A recent newspaper article cites studies showing the test scores of Maine students are unchanged and, in some locals, getting worse. Many Maine students and their families are bound into underachieving educational institutions and cannot choose better alternatives. Sadly, the results of public education bear out the statement of former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who said she could “look at your zip code and tell whether your going to get a good education…. The crisis of K-12 education is a threat to the fabric of who we are.” Yet, the first act of the new Democrat majority in Maine was to cut education funding. This after the Republicans in the last legislature increased funding for education. Democrats seem blindly attached to the status quo in the defense of their own special interests.
So what of priorities and what of choice? Is education to be bound to a rigid one-size fits all mandate governed by the few and the outdated? Should the first goal of the Democrat majority be to cut funding to schools and deny choice to Mainers?
They have already disparaged the most vulnerable of Maine by attempting to block payment to the hospitals, which tend to our sick and needy. Our hospitals are financially strapped as a result of Democrat passed legislative mandates. These financial agreements made between hospitals and State was made with a certain expectation of fidelity and honesty in the relationship. It was expected that restitution and payment would be made for services rendered. But Democrats have found other more enticing endeavors to fund with monies bound by contract and law. As usual, the dutiful partner is left holding the bill for the harlotries of the promiscuous other half.
The Democrats have regained the majority and have quickly showed the true intent of their soul by the revelation of their first and foremost of priorities. They have first cut funding to our schools, then are attempting to block the payment to hospitals, attempting to cut funding to charter schools, blocking school choice and, of course, a myriad of legislation to ban guns. Do you feel represented or repressed here in the new Democrat majority?
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Keeping A Promise
Recently, media outlets in Maine posted articles and pictures of the new home for the controversial mural honoring labor unions here in the State. It was unveiled in the atrium of the Cultural Building. This building houses the Maine State Museum, Maine State Archives and the Maine State Library.
In the media photos, there is a picture of three very sheepish looking Democrat leaders standing in front of the mural. I say sheepish, because as the Democrats try desperately to contrive a victory out of the mural’s public placement, its very presence is a damming indictment of the lack of vision Maine Democrats present to the people of this State.
As a few politicians mingled with a small group of media to cover and celebrate this homage to union workers, they must have become painfully aware that no one else was there. The Maine people didn’t give a rat’s “behinder parts” for the Democrat’s prized painting. Since unions make up a scant percentage of the private sector and the independent workforce, which comprises the majority of Maine’s business landscape, received nary a brushstroke of recognition amongst the dull grays and browns of the union’s forlorn masterpiece, it’s no wonder Maine residents preferred to be otherwise occupied.
But there is more to the uncomfortable disposition of the Democrat’s “Three Amigos”. It is the realization that the mural Mark Eves, Jeff McCabe and Seth Berry were posing before is a great drab verification that the Governor had kept his word. When the one sided representation of Maine’s workforce was removed from the Department of Labor, the Governor promised the prejudicial painting would be rehung in a suitable place. This was delayed when the party of those three grinning models of union loyalty attempted to tie up the LePage administration in court over this canvas of contrived controversy. (Ahh, alliteration.)
The suits against the Governor were thrown out of court. So while the Governor and the Republicans were working to balance the budget, make Maine a more suitable place for business and raising a family, Democrats were spending taxpayer money to pout over the placement of a persnickety Picasso, of sorts. Amazingly, despite all the bad behavior from Democrats, the Governor was still determined to keep his word, once all the tantrums had been thrown out of court.
His pattern of behavior, this dogged determination like a bloodhound on the trail has continually endeared Governor LePage to the people of Maine, who still call him “their Governor”. Despite his gruff, crusty and, at times, poorly thought out presentation, he continues to focus on the promises he made to the people. The majority of Maine people are a salty, weathered, hardworking lot, who are willing to forgive a wealth of fashion faux pas if they can see the man is working hard. And that he is.
When the Governor took office, one of his first priorities was to pay back the hospitals. There was a strong first attempt at doing that very thing, but it soon became evident that more would need to be done. The mistakes of forty years of spend thrifty Democrat mismanagement had taken its toll. The hospitals need more money and the Governor gave his word.
Much like his steadfastness on the mural, LePage has remained focus on his promise to the hospitals of Maine. He has proposed a plan that would pay back the hospitals. By using the liqueur revenue available, the Governor would pay back the hospitals.
But Justin Alfond and the Democrats are angry about this plan. Why? Greed, that’s why. Democrats want to continue the former forty-year cycle of taking any surplus found and using it to grow more government and government bureaucracies rather than fixing the present balance sheet. They want to funnel the money to themselves and grow their political machine. Instead of giving Maine a hope of financial freedom, Alfond prefers to repeatedly mock and attack the Governor in hopes of keeping Maine locked in the grays and browns of debt and greed, another mural of despair painted by the Democrat policies of self-preservation.
Those revenues belong to the people of Maine and to the hospitals, which were promised payment on services rendered. The Governor intends to keep those promises. Mr. Alfond seems intent on stopping him. For the Governor, promises are a means to be kept and honored. For Justin Alfond, promises are a means to an election and nothing more.
Of Culprits and Criminals
“We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American principle that each individual is accountable for his actions.”- Ronald Reagan
Common sense, like the lesson in this quote, is a virtue that we here in the rural Northeast hold in high regard. This is why the recent events, which are careening completely out of control day by day, leave the good, decent people of Maine puzzled and appalled by the words and actions of those elected to serve them. After the horrific and tragic misdeeds of the demented, how is it that the servants (politicians) are now calling their masters (citizens) criminals? What is our crime?
What has prompted the Democrat Party to blame peace-loving, law-abiding Americans with the deaths of little children? Leaders of the Maine Democrat Party have publicly chastised Maine citizens, who own guns and, by the way, make up the majority of Maine residents. Some, such as Janice Cooper, have gone so far as to say that they are sickened by us, yes us, for I am a gun owner myself and not ashamed of it. So what is so sickening about Maine gun owners, which, by the way, make up the majority of Maine residents? Was it our outrage when the Democrats started their new leadership tenure with a call for a pay raise? They hadn’t even started working yet. Same ol’, same ol’. It’s what we call “teenage politics”. Yell, scream and blame every problem on their “idiot” authority figure and then turn around, ask that same authority figure for the car keys and some more money so they can go party on that selfsame authority figure’s dime.
Our Country is in a fiscal crisis, the likes we have never seen, and the first act of the Democrats in Washington is to introduce eight laws to restrict our right to own firearms. Because it’s our fault, you see? We own guns. How can they pass a budget with all these gun owners lurking around? If we would just pass our guns in to the government, they could sell them fast and furious to Mexican drug lords, make a bundle and perhaps balance the budget. Perhaps, because there would, of course, be the expense of the committee to collect the guns, then the committee to log all the serial numbers, then the committee to lose all the serial numbers, a committee to devise a curriculum to teach the new “Omericans” how better off they are without any self-defense and, yes, the committee to implement the new “Omericans” education course.
A little over the top? Of course. But it does seem more than coincidental that immediately after a horrible, heinous attack on little children, the liberal elites immediately launch a coordinated attack on the majority of American citizens, most still blinded by their grief for the loss of the “littlest of these” and too numbed by sorrow to see it coming. Easy targets.
Here in Maine, Democrats label gun owners “sickening”. A newspaper in New York, The Journal News, has printed maps plotting the location of the residences of gun owners. Now incarcerated criminals are threatening those that staff the prisons with harm to their families because they now know where they live. Thieves are rejoicing with the knowledge of what homes have no defense and are easy pickings. In an ironic twist, the outrage against the Journal was so great the paper felt the need to hire armed guards for safety. Oh, those nasty guns make you feel safe now, hmmm. The President and most of his elite friends send their children to schools with armed guards, but not for us, why?
Other papers have asked for lists of gun owners and called for their execution. Dianne Feinstein continues her call for a forced return of all guns from the citizens. Mayor Booker of Philadelphia is offering $1,000 to anyone who turns in his or her neighbor who owns a gun.
In California, residents brought in their weapons in a buy-out program. Standing if front of the pile of weapons, officials stated that the children of the State would be safer now. But how many of the individuals returning a gun had a criminal record, except for the aspersions cast on them by arrogant public servants? And therein lies the culprit to the insanity.
We, as Americans, have wilted under the withering tantrums of our juvenile public leaders, much the same as beleaguered parents tire and succumb to the insults and tirades of a spoiled child. Yes, we grieve for the loss of our nation’s most precious treasure, but we must not allow our public servants to blame us for it. We, the majority of gun owning Americans, are not capable of such mindless acts with the weapons we possess. We only wish that we could be there, with those weapons, to defend the little ones. This is not a crime and we must never allow small, empty-minded despots to portray our love as hate, our independence as immoral and our patriotism as asinine. They will try but we don’t have to accept the label. We are Americans, free by the blood of our forefathers. Don’t ever forget the cost to gain it and the cost to lose it. May the fire of freedom still course through our veins and burn in our souls, forever unquenched.
The Maine Conservative Voice 