Eight Reasons Enfield Republicans Should Drop the Pride Flag Referendum

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  In 2022, the Town Council, under a Democratic majority, approved a policy allowing Pride flags to be displayed at Town Hall during Pride Month in June. After retaking the majority in 2024, Republicans passed an ordinance banning all non-government flags from government buildings. That should have been the end of it. But it wasn't. After forming a Charter Revision Commission, its chair, Mayor Ken Nelson, sought to include what amounts to a permanent Pride Flag ban in the town charter. Changing the town charter requires voter approval through a referendum. If voters approve the measure, future councils must follow the rule unless a new referendum overturns it. Mayor Nelson has been the strongest advocate for putting this on the ballot. "Can the town buildings be used to push a personal ideology on the residents of Enfield?" he asked at the Commission's final meeting. "It is a political issue—it's not our billboard." Last week, the Charter Commission dead...
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The three phases of climate change conversion

Bushnell Park, Hartford, May, 2019

Unless you live on the shore, climate change in Connecticut isn't all that noticeable. Spring still seems like a spring. A little wetter, perhaps, but people don't associate an increase in precipitation with a changing climate.

The most noticeable impact may winter's polar vortex. Polar air that is otherwise blocked off by the jet stream breaks free and plunges south. But our single digit cold is nothing like what the people in the Midwest experience. Most people don't consider these low temperatures far outside the usual.

But awareness that something is changing is arriving, slowly still.

The average person who truly understands what's happening goes through a life-altering climate change conversion that comes in three phases.

First, they may be aware of the issue, recognize it's something of problem, and generally agree on the need to end use of fossil fuels. They may even know what the Keeling Curve is. But it's not an urgent issue. The TV meteorologists rarely mention it. 

The second phase of this conversion involves a growing awareness. They are learning more about coral reef declines. They notices the headlines about fish migration to colder waters and the threats to species. The flooding and fires has their attention. They realize Miami won't survive rising waters, and they begin to do some serious reading. Their interest deepens.

What happens next -- the climate change conversion -- happens in a moment and hits with horrifying force and visceral fear. They now understand how serious it is and what it means for the future. It changes how they see the world each and every day and they are now sick with fear over what the children will face. They get the Green New Deal, and wonder if it's anywhere near enough. America is still somewhere in phase one, if that.

Once you have this climate change conversion, nothing will seem the same again. A good spring day no longer seems like just a nice day. It seems like something very precious and on the verge of being lost for good. 

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