Why I am voting for Bernie
My first vote for President was in 1952 when my dad, a staunch Republican, brought home an absentee ballot and stood over me as I sat at the dining table and voted for Eisenhauer.
I hope Bernie gets the nomination because I fear for the health of our democracy. We need essential changes and Bernie has been talking about these changes for a long time. We are ready.
His age doesn’t bother me because he is 9 years young than I.
Throughout the years I’ve had my #metoo moments. When people talk about Bloomberg I wonder why trade one sexist, racist billionaire for the one we have now.
Bernie for me and I wish him well.
Nan Ross,
Bath
No on 1
We know you don’t want us to impose our religious or philosophical beliefs on you. And, we surely don’t want your philosophical or religious beliefs affecting our lives. Therefore we are voting NO on Referendum 1 on March 3 and we urge you to do the same.
Our decision is based on known science and rational thought. Maine has laws that we obey in order to protect others as well as ourselves. That’s why we stop at red lights and wear seat belts and don’t talk on our cell phones when we drive even though philosophically we may think these laws infringe on our rights as citizens.
Maine’s vaccination laws protect our youngest children and people of all ages who have weakened or compromised immune systems from the ravages of potentially deadly diseases.
A NO vote means there will still be medical exemptions to the vaccine law but your philosophical or religious concerns won’t be allowed to endanger our lives.
Sandra & Ole Jaeger,
Georgetown
Is Susan Collins paying attention?
I wonder if Senator Susan Collins is paying attention. In the first week following the Senate’s acquittal of Donald Trump, the White House started to feel like Putin’s Kremlin.
The Republican Senate has ceded an unprecedented and shocking level of power to the executive branch. Trump has claimed he “has the right” to interfere in and direct U.S. Attorney General William Barr in court cases, including the sentencing of Trump’s friend and Nixon-era “dirty trickster” Roger Stone. (Barr’s alleged pushback to Trump’s influence is currently being scrutinized.)
Barr has declared a clampdown on investigations into presidential campaigns while he is AG, rendering Trump’s 2020 campaign activities investigation-proof, while Trump tries to Tweet-bribe the governor of New York to halt investigations into Trump-related dealings if New York City wants to “earn” its Global Entry rights again at airports.
He is exacting revenge on those who spoke out about the Ukraine scandal; he is attacking Mitt Romney and his faith and firing scores of White House employees. Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, has defended one, Lt. Col. Alexander Vinman, saying he “did exactly what we teach them to do,” which is to raise an alarm over illegal actions and orders.
Bill Kristol, a Republican figurehead (not a senator, of course), declared on CNN that Trump’s authoritarian moves are a “serious breach” of the way the US government works and that Trump’s own, current “abuse of power” leads others to do the same, and it must be stopped. Trump is mimicking the despots he admires around the world, which is fitting for a wealthy but bankrupt businessman whose ill-gotten gains did not come from honest work, but rather from shady behavior, like money laundering and ripping of contractors and laborers. Lying is natural for him.
Sen. Collins once said she could not support Trump, that he was “unfit” for the office. What changed? And what kind of “lesson” does Collins think Trump learned from impeachment? It appears he learned that he can get away with just about anything, as long as Republicans like you keep your blinders on. Shameful.
Lorry Fleming
Bath
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