Have we become so obsessed with budget-cutting and limiting the scope of government that we’re willing to slash and burn our way through the social safety net that has long defined our generosity of spirit?

Doing nothing is not enough when billions in potential investment wait for clarity. A legislative committee gave wind power opponents their first setback in a while this week by tabling a baker’s dozen of bills aimed to slow the development of onshore wind energy projects.

Voters should be given the final say on major changes to the public financing system.

For about 30 years, Portland has been engaged in a long conversation over how to best use its waterfront.

In the early ’80s there was the development of condominiums on Chandler’s Wharf, which was followed by the citizen-initiated referendum that limited the piers to water-dependent businesses only.

Now the pier owners have successfully campaigned to relax those rules, opening up just under half of the ground floor space in their buildings for restaurants, offices, shops and other non-water-dependent businesses. The zoning change received the blessing of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection last week, opening the door to development that has not been possible for many years.

The question is no longer if Maine should expand gambling, but how much and where.

But it’s probably too early to say that most Mainers have given up on their new governor.