MANCHESTER — Get out there and listen to the voters. And bring along a few ideas to share.

That was one message Deval Patrick, a Democrat who served as the governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015, sought to emphasize, among others, at a moderated discussion on the health of American democracy, held in the Arkell Pavillion at the Southern Vermont Arts Center on Thursday, September 11. The conversation, which was moderated by James E. Mahon, Jr., a political science professor at Williams College, was part of a series of events that includes lectures and workshops hosted annually by the Green Mountain Academy for Lifelong Learning (GMALL), a nonprofit cultural organization based in Dorset.

Too often candidates - especially candidates running as Democrats - don’t knock on enough doors or

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