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.
Tag Archives: Maine politics
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.
Merry Getsmas
It’s a Wonderful Life! And, yes, it is. The theme of that timeless classic represents one of the greatest most daunting challenges to parenting. How to teach our little ones that the giving is greater than the getting? How to live like the Apostle Paul who, whether abased or in abundance, learned the secret of contentment?
I was blessed to have grown up in a poor home. Yes, blessed. My father, a Vietnam Vet, left for the mission field in New Guinea, not long after returning from war. After returning stateside from the New Guinea, he immediately turned his passion and energy into church planting for the denomination to which he was affiliated. What that meant for our family was that we were in perpetual state of rebuilding our family budget. Once the church my father had planted reached a financial place to comfortably support our family, we moved on to start again. Over time, my resentment of this would turn to wisdom as I saw the need for sacrifice for the greater good. Lessons a teenage boy would prefer not to learn, but necessary nonetheless. I have learned that the best way to teach a wonderful life is to live a wonderful life.
But in the arena of politics it is all about the getting, isn’t it? The struggle for “who gets” is the ideal that predicates every manipulation, parry and thrust of this age-old dual. In the State of Maine, there is one Party that has a focus upon their interpretation of “who gets” and what they get. The other Party is in a constant study of vacillation and debate on which interpretation of “the gets’ and “who gets” they should adopt; the Party’s or the people’s.
The first is the Democrats. The have one constant focus and they do not divert from that. The government should get and the people should give. They firmly believe and espouse that all the wealth and treasure of Maine residents should be heaped into the halls of government where it can be protected and regulated away from the mishandling by the uneducated masses. And if there be any heaps left in the hands of the uneducated and unenlightened, those heaps should be immediately labeled as ill-gotten gains and the possessor of said heaps should be made to wear a sign with bright scarlet letters that spell “businessman”. Yes, after two short years out of power, the first order of business for Democrats was to try and vote themselves a raise. There is nothing left to guess on “who gets” with Democrats.
The reason for this immediate, feverish rush to the “till” for the Party, whose symbol is an Ass? It’s really quite obvious. For the two years, under the leadership of Paul LePage, the Republicans have been attempting to shovel those heaps of Maine’s wealth and treasure back out to the people of Maine. By lowering unemployment, creating jobs, making health care affordable and competitive, and passing the largest tax cut in Maine history Mainers are starting to see hope for an actual rebuilding of their own personal heaps. With 6,800 net new jobs in just 12 months, the average personal income above the national average by 30%, new home purchases up again by 23.6%, and the unemployment rate down creating 10,000 jobs since 2011, its hard to comprehend why Democrats regained a majority, unless you look at the issue of the “who gets”.
These Republican accomplishments did not come without a struggle. More could have been accomplished, were it not for very public defections from the hard left of the Republican Party. Editorials chastising the Governor in front of the State and the Nation did not give a picture of leaders focused on the people. The Tweed Chair debacle of the Maine Republican Convention convinced the people of Maine the Republican Party was riddled with factions consumed with getting their own agenda accomplished rather than fighting for the whole of Maine. Mainers had all they could stomach of what they were getting from Republicans and showed them the door directly adjacent to the woodshed.
In short, the Republican Party must decide which version of the “who gets” they believe in. If they want to present a remake of the Democrats vision, the populace will opt for the original rather than the cheap imitation. If the Republicans finally decide to offer Maine people a choice that is a contrast to Democrats, it had better travel in a clean, tightly run ship or the people will not get on board. The State of Maine and its people need to have their heaps of wealth returned to them, but they will not tolerate any more heaps of humiliation to go with it.
The Maine Conservative Voice 