Traveling southbound, headed towards Bangor from Dover-Foxcroft, if one looks close and is aware, there is a crude wooden sign, partially obscured by the undergrowth, which spells a surprising admonishment to those proponents of the East-West Highway.  It questions why anyone who supports the building of a highway should live in the State of Maine.  This columnist is admittedly paraphrasing the words on the sign, but the theme is accurate to be sure.  What is startling is how little effort the author of this placard exerted to conceal his or her disdain for those who hold a difference of opinion.  The hypocrisy flaunted between the waving blades of grass in the field is not unique to the liberal movement.  It is at its core and essential to its function.

These sentences painted on slabs of wood are prompting travelers to agree that any who view the great resources of Maine as anything other than a pretty painting or fine piece of china merely to be observed in admiration from afar, untouched by human hand, are not fit to live in Maine.  Those who view Maine’s working resources as a bounty of blessing to be handled and utilized to the benefit and prosperity of all those who reside within its shadow are surprisingly encouraged to leave the State.  This is a curious request indeed from those who have long clamored that the wilds of Maine should be here for all to enjoy.  It seems that is true only if you resign yourself to be shuttered, isolated and cut off from the rest of the Nation, who would pay handsomely for the riches and bounty of these resources.  So there is a litmus test, in some minds, for those who can be allowed to enjoy Maine’s beauty.

In the coming months, studies concerning the highway in question will be researched and information will come forward.  This will be presented to the people and the legislature.  We all will have an opportunity to make, hopefully, a reasoned and thoughtful decision.  But this writer takes great exception to those on either side of the issue who would state or otherwise imply that those that disagree with their opinion should leave the State.

But, sadly, hypocrisy seems to be the norm for my friends on the left.  The head of the new stealth-Democrats, Angus King, has told Maine people that the huge budget shortfall he left Maine was merely a “theoretical” one.  Those on the left decry the ownership of guns, unless they can use them to call for the murder of Olympian markswoman, Corey Cogdell and her family.  The left has already screamed many times that the Republican budget would destroy MediCare and MediCaid, when it is, in fact, a plan to save it.  The fact that the President has already, through ObamaCare, cut 700 billion dollars from MediCare is somehow kept quiet.  The President has accused Governor Romney of indirectly causing the death of a woman through a company the Governor was no longer was part of, while Mr. Obama takes no responsibility for the death of border agent Brian Terry and the thousands of innocent Mexicans, who have been murdered as a direct result of the guns his administration gave to Mexican drug cartels.

Those of us who believe in traditional marriage are often labeled as hateful, but standing for our beliefs is not hate. It is our right.  We work side by side throughout this Nation with those of alternate lifestyles without any threat of violence. Young Bristol Palin has been brutalized in the media for her Christian beliefs. When snidely asked by a reporter if she would dance with a man if he were gay, she calmly answered to the affirmative.  But then she asked in return, would the gay man dance with her even though she is Christian and will not compromise her beliefs?  That really is the question, isn’t it?  Is the left really comfortable with an open debate on the facts?  Or, does it prefer to establish an exclusive club only for those that parrot their teachings and all other voices that dissent are excluded, exiled or eliminated?  What is your view of freedom?  Is it the freedom that denies all other dissenting expression or is it the freedom that allows all expression on the platform of decent debate without repression for the majority to decide?  Where is freedom in Maine?