“Legislating morality grows big government immensely, and helps fashion the noose the government will use to ultimately hang you by.”

A.E. Samaan, investigative historian and author

I’ll start with a state legislator who wants Maine to revert to its original flag. The legislator in question recently had a column in Maine’s largest newspaper justifying her rationale for changing the State of Maine flag. Her rationale was based on the fact that fifth graders couldn’t draw a complete picture of the current Maine flag, something I really doubt most Mainers could do. Really, how much time does any one of us really spend pondering about what any flag looks like? I was in the Office of Allied Military Training at one military base and everyone involved not only had to know the flags of other nations, we also had to know their cultures as well. I don’t think anyone of us would expect that at a fifth grade level. And it goes on.

I think we should all ponder the financial ramifications of LD 434, “An Act To Price Carbon Pollution in Maine,” a bill in front of the Legislature. This bill defines fuel as any form or grade of diesel fuel, fuel oil, gasoline, coal, butane, natural gas, kerosene and propane. If you use any of these fuels, and I’m sure all of us use at least a couple, this bill will hit your wallet. This bill requires the distributors of these fuels to collect a carbon tax starting in 2020 at $5 per metric ton of carbon content, increasing to $40 by 2027. I recently received an email that explained Mainers will end up paying an additional tax of 40 cents per gallon on those fuels by 2027. I am beginning to understand why people leave Maine and many don’t return. It’s like President Ronald Reagan used to say, if it moves, government wants to tax it.

I see that Gov. Mills was wowed by CMP’s proposal of $256 million so that the line transmitting power from Canada to Massachusetts might just get approved. About the only time I can recollect any government turning down an increase of money was recently when New York City turned down Amazon’s proposal. That money CMP has proposed certainly looks impressive but when divided by 40 years and various projects, the money is actually spread quite thin as far as I am concerned. If I recollect correctly, the initial proposal from CMP was around $22 million, so to me it now looks like a huge bribe. I’m guessing other companies will now know how to sugarcoat their ideas.

How I hate to bring up the government in Windham. The recent motion to reconsider a previous town council motion is a perfect example. Robert’s Rules of Order states that only someone in the majority may make such a motion. There was no majority vote because that motion was 3-3, so it failed only because a quorum of four votes was not reached. Windham therefore has a problem of poorly written council rules. It’s time they work together.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham wants government at all levels to vegetate, not agitate because of personality differences.