Or, even better, send an email to the magazine’s official email: attleborodemocracy@gmail.com. I hope if you take the time to read it, that you enjoy it!