To the editor:

Jacob Brier penned a letter brimming with perplexing and contradictory arguments two weeks ago.

They argued that all candidates running for local office were mindfully independent, claiming they could be trusted because they aligned with a national party platform.

They argued that no caucuses exist among the Town Council or School Committee. At the same time, in the past, both bodies were composed entirely of members or endorsed candidates of the Barrington Democratic Town Committee. This group can be considered an informal caucus of the party at large.

They argued that voting for the BDTC-endorsed candidates is not voting for specific outcomes but for a platform and values. The BDTC platform emphasizes the groups' stances and desired outcomes (albeit without details about how they will achieve them).

Brier argued that the independent candidates have not been vetted, are untested, and have no stated values or frameworks. This is untrue. The independent candidates have been open and transparent on their online platforms, in public candidate forums, and interviews with your organization.

I took from this letter a sense that Brier meant that these candidates, by not aligning with the local, state, and federal Democratic Party, are a poor choice because they do not align with Brier’s values and do not represent their platform and framework.

A genuinely independent mind does not sacrifice itself to an external ideology or social morality. As we have seen in years past, those candidates who abandon agency to partisan platforms seldom listen to the will of their constituents. Moreover, those who pledge to govern by “consensus building” often diminish their voices for the sake of the loudest defenders of partisan politics at the expense of the public. Their votes are driven not by their minds but by their desire to maintain good status with a group that has historically only offered lip service to community engagement while representing fewer than fifty Barrington residents.

Barrington voters decided they were done electing conventional partisan representation for the school committee in 2022. I hope they will choose the same for both governing bodies this November. Partisan candidates have shown themselves to be ideologically fixed and beyond public persuasion. 

Robert Swarts

Barrington