The first national election in which I voted was 1972, the year that Margaret Chase Smith lost her U.S. Senate seat to Bill Hathaway. I am sure I must have voted for Hathaway, largely because of Senator Smith’s dogged support for American policies in Vietnam. My early political inclinations notwithstanding, I find the Margaret Chase […]
We know when it is a Congressional election year. Like clockwork, in the mail arrives a letter from Maine Second District Representative Bruce Poliquin. The envelope boldly declares: “Public Document Official Business.” At first the letter is a puzzle. What “official business” do we have with this office? Then we remember. Mr. Poliquin uses the […]
Not that long ago the purchase of many types of alcoholic beverages in Maine required a visit to a State-run liquor store. This was rooted in the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which ended the Prohibition era in 1933 and allowed states to regulate importation of liquor. But no longer, Maine got out of […]
I have listened now to all the candidates for Governor in Maine. There are some I could happily vote for and some others scare the bejesus out of me. But among all the candidates, there is a notable lack of vision for Maine. There are lists of “where I am on the issues.” There is […]
Mailboxes are flooded with direct mail fliers. The roadsides are littered with plastic signs. We are admonished to Vote Yes On Question 1 on November 7. This is one of the clearest examples of rent seeking behavior I have ever seen. It is text book quality. Rent seeking occurs when an economic actor, in this […]
The narrative goes something like this: The Maine Legislature and Governor require all Maine schools to provide certain “essential” services. This is out of a sense of fairness for all Maine school children, wherever they may live. Everyone is entitled to a minimum education. Many localities struggle to pay the costs of these minimum services […]
The trouble with taxes is that no one likes to pay them. We want the services of government (good roads, public schools, national defense, a functioning court system, etc.) but would rather that someone else pay for these things. Yet taxation is necessary in modern society. Taxes are needed to fund what economists call public […]
I received a letter a few days ago from Representative Bruce Poliquin. The envelope was emblazoned “Public Document – Official Business.” I was surprised to see this in my mail box, because I had not remembered sending Mr. Poliquin an inquiry or a comment on his actions in the U.S. House of Representatives. I found inside […]
Maine Senators Collins and King took a leadership role in proposing legislation to restrict firearms purchases by those on the Department of Homeland Security’s so-called “no fly list.” One member of Congress responded to the media that he would be glad to vote against such legislation to show his willingness to protect “Second Amendment rights.” […]
Climate change (or as I prefer to term the issue, global change) is the ugly stepchild of the 2016 election. A non-issue for the Trump campaign (it can’t be an issue if it doesn’t exist) and a job creation issue for the Clinton campaign, we are in broad political neglect when it comes to the […]
