Category Better Life

Dec 2 2018

When a Plan Comes Together

 

Political irony is on full display in Maine. The staple of many a politician, hypocrisy has now been foisted upon the voting process. Ranked Choice Voting, toddling mere months into it’s infancy, was found unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court for use in State elections, has now mired the state into the muck of necessary legal challenges into its Federal constitutionality, and media punditry has circled the wagons around their collective talking point that challenging RCV at the Federal level erodes the peoples’ confidence in the “institution” of voting, seemingly oblivious to the millions of dollars, and years of political spin, spent on ads, campaign mailings, and signature drives, all in a effort to erode the voters’ confidence in Maine’s already constitutionally established voting system.

Here, the time proven political ploy of accusing your opponent of the very thing to which you are guilty is so stark it cannot be veiled. Could it be that the so-called “erosion” of voter confidence is not the result of inevitable legal challenges by a candidate, but a collective “aha” moment as Maine voters began to pull the propaganda veil away to reveal yet another political con game?

Ranked Choice Voting was passed by peoples’ referendum, a process which has been criticized roundly from all sides of the political spectrum. Because the process does not require signatures to be gathered proportionally by each county, the process becomes a people’s referendum of the most populated areas not the whole of Maine. Why plod along the byways and dusty ways of Piscataquis County, when you can gather all the signatures you need in Portland?

It stands to reason, at it’s inception, from the Referendum process on, Ranked Choice Voting was the will of the voters in the 1st Congressional District. The 2nd Congressional District would not have been fertile ground for signature gathering towards an perceived anti-LePage referendum. It was the 2nd District whose votes swung LePage over the top to victory, and that was reflected when CD2 voted down the referendum by 20,000 votes.

Still, CD1 votes won the day. RCV was immediately challenged in court and ruled unconstitutional. The ruling could only apply to the state constitution; therefore, state elections remained one vote for one person, while Federal elections remained in limbo until they could be challenged at the Federal level.

It was no surprise that the only Congressional District that RCV would effect would be CD2. CD1 would not, and for that matter, will never face an RCV challenge, as it is rumored that Cumberland County is a gated county that requires proof of registration with the Democrat Party before residency. It should be noted that this writer has yet to confirm the veracity of said rumor.

Sarcasm and cynicism aside, at every step in its brief infantile history, Ranked Choice has been the majority wish of one political demographic, CD1. Unfortunately, CD2 is bearing the repercussions of that wish. Ironically, without legal intervention, CD1 now enjoys two Representatives for the will of its voters and CD2 has none.

-Andy Torbett

Oct 6 2018

Tip of the Hat

The Maine Conservative Voice, more than occasionally, has criticized Senator Susan Collins for her votes and what we believe is a lack of conservative principles in her voting record. What Senator Collins does not lack in is courage. This has been evidenced over the years  in willingness to challenge the conservatives in her own party, much to our chagrin.

But it is this courage that she exemplified in the face of heinous behavior by unhinged mobs to defend the rule of law, due process, and the presumption of innocence. The Republic owes her a debt of gratitude today. Maine is proud of their Senator today.

In the future, given Collins track record, TMCV will assuredly disagree with Senator Collins on many issues. We will not hesitate to voice our opinions and disapproval, as is our right, which the Senator has so courageously defended. Still for now, a heartfelt tip of the hat to Senator Susan Collins of Maine.

Sep 25 2018

Decency: The Indecent Weapon

 

It was the core value that bound us together. The singular plank on the platform of civil debate that we all could agree must remain intact to sustain the internal struggles of the Republic, the check and pause to zeal and passion midst the emotions of heated discourse. Grievous to see, Decency now lies tortured, splintered, and ripped, tossed from our political platforms, and dead to the liberal players who now encumber the tired and teetering timbers of the once sturdy decks of our Nation’s discourse.

Still, Conservatives remain doggedly bound to decency. Is this to their credit? In some measure, perhaps so, at least to salve their own moral compass, but is it to the benefit of the Nation, when the results are repeated defeats at the hands of the Indecent?

Conservatives have yet to come to grips with the fact that, for decades now, liberals have been engaged in a full out war against the Republic. The Nation has watched with frustration as the Republicans have been outmatched, outmaneuvered, and out-manned seemingly at every turn, willingly compliant to the Democrats’ demands that the GOP plod along staunchly adhering to the tactics of a gentleman’s war, while Democrats gleefully respond with the tactics of total war.

In the moments that Republicans have found their spine, the Democrats have quickly called for civility and decency. Not for the result of deep soul searching and genuine repentance do liberals make this call, but to see Conservatives quickly slink and cower back into the defensive posture so easily manipulated and controlled. It has become reflexive for the Right give pause at such accusations because they revere decency as much as the average American does, but it is this decent average America that the Left, the Indecent, wants to destroy.

To the Indecent, decency is has been redefined as silence in the face of all that they wish to redefine. If the Decent should raise any protest, engage in any confrontation, and critique one iota of any jot or tittle of the liberal agenda, the Decent are quickly labeled racist, a phobic du-jour, or any ever evolving derogatory title the left engenders or gerrymanders to label or name call the Decent, indecent. In short, the average American’s desire for decency has been weaponized against them.

It is true that a growing number of our youth have embraced the tactics of the Indecent, but still a majority of Americans still recoil at the idea of being unfair and indecent to another human being, no matter their persuasion. So in it’s infancy, the Indecent wrapped their redefining of our civilization as a need to be fair to all peoples, and warmhearted Americans easily agreed. But as the veils have come off the social justice agenda and a growing number of Americans are becoming alarmed at the targeting of “unwanted” people groups, the Left must silence the critics.

Decent Americans want the days of decency to come back but how can it, when the Indecent control what is accepted and not accepted? Gone are the days when civil debate was a part of our political process. We look to our leaders but the Indecent shout, threaten, accuse, bully, and the Decent cower looking for a decent, respectable, and quiet solution for a response.

The Republicans’ continued adherence to the traditions of decency has been the weapon consistently used against them. A Decent man can be accused of indecency with no corroboration, facts, only hearsay, and we are bound by decency to hear the accusation. But the Indecent have no desire for the accusation to be proven only that the accusation be continually hurled against the Decent in order paralyze Decency so that Indecency may prevail.

This paralysis can only be broken by strength and common sense. It is not indecent to refuse to let decency be exploited for political gain. Our Conservative leaders must realize that the basic tenets of the Rule of Law in this Republic cannot be allowed to fail. A decent man, Bret Kavanaugh, cannot be sullied by the hearsay of indecency in an effort to redefine who he is. Republicans need to do the decent thing and end this charade of indecency that is paralyzing our Nation.

-Andy Torbett