Resolutions Project

Taking inspiration from Simon Rosenberg, publisher of the Hopium Chronicles, Swing Left NSCA is convening North Shore towns and cities interested in passing local resolutions condemning the increasingly lawless actions of the federal government. According to Rosenberg, “Resolutions of Condemnation” have been introduced in 85 towns and cities across 23 states. Boston passed its Resolution Affirming Democracy on July 4, 2025.

Background: As we approach the 250 th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, these resolutions harken back to revolutionary New England, when our cities and towns passed “resolves” condemning the actions of King George and British Parliament, which limited self-government in the colonies. The colonists saw these actions—the Stamp Act, the tax on tea, and eventually the Coercive Acts, revoking the Massachusetts Bay charter, and the military occupation of the City of Boston—as acts of tyranny. They resisted on multiple fronts, passing resolves, participating in boycotts and other acts of noncooperation, and eventually fighting an 8-year war.

Today, we are called on to resist the tyranny again. For as our Founders wrote in the Declaration:

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Purpose: Representing multiple towns on the North Shore, including Salem, Marblehead, Ipswich, Manchester, and Lynn, a steering committee has formed to pass Resolutions condemning unconstitutional acts of the federal government and affirming the founding principles of our democracy. We hope to use these resolutions to spur our fellow citizens to resist the wholesale destruction of our federal government and the attempt to consolidate power among a small group of wealthy individuals who want to use our government to enrich themselves.

We are working together to help leaders from each community draft resolutions and bring them before their town meetings, select boards, or city councils. We are also making plans to use the resolutions to educate our communities and continue to build the resistance to authoritarian rule. If multiple communities pass resolutions in the first half of 2026, our hope is that we can draw media attention and create an alternative narrative around this year’s July 4 celebrations that reminds our communities of the sacrifice and determination that birthed our unique experiment in self-government and how much we have to lose if it is destroyed.

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