I have been privileged to be elected moderator of the Southport Town Meeting for the past several years. I say “privileged” because the legacy of the “town meeting” is rooted in the oldest roots of America. To be able to lead that ongoing legacy is more than a privilege. It is an unearned honor.

During my tenures of moderating, I’ve learned that most Maine cities and towns operate under the town meeting form of government or a modified version of it. Today, Maine has 488 incorporated municipalities, 465 of which use some form of the town meeting system of government. Only 23 do not.

Maine shares the honor with Massachusetts of being the oldest state to practice the town meeting form of government being as Maine was originally the northern district of Massachusetts.

To outsiders, town meetings are a “quaint” holdover from an earlier time. They’re right, of course. This “quaint holdover” stems from colonists aboard the Mayflower who, upon anchoring in Plymouth, Massachusetts, gathered onboard before even setting foot on the shore to adopt their own rules of how to govern in this new world. This took place in 1620 and was called the Mayflower Compact. It established a governance based on the pure democratic concept of direct citizen involvement. As townships budded off from the original colony, that form of government was carried with them. Thus, in Maine, the town meeting system draws its roots directly from those first Pilgrims.

Now, there is a nasty rumor, fed by devious locals, who suggest we hold our town meetings in March to avoid “contaminating the vote” with PFAs (people from away). You should know, however, it has long been the tradition since the earliest colonial times that at least here in Maine, the annual town meetings are held in March. To this day almost 75% of Maine towns that hold town meetings, do.

So as we participate in this year’s town meeting, know that we are figuratively and literally linking arms with William Bradford, Myles Standish, John Alden, and the rest of the passengers of the Mayflower in this sacred exercise of pure democracy. Because we meet in this “quaint holdover,” we show the world that the great American experiment is alive and well.