I wish to remind every elected official – from councilor and selectman to the senators and representatives in Augusta and Washington, D.C. – that they were elected not because they know more or are smarter than I am; they were elected because they promised to represent me.

They pledged to educate themselves about policies and proposals and to listen to the majority. But what’s happening in the political arenas is an arrogant and deliberate discounting of what people want, along with a sense of superiority and a disregard of past precedents, protections and policies. The elected always seem to think they know better than their predecessors or community members; their listening skills are meager.

Although 70% of Americans favor gun control above ownership rights, the Maine Legislature once again failed to enact background checks for private or gun show sales. In the quest for sovereignty for Maine’s Indigenous citizens, the Legislature once again ignored the people’s majority that supports this decades-long journey and failed to cancel the governor’s inexplicable veto.

Across the country, legislators, city councils, school boards vote against basic human rights and constitutional privileges that we presumed were protected. Elected officials (and non-elected, blatantly partisan members of the judiciary) need to remember that they were selected to represent the people and stopped perpetrating their personal views on legislative activities. I want them to listen to me; I want them to listen to all of us.

Barbara Dee
South Portland

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