Disclosure: Michael Bosworth is the treasurer of the board of directors of Vermont Independent Media, the nonprofit organization that publishes The Commons.
BRATTLEBORO-Thanks so much to Tristan Roberts for getting the conversation started ["The long, uphill battle against the working class," Viewpoint, Aug. 19] about wealth, poverty and the working class; to Steev Lynn for his helpful correctives ["A'skewed and cherry-picked version of English property history'," Letters, Aug. 26], and to Erica Walch ["Can we take care of our own?," Response, Aug. 26] for relating it all to Vermont's tradition of poor farms and the responsibility for taking care, locally, of those in need.
I was immediately drawn into Roberts' "The long, uphill battle against the working class" partly because of my general love of history and partly because I already knew something about the Enclosure Movement. My own Bosworth lineage can be traced back to Leicestershire, very much a part of the Midlands section of England, where much of this enclosing of the formerly common, open lands actually took place, and also where there were riots in protest from the 1530s to the 1640s.
I don't know exactly how this affected my ancestors, but (through one aunt's hiring of a librarian from the University of Nottingham) I know that some of them were landowners themselves. The generation that came to America, however, apparently was not, as Edward Bosworth needed to borrow money to get his family here.
Roberts' lengthy article was clear and simple, often a clue that such ideas might be only part of the story. This is why I found Steev Lynn's letter so helpful. It filled in many gaps and painted an appropriately complex picture. Thank you!
Erica Walch's piece brought it all home, literally, to our own back yard. Living in West Brattleboro for 22 years, I long ago learned about the town poor farm at the corner of Bonnyvale and Mather. She asks excellent questions about taking local responsibility for supporting the local poor, in light of how well the Vermont system of poor farms worked. Then she might be skating on thinner ice when she blames the 20th century development of federal and state income taxes for upending the social fabric.
I do think a case can be made, as Walch seems to be doing, that the best way to address the issue of local poverty is to solve it at the local level. I also think that, however, is simplistic. The issue in my opinion is just too big in today's complex world.
And I do not agree with her assertion that "sprawling nonprofits that grow and grow and that depend on more 'clients' to garner more funds" do not make life better for anyone. I believe they do, and have, and for quite a few people. I do not mind, however, having this notion challenged.
This is civil discourse, part of the Vermont way. This is how things should be! Thank you, Commons (to be clear, on whose board I serve), for helping to keep it so.
Michael Bosworth
Brattleboro
Disclosure: Michael Bosworth is the treasurer of the board of directors of Vermont Independent Media, the nonprofit organization that publishes The Commons.
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