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Tonight is Annual Town Meeting. It is an old New England tradition, the purest form of democracy anywhere, even more democratic than other states. Every voter gets to say "yeah" or "nay" to the Warrant articles. Some of them are budgets, like the school budget, or the highway budget, or how much officials get paid. Some articles ask questions, like "Should we leave the school district and start our own?"

I have been to six town meetings this year, all in other towns, of course. People get very emotional about some of the questions. This year's top pick question? In every town I have been to, an article appeared that asked, "Should our town send notice to our state legislators to begin impeachment proceedings against George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney for war crimes, sanctioning torture and domestic spying?"

Believe it or not, in every town in rural New England, the answer was overwhelmingly, "YES". I'm not making this up. I don't bring this up as a point of contention, I write this as a matter of interest. Aren't you the least bit curious about how a majority of rural New Englanders would vote on this subject? Now you know.

Most of the issues are tedious and boring, as far as I'm concerned. As a reporter and non-voting audience, I have to sit on the sidelines and listen. But, tonight I will have a chance to sit with the voters. Town Meetings can be excruciatingly long. As far as I am aware, my own town does not have an impeachment article on the Warrant. It is always easier to write about other towns. It is much more difficult to take a stand in one's own town.

There are some very rednecked and backward people who live in these towns. Old codgers who bully people into voting their way, or else. Farmers and land owners who believe a property owner should be able to do whatever he wants on his own land. I once told a man, "Great! I want to build a chemical weapons factory next to your house. After all, Atom Bombs don't kill people, people kill people!" He glowered at me. Grudges are long lived here. They last for generations.

Generations and generations can go by. A certain descendent of a certain family hates a certain descendent of another family, and they don't even know why any more. All they know is there must be a reason why you live at the bottom of the mountain, and I live at the top.

Can you believe I live in the house with the highest elevation in my state? t's true! How many people can make that claim?