Can a ‘Republican Revolution’ save the state of Maine?

Annuit Coeptis: Our community must resurrect the ‘Bowdoin hello’

Bowdoin was once the scene of a curious social phenomenon that has befuddled the wisest of anthropologists for ages. I am of course referring to the "Bowdoin hello." Legend has it that long ago, Bowdoin students once did freely—and frequently—acknowledge the existence of their peers and professors while navigating campus. The "hello" may just be a myth constructed by the Office of Admissions to lure unsuspecting students to the frostbitten wilderness of Maine. Nonetheless, the hello remains a noble social ideal, one toward which the College community should aspire. I call upon you, the students of this fair College, to resurrect the "Bowdoin hello."

Annuit Coeptis: Deal to extend tax cuts is a political maneuver

Congressional Republicans and the White House, both eager to enact tax reform before the end of the current legislative session, struck a deal on Monday. The legislation would prevent the Bush tax cuts from expiring at the end of the year, and provide stability to a struggling economy as the holiday season nears. The proposal is a good one, but whether or not the Senate will support it remains to be seen. One must wonder why our progressive president has proposed a policy that earned Rush Limbaugh's seal of approval.

Annuit Coeptis

Can a ‘Republican Revolution’ save the state of Maine?

This piece represents the opinion of the author:

November 12, 2010

In 2008, Democrats were swept into control of the national government and all at once became responsible for dealing with the nation's economic and political crises. Paul LePage and the Maine GOP now find themselves in similar circumstances.

For the first time since 1960, the Republican Party now controls the Blaine House, the Maine Senate and the House of Representatives. The Democratic Party came to power not on the strength of its ideas, but on the tide of anti-Bush sentiment in the country.

In Maine, a similar process has worked to the benefit of the Republican Party. Voters were not invigorated by the ideas and policies of the Republican Party in Maine, but by a growing awareness of the problems looming on the horizon and a general agreement that Democrats were the source of these problems.

November 2, 2010 will certainly go down in history books as Maine's first political revolution of the 21st century. However, it is up to the citizens of Maine, our current leaders and those aspiring to become leaders to determine the character of this "Republican Revolution." Over the past three decades, politicians in Maine have been afflicted with an immoderate spirit of reform and consumed with a shortsighted passion for equality.

With the best of intentions, liberal legislators attempted to eliminate poverty through welfare programs, to improve failing education with new technology, and to assuage rising health care costs with state-run alternatives. Yet these honest attempts to bring about equality and alleviate human suffering have led only to greater agony and woe.

More than 18 percent of Mainers currently receive some form of state aid, and if you include MaineCare, the underfunded state insurance program, records show this number will rise to nearly 30 percent. The Democrats' crusade against inequality has resulted not only in a $1 billion debt—it has created a culture of welfare dependency that is both demoralizing and inhumane.

Ask any general store clerk how food stamp programs work. Daddy sends little Johnny into the store to buy a piece of penny candy and Johnny gets ninety-nine cents in change. Johnny does this a couple more times, and Daddy uses the change to buy his cigarettes on the state's dime. To avoid this type of abuse, legislators created the Pine Tree Card, but even this deceptively pleasant form of welfare has been corrupted.

Unlike Johnny, who had to make several separate purchases, those who wield the Pine Tree Card only have to make two. The first is paid for by the taxpayer and covers any items that can reasonably be considered food. The second is paid for from a mysteriously large wad of cash and covers the Allen's Coffee Brandy and carton of Pall Malls. Mainers have for years witnessed the social malaise infecting our towns, all on the taxpayer's dime.

Welfare programs will always be subject to widespread fraud and abuse, but even if all the recipients were to abide by the law, Maine's system would still be corrosive on families and hazardous to good government. The current system provides no incentive for recipients to develop personal responsibility. Tier benefit schedules and lifetime limits will be essential to terminating the culture of welfare dependence.

Although Republicans must certainly recognize the need for some state assistance, we must fight to implement innovative, cost-saving reforms that will promote individual independence.

Maine's transformation into a welfare state has been accompanied by malignant growth in state government. The state now employs a veritable army of bureaucrats, and taxpayers now owe this army $15 billion in future pension obligations. State retirees will receive these benefits after having paid only 6 percent into the system. In other words, for every dollar withheld from a state paycheck, the public employee will receive $17 in pension!

State employees are a necessary evil. But extravagant pensions for those employees, while still evil, are far from necessary. I suggest GOP lawmakers enact a steep tax on state pensions and put the revenue toward debt repayment. It has become perfectly clear that the state of Maine can no longer afford to offer such egregious compensation to retirees. Until future pension obligations are reduced substantially, Maine will remain at the threshold of fiscal collapse.

But how, you ask, have these so-called "civil servants" gotten away with such debauchery? The unions, dear Watson, the unions. For reasons that escape this young writer, Maine's public employees have been permitted to unionize. Comprising a substantial proportion of Maine's electorate, public unions dominate the Democratic Party and funnel their cronies into office. This explains the nomination of the career politician Libby Mitchell over one of the few Democratic candidates worthy of esteem, Rosa Scarcelli '92.

Just as private unions advance the interest of private workers, so too do public unions advance the interests of state employees—with one important exception. While private unions demand greater compensation from their bosses, public unions demand greater compensation from taxpayers. It is quite obvious, then, that the interests of public unions directly oppose the interests of the every taxpayer. The public unions have always supported expansionary policies and bureaucratic empowerment. With Republicans in control, it is likely that they will continue to obstruct all attempts at dismantling the shackles of bureaucracy.

Governor-elect Paul LePage and the Republican Party have effectively just moved into a house with time bombs hidden throughout. The perverse welfare program, the unfathomable debt and the burdensome bureaucracy are but a sampling of the disasters brewing in the Pine Tree State. We might add to this list the miserable failure of MaineCare, but this would be entirely superfluous given that Obama-don't-Care will soon eclipse all current health care problems in both cost and misery.

So great are Maine's problems that perhaps only the Soprano-style leadership of "Front Page LePage" can save us. However, candidate LePage nearly lost his campaign because of his controversial and divisive demeanor. As governor, his poor temper and discordant public persona could easily turn the "Republican Revolution" into Republican revulsion.

Maine has taken the first step toward emancipation from the administrative state, but this long journey will require statesmen with prudence, foresight and moderation. In the absence of such leadership, the "Republican Revolution" will only hasten the return of Democratic hegemony and this would truly be a tragedy.

Comments are permanently closed.