GOP can’t win with ranked-choice voting. That’s why they oppose it.
I can’t help but wonder why there is another referendum drive about ranked-choice voting. Twice, a majority of Maine citizens have voted for a new election system that would honor the will of a majority of voters. The Maine legislature refused to enact the new law, so a second referendum (in the dead of winter) overrode the reluctance of probably both established parties. The citizen’s voice was heard.
So, Matt Dunlap heroically set up this new runoff system and it worked well. Independents who like more of a choice enjoyed it. The losers of the system cried foul — said things like it was confusing (not true), and that it wasn’t the traditional “one man one vote” (well, that part is true, women vote now, as do non-property owners). One can argue that majority rule is the actual American tradition. The non-constitutional argument was thrown out by several courts.
The only sincere objection I have heard is that Republicans will never win an election with ranked-choice voting. Now, why would that be? Maybe RCV could open up the Republican field, force the party to embrace moderates again. Moderates could compete better with independents and democrats, and maybe win an election on their own merits instead of dividing and conquering. Maybe even propose policies that would work better for a majority of citizens instead of special interests.
So, why another referendum? Who is paying the organizers? What is their agenda? I suspect most of us don’t know that answer.
Charlotte Brown,
Bath
D-Day reflections
As I ponder, reflect, mourn, & hold in my heart the hallowed memory of the men preparing, mentally, physically and spiritually, to storm the beaches of Normandy 75 years ago, I consider the current state of affairs. As the social illusion of the American Dream, in all of its manifestations, evaporates revealing the true character of the hearts and minds of all of us, the question we must ask ourselves is this “Would you have stormed the beach or would you be firing the hail of bullets?”
I believe those giving their all to reject and defeat the forces of darkness, to protect America and the world they held so dear, are turning over in their graves and wondering, in less than a lifetime, how all could have gone so wrong. “What on earth was the value of my sacrifice?”
Again we must ask ourselves, “ What issue have you grown softer on for the sake of Love for your fellow human?” The thoughtful embracing, confronting and healing in regards to the issues of gender, race, equality, orientation and tolerance are the backbone of what was the American Ideal. I believe, with all my heart that those supporting the current occupant of the White House would be in the bunkers defending the forces of darkness with all the same excuses, zeal, illusions and misinformation. The snake jumped the pond and is alive and well today in America, once the land of the free and the brave, and those brave men, 75 years ago, may have sacrificed themselves for, what, just a delay?
For 40 of my 60 years, I have tried to embrace and forgive that standard for the forces of darkness and failed to do so for those then and now. That is my cross to bear and lesson to learn but I do know that if it is a choice to stand shoulder to shoulder with the army of darkness or be blown to bits on a beach in France, I would choose the latter. One only dies once, hopefully.
Laurie Simpson,
Woolwich
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