It’s argued that the greatest advances in America’s political arena come about by leadership from the bottom-up, not the top-down. America is supposed to be all about the greater good, not what’s best for those that already have it very, very good. America’s political identity was formed by revolution, by individuals banding together against the oppression of a status quo acceptable for many but not sufficiently satisfactory for all.

Here in Maine that seems especially true this election. Five citizen initiated ballot questions, ranging from educational funding changes to changing how we elect our government, will try to move Maine forward despite entrenched legislative inertia and the executive branch’s all but abdication.

More and more, Maine’s traditional political civility is becoming unrecognizable due to a disturbing downward spiral with Gov. Paul LePage as the vortex. “The Way Life Should Be” shouldn’t be having to live embarrassed or angered by the thuggish and crude behavior of the state’s highest elected official.

LePage repeatedly apologizes for his bizarre, irrational and defiant behavior, disclaiming addiction or mental health issues, “seeking spiritual guidance” but not acknowledging the extreme level of his behavioral misconduct as conduct requiring voluntary departure. Petitioned to intervene, Maine’s attorney general ruled that LePage is “fit to rule” but chooses not to govern to a majority’s satisfaction. The majority will of the people is democratically at an impasse. LePage’s Republican excess, held excessive even by many Republicans, seems unstoppable.

Parallels have been drawn between our governor’s antics and that of the Republican nominee for Obama’s replacement. Paul LePage brags about being the “original” outspoken political rabble-rouser that Donald Trump now nationally “emulates.” “As Maine Goes, So Goes The Nation” doesn’t quite have the same hopefulness that it once held. “As Maine Is” may well instruct those contemplating a similar experiment nationally in electing a loose cannon completely out of his political depths with only hyped business acumen and a combative in-your-face polarizing skillset as leadership collateral.

More and more, failed leadership by a traditional two-party system initiates sweeping grassroots insurgent politics as a populist remedy.

America’s greatest recent advancement of social justice has been the Supreme Court decision upholding same-sex marriage, miraculously overruling the rationalized oppression of “things as they have always been.”

Mainers played a significant role in that accomplishment. Grassroots initiated and defeated one year, Marriage Equality was made Maine law by electorate acclamation just a year later, through the ballot box, not the legislature.

Although another historic milestone for equality, electing a “person of color” to the White House has had no demonstrable overarching contribution to U.S. foreign policy or even a resolution of Black Lives Matter. If anything, Obama’s progressive election, twice, has only emboldened racism’s public display. Obama’s foremost legacy importantly underscores that race is fundamentally irrelevant to successful governance. Ultimately, leadership is about by the content of its character. Similarly, Hillary’s gender equality presidency will likely provide no inherent magic bullet.

Recognition of sexual orientation as a fundamental right in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness is the greatest socio-political sea change of our times. Strikingly, Obama and Hillary both had great difficulty seeing that inarguable truth until sustained public pressure hit them on the side of the head with a populist 2×4. Many, many conservatives still don’t get it.

Obama didn’t win on race, but as patently the most impressive presidential candidate since JFK. That said, if Obama hadn’t run as a Democratic, but rather as a third party candidate, he’d likely be just another Ben Carson like footnote in American politics. Ditto Hillary Clinton.

Voting conscience over intimidation, my presidential choice is now Jill Stein, even though she has no likelihood of winning unless everyone who supported Bernie Sanders creates, in extremely short order, another even more enormous groundswell. This would require the establishment media doing quadruple time in accelerating public awareness.

The two-party controlled Commission On Presidential Debates wants none of that. They’ve established a completely self-serving 15 percent requirement in public polling for a candidate to be included in a forum that, sadly, is a first good look for many of the electorate. The Green Party’s Jill Stein and the Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson are trapped in a catch-22 where they can’t participate unless they become better known while calculatingly shut out of the presidential race’s foremost venue for media exposure.

Meanwhile, the electorate is trapped in the vicious circle of mainstream media manipulation that’s both reactionary and incendiary. Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency endlessly dominated news cycles while Bernie Sanders came and went. Hillary Clinton gets equal time only when grilled by the FBI or when she cravenly imitates Trump’s mudslinging fear-mongering.

It’s a coin toss as to whether this will be the largest presidential voter turnout of all time or the worst voter participation in decades. How either might affect the outcome of Maine’s down-ballot citizen initiatives is equally difficult to predict. It’s also hard to say how turnout for those initiatives will affect voter choice at the top of the ballot.

Bottom-up or top-down, every vote counts, now more than ever.

Gary Anderson lives in Bath.