Okay, I admit it. I’m like Johnny Fever on WKRP and I have always dreamed of using the word “booger” in one of my columns. It wasn’t just Lu Bauer’s column of last week about bipartisanship, but also – strange as it might seem – the Twin City Times contained a column by State Senator Lois Snowe-Mello (R) about the same subject. How opposite these two articles were, however. Yuk, boogers.

The first statement that Lu makes is that progressive values are Maine Values. I guess Maine should take down the sign on Interstate 95 (The Way Life Should Be) and replace it with a new one. How about something like: Maine: Number One in Taxes and Loving It? Now I know this isn’t being bipartisan, but who is? There are things that all of us will agree on and there will be those issues that we will fight against each other forever. Boogers?

The first issue is the call for an increase in the minimum wage. I am not an economist, nor will I ever be, but I do understand what drives our economy. I just love it when someone states that by increasing the minimum wage people will be lifted out of poverty and everyone else will just be the same. Does anyone realize that minimum wage will always be minimum wage? All one gets as a result of increasing minimum wage is higher prices for products? This is true especially in Maine where our tax burden and over regulation of businesses is stifling our economy.

Minimum wage is just a number, and it sets a benchmark for all other numbers (wages and salaries) to follow. In other words, it’s all relative. Minimum will always be minimum. Raise the minimum and everythign else will rise along with it. Besides, how does a 50-cent increase in wages lift someone out of poverty? Whoa, that’s $20 a week! Half-a-gallon of gas! Boogers again!

I agree with Lu that Dirigo Health should have bipartisanship support. Support that will eliminate it and put us on the road where more than one insurance company can provide Mainers with affordable health care. Lu states that every other industrialized country has universal, single-payer health care, but does she know the cost? Lu, do your research and show us what “universal healthcare” costs taxpayers in a country like Norway. It’s “universal” all right; the costs are astronomical, right-out-of-this-world! Boogers again!

Finally, how can we have bipartisanship when the leadership of the Democrat party are such bullies in Augusta? The Republicans have tried but to no avail. Why do I consistently hear from Republican members of the House and Senate how the Democratic leadership have bullied their representatives into voting with their peers by sheer force like taking them into a room and the end result is some come out crying. I am not lying here, folks. This is the truth about the party in power in Augusta.

Talk about boogers.