t these are the right values that should guide us. We cannot understand why some people go out of their way to create trouble and harm, to be unfair and selfish. Why would people make the world a troublesome place, when kindness is so much more beautiful and so much easier? Well, there is great wisdom in the young mind, is there not?

And when we are very old, and the noise of the world settles down in our old ears, and the competitions are all run, and the beauty of life concentrates into a brighter sparkle as its little parade continues down the road without us, then we look around and find ourselves again a bit astonished that people, in the short time given them on this little planet are not more dedicated to fairness, to taking care of each other, to peace and justice, joy and beauty. It seems so obvious to us again.

And somewhere between youth and old age, you may find yourself at the table of power, where you are pulled between the ideals that have been burning brightly in your mind since childhood, and the real limitations of life that must be negotiated in hard landscapes of compromise.

As someone who can speak as an old woman, but who remembers the thoughts of childhood, I would like to remind you of something you once were quite sure of, and will be sure of again. Here it is: Democracy is our common tool of community. We find leaders among our friends and neighbors who are particularly wise, creative, ethically courageous.They help us create an ever-better community where our children can grow up to be strong, caring, accomplished and free.

I have watched politics for a long time in this state, as I was born here in Laconia 97 years ago. I have watched as our young people have gone off to war to defend our freedoms. A constant feature of our people has been their deep sense of patriotism, and I am sure that this feeling runs deep in your own instinct for public service. We inherited it.

I do not have to waste your time telling you that we would resist any slipping away of the rights of people to be heard and their rights to take their turns representing us as public servants. You would resist any changes that would suddenly reserve those rights to only the rich, just as our great grandfathers and mothers resisted the crown and its designated lords.

If we could bring back our forefathers to this room, they would, I am quite sure, warn you of the fact that the costs of running for office have changed in a way that threatens the freedom of the average man and woman. They would appeal to your patriotism to amend the law so that average people could again be heard and again give service.

Some states have confronted that patriotic challenge. In Maine, Arizona and Connecticut, and recently in other states and cities, people can now raise small contributions among their fellow citizens that qualify them for public funds so that public elections can again belong to the people, and not to the wealthy elite. The candidates and public officials under this system owe allegiance not to self-serving special interests, but to the people of their districts. That is where they now spend their time during the campaigns. That is who they listen to first, when they are in office after the election.. That is a dramatic return to the kind of democracy that America's young people have been willing to risk and sacrifice their lives for. This is the freedom of a free people.

In passing a Clean Elections program for New Hampshire, you are not being asked to embrace an unproven, radical reform You are being asked to return us to the time when the public paid for the debates in the park, when the family busnessmen of our main streets made the small contributions to modest campaigns to get the word out.

The cost of advertising today is of course the distortion to the system that threatens our idea of a government of, by and for our people. The Clean Elections program is the logical and quite necessary adjustment to that new fact.

Making this change is something we owe to ourselves, to the coming generation, and, in all patriotism, it is what we owe to those who have again and again secured our freedom as a self-governing people.The system will cost money. Roads cost money. Schools cost money. Public health costs money. Democracy costs money.

You may resist the idea of doing what Arizona did, which was to add a 10 % surcharge on civil and criminal penalties to fund the system. In Arizona, no one has to contribute to the system if they don't want to; all they have to do instead is to obey the law.

You may say that, if we had that additional revenue, we would be better advised to use it for our schools or something else.

That argument is not a fair one if the underfunding of schools is of your own doing.

Even so, if a free democracy is the item you would choose to undefund because you have underfunded other necessary needs, how does that square with your patriotic commitment to a free people's democracy? Would you tour the veterans' hospitals and cemeteries with that message? Would you not feel more like messengers of the crown, making your argument that the wealthy elite know best to govern, and that they will dole out the budget in breadcrumbs as they see best?

We are entering a time of great change. It is in the very weather. Will we enter these new times as a free people, or as a people led only by the millionaires who grace us with their courteous power?

New Hampshire is a state where a kind of person-to-person politics is considered one of our greatest assets. Will we protect that treasure?

I think you will find a good way to create less-expensive campaigns and better public support for candidates. I think that, when you are much older, it will make the child in you smile a very satisfied smile, for it will have been the right thing to do, when you had your brief moment to make things better. So I think you will vote for this fair elections bill, and New Hampshire will be the forth state after Maine, Arizona and Connecticut to have funding of elections and other states will follow, a critical mass will form and we will go federal as many of our good laws have been accomplished. We will have a different kind of a country, a country dedicated to fairness, to taking care of each other, to peace and justice.

Thank you

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Doris "Granny D" Hadddock, 96, lives in the woods between Dublin and Peterborough, New Hampshire, made famous as "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder. She was born January 24, 1910 in Laconia, New Hampshire. She attended Emerson College for 3 years before marrying James Haddock. She was awarded an honorary degree from the college in 2000. Haddock worked and raised her family during the Great Depression, and later worked in a shoe factory in Manchester for twenty years.

With her husband, Jim, she helped stop the planned use of hydrogen bombs in Alaska in 1960, saving an Inuit fishing village at Point Hope. The couple retired to Dublin, NH in 1972, where Doris served on the Planning Board and was active in community affairs. She nursed Jim through 10 years of Alzheimer’s disease.

After the defeat of Senator McCain and Senator Feingold's first attempt to remove unregulated "soft" money from campaigns in 1995, Mrs. Haddock became interested in campaign reform and led a petition movement. On January 1, 1999, at the age of 89, she began a 3,200-mile walk across the country to demonstrate her concern for the issue, walking ten miles each day for fourteen months and making speeches along the way. She walked through over 1,000 miles of deserts and climed the Appalachian Range in blizzard conditions. She skied the last 100 miles into Washington, D.C. when a historic snowfall made roadside walking impossible. When she arrived in D.C., Granny D was met by 2,200 people, representing a wide variety of reform groups. Several dozen Members of Congress walked the final miles with her.

It took two more years to gain passage of the bills, during which she engaged in walking fasts around the Capitol, organized rallies in many states, and held demonstrations that twice landed her in the DC jail. She helped connect the AARP and other important groups to the cause, generating a flood of calls to Congress.

In 2003 and 2004, she embarked on a 23,000 mile tour of the "swing states," encouraging women and the residents of poor neighborhoods to register to vote. She walked through housing projects considered too dangerous to visit by many, and registering voters all along her way.

In the spring of 1994, at the age of 94, when no Democrat would run against popular U.S Senator Judd Gregg in her home state of New Hampshire, she announced for the seat, with the idea that she would use the campaign to speak out against the Bush policies. Even through she was the official Democratic Party nominee for the seat, she refused all special interest PAC contributions, walking the neighborhoods of the state to talk to people directly. When the red state of New Hampshire turned blue in 2004 presidential vote by a mere 9,000 votes, her campaign was given a share of the credit.

Her memoir is entitied, "Granny D: You're Never Too Old to Raise a Little Hell" (Random House). See the book link above for reviews and ordering information. She may be releasing a new book soon. If you leave your email at the top of this page, or on the New England Reform School site, you will be notified when it is available.

Doris walks two or more miles each morning before breakfast. She travels, as funds allow, to states where major electoral reforms are in motion. If you care to help her with her travel expenses, a donation on the "New England Reform School" link above will be most appreciated.