On behalf of the Clinton Green Party, I thank voters once again for their continued support and encouragement. We worked tirelessly for our nine candidates this last election season and feel energized by the results. We will continue to field candidates for local and state offices in the coming years in an ongoing effort to deepen our collective sense and understanding of participatory democracy.

We believe that offering viable third-party options to voters can help revitalize our sometimes weary and fatigued democracy. We believe that we must continue to widen our debate and deepen our discourse, avoiding the customary default to binary thinking: Democrats vs. Republicans, liberals vs. conservatives, progressives vs. traditionalists.

There exists much space to explore in between and even outside these sometimes falsely constructed parameters. Like many of your readers, we’ve come to realize that these above-mentioned terms have lost much of their meaning over the years. They are labels that have been hollowed out due to misuse.

We look forward to meeting people in the community who understand that our natural environment—as well as our civic health—is worth defending.

Eric Bergman

Clinton

Green Party member Eric Bergman serve on the Town Council.