When I talk to voters in Maine and across the country, one thing is clear. People are alarmed by the divisiveness of American politics.

Maine voters especially are fed up with inflammatory, polarizing, win-at-all-costs politics at a time when the state faces urgent problems that politicians barely talk about.

Maine’s secretary of state, for example, tried to remove former President Trump from the ballot based on a dubious legal theory and was forced to back down after the Supreme Court unanimously struck down a similar effort.

Partisan legal wrangling by both Democrats and Republicans is tearing this state and our whole country apart. Democracy should not be decided in the courtroom.

Due to the extreme political polarization engulfing our nation, Mainers are actually losing some of their famed independence as they feel pressured to choose sides and abandon their unifying pride.

On the national stage, most Americans are tired of seeing the same choices on the ballot, especially after the off-putting display of sneering partisanship by former President Trump and President Biden during the CNN debate.

Political leaders at the state and federal levels should focus not on fighting each other, but on solving the very real problems facing the people of Maine: the ravages of fentanyl, the cost of housing, the prevalence of toxic PFAS in the food chain and the corrupt influence of foreign energy giants.

The people of Maine suffer the third-highest rate of fentanyl/synthetic opioid overdose deaths in the nation. The two men on the debate stage blamed each other – in the most childish way imaginable – for this crisis. In reality, the depth of the crisis requires unity, not finger-pointing.

We have to look outside the conventional solution-set. We have to take it seriously, not use it as ammunition to attack political opponents. Many have lost hope, but the situation is far from hopeless. That is what I learned as I traveled the country searching for the most promising answers for the drug crisis. The result was an innovative plan to build hundreds of healing farms for Americans struggling with addiction.

Another issue we need to get serious about is housing affordability. Maine housing prices just set a record high, as hardworking middle-class Americans struggle to put a roof over their heads. Politicians on both sides allowed the housing crisis to fester, but there are solutions. I have a plan to provide government-guaranteed 3% mortgages for first-time homebuyers, so they can compete with giant Wall Street firms that are buying hundreds of thousands of single-family homes to turn into rental units and have taken over both major political parties with their financial influence.

Maine has far too many toxic PFAS in its food chain. This problem continues to get worse, as Republican and Democratic leaders keep us fighting each other instead of taking on the big polluters. I spent 40 years as an environmental attorney fighting to roll back the corporate contamination of our air, water, soil and food. I led a diverse coalition that cleaned up the Hudson River. We can do the same in Maine, but not while partisanship dominates our every political debate.

Maine also suffers from the corrupt influence of multinational energy giants who pour millions into the state to skew energy policies to their advantage. Again and again throughout my legal career, I fought the corporate corruption of government agencies. It is possible to win these kinds of battles, but not when partisan politicians aid and abet the corruption.

In November, Maine voters will have an opportunity to transcend partisan politics using the state’s Ranked Choice Voting system. Thanks to a robust ballot-access effort, I will appear on the ballot as an independent candidate. The people of Maine will be able to vote for me and still pick Trump or Biden as a second choice; they don’t have to worry about wasting their vote or choosing the “lesser of two evils.”

Together, we can solve the problems that the people of Maine have begun to take for granted as the new normal. They aren’t normal. It wasn’t like this 50 years ago, and it doesn’t have to be like this in the future. We have to remove ourselves from the divisive politics of the two parties to get there.