Published in The Keene Sentinel.
Americans’ fatigue is rising as costs climb, crises multiply and leaders focus on spectacle instead of solutions,” writes Carolyn Goode, a contributor to The Fulcrum, a nonpartisan publication dedicated to strengthening democracy.
In an opinion piece that ran in the April 18-19 issue of The Sentinel, Goode says research shows that constant political turmoil drains the emotional and cognitive fuel people need to stay engaged. “Participation becomes harder not because people do not care but because the system demands more energy than they have to give,” she says.
Actor Andrew Shue and a bipartisan group of Granite Staters are hoping to change that. Under an initiative Shue spearheaded, New Hampshire residents have an opportunity to convey which public policy issues matter most to them. The hope is that their feedback on topics like taxation and government spending, housing affordability and cost of living, and public education policy and funding will guide state legislation.
Launched April 7, the N.H. Forum is essentially a civic engagement website. But unlike social media, which can be alienating, the N.H. Forum is meant to be an easy-to-use, constructive online space, according to organizers, offering the opportunity to turn shared priorities into legislative action. It’s an effort to bridge the partisan political divide.
Keene City Councilor Jacob Favolise has joined the N.H. Forum as a civic adviser. He told The Sentinel he has spent time reflecting on how the country’s founders might view today’s political landscape.
“… I continue to believe that one of the barriers to engagement is the negativity that pervades our politics currently,” he said.
Forum organizers plan to hold a civic assembly in Concord in the fall to deliver recommendations to state lawmakers ahead of the 2027 legislative session. The goal is to encourage bipartisan lawmaking on issues important to Granite Staters.
State Sen. Denise Ricciardi, R-Bedford, whose district includes Keene, was one of the lawmakers on hand for the launch of the N.H. Forum. A legislative adviser to the forum, Ricciardi told The Sentinel she joined because the effort reflects her bipartisan way of legislating.
“It’s me,” she said. “It’s exactly how I operate. I like good policy over politics. I love working across the aisle on behalf of Granite Staters.”
So much of lawmaking at the state and federal levels has become show over substance. Banking on the idea that most people are tired of political polarization, N.H. Forum organizers think their effort can bring people together to work on issues that matter.
“This is going to build,” Shue said at the press conference announcing the launch of the forum. “It will build in scale. It will build in credibility.”
The N.H. Forum is one of three in the U.S. so far, all in early presidential primary states. Others have been launched in Nevada and South Carolina.
Shue, a Dartmouth College graduate perhaps best known for his role as Billy Campbell on the 1990s television series “Melrose Place,” calls himself the chief architect of The Forum, which he describes as a platform to help Americans “from both sides of the divide” to forge common ground and bring about meaningful legislation. He says this is “an all-hands-on-deck moment” for the country.
The New Hampshire effort is co-chaired by former Londonderry Town Manager Kevin Smith, a Republican, and former State Senate President Donna Soucy, a Manchester Democrat.
At the launch press conference, Smith said, “The extreme voices on both sides, they may be the loudest, but they’re not the majority.”
Soucy said compromise “is an art form that’s sort of lost its way, and it needs to come back.”
The N.H. Forum is hoping to engage 25,000 residents, especially young voters. Interested Granite Staters can visit the website, take a short survey and leave comments if they wish. Among the more than 735 participants so far, taxation, revenue and government spending have topped the list of concerns.
This civic engagement initiative is a welcome departure from the current state of politics. As Goode points out, civic engagement provides the fuel to keep democracy running, and Americans are running dangerously low on fuel.
Now isn’t the time to stall. Visit the N.H. Forum website and allow your voice to be heard.
