Matthew St. Onge: Libraries should be neutral spaces, free from politics

To The Daily Sun,

It seems like political meetings at public libraries are increasing throughout the land. While this is legal, like smoking cigarettes is legal, is it really wise? When the pandemic struck, it was very encouraging to see how supermarkets were bastions of safety and good behavior.

It was a beautiful thing to see how everybody put aside their differences. Likewise, we need our public libraries to equal or surpass the standards of common grocery stores.

Coming soon to the peaceful and heart-warming Moultonborough Public Library is a political meeting about Free Staters with a picture of Jason Osborne, an elected official, on the posting. How would readers like to see their picture as the object of scorn on a library bulletin board? We already have countless, more appropriate, venues to conduct political discourse.

We could rant about Donald Trump at Market Basket, but we don't. We could rail about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at Hannaford, but we don't. We respect each other enough to know there's a time and place.

Let's nip this trend in the bud and make a gentle folk agreement to treat our public libraries in the same honorable and neutral manner as supermarkets.

Matthew St. Onge

Concord