End Citizens United
“We the people” are treasured words that evoke a passion in many Americans, a passion to see our country be a true democracy. We the people, the citizens of the United States, have been schooled in the belief that the freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution are our responsibility, that we must be knowledgeable and vote.
Therefore, we the people need to be able to believe that our opinions, our beliefs, and our votes are heard and counted regardless of the contents of our wallets. We need to know that we have channels through which we can express our needs and be acknowledged.
Many of us look around today and see injustice of every stripe. “No justice, no peace” is not an empty phrase. And the most painful injustice of all is the fear that we do not have enough money to be heard.
On Aug. 2, 2014, the results of a poll were released showing that 73 percent of Americans want Citizens United overturned; 73 percent is a clear majority. Sixteen states and 500 municipalities are supporting this effort, and 35,000 Mainers have signed petitions calling for an end to Citizens United. And when voters are allowed to understand the true effect of this action, there will be more.
Let us move without delay to right this most undemocratic wrong. Tell your state representative and senator to support HP 956, a resolution asking Congress to call a constitutional convention to amend the Constitution to undo the damage of the Citizens United decision.
Maggie Strickland
Harmony
Protect our water
We’ve come a long way since the bad old days of rivers burning and stripping paint from nearby homes, thanks in large part to legacy of Maine’s Sen. Ed Muskie and his work to create the federal Clean Water Act.
Soon, the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers will announce a final rule to clarify which bodies of water the Clean Water Act protects. Confusion over the act’s jurisdiction was created after two Supreme Court decisions hindered implementation by regulators. This clean water rule would restore protections for wetlands and headwater streams, providing vital habitat for fish and wildlife. We strongly support it.
Rivers and streams bring water to lakes; in fact, half of Maine drains to lakes. Our lakes are freshwater gems that generate over $3.5 billion in spending annually, provide drinking water to half our population, often float our local schools and municipal services through tax revenues, and provide more jobs (52,000-plus) than any single public Maine employer.
The true physical, spiritual and social benefits Maine lakes provide are impossible to calculate, but as Gov. Percival P. Baxter knew, “The people of the state of Maine always should keep in mind that they are the actual owners of the lakes of Maine and of the water contained in them. These lakes and this water are public property of inestimable value.”
Maine’s water is wealth worth protecting. We must insist that the rivers, streams and wetlands that protect and feed our lakes be kept clean, and we must let our congressional delegation know.
Maggie Shannon
Director and LakeSmart Coordinator, Maine Lakes Society
Landis Hudson
Executive Director, Maine Rivers
Yarmouth
Male chicks’ lives matter
In the May 23-24 BDN story “Peeps for sale,” Janice Bouchard laughed when she said that “if you get laying hens, the males are good for nothing.” I am shocked by this disrespect for life.
Not many people realize what happens to the male counterparts of those laying hens. At the hatchery, where the chicks are sexed, the males are destroyed by tossing them into a baby chick macerator, which grinds them up alive, or are thrown into big plastic bags, which are then closed to suffocate the chicks. People who eat eggs are complicitous in this wanton mass slaughter. Even hens who are humanely nurtured in backyard flocks had a male counterpart who was cruelly dispatched soon after hatching.
Social justice and health care advocate Paul Farmer said, “The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that’s wrong with this world.” Even the lives of newly hatched male chicks matter, to those chicks and to those of us who choose mercy over misery and compassion over cruelty.
Wendy Andresen
Camden
Bangor kids are worth it
Whereas I support people having the right to their own opinion, I must take exception to a sign displayed outside of the Cross Insurance Center recently. In an attempt to defeat the school budget, it reads, “Bangor Kids Not Worth It.”
Clearly, the ones responsible for the sign are not keeping up with the accomplishments of Bangor students. I’m in a unique position as I teach every fourth- and fifth-grade student in the school system (and have for many years). I not only see their achievements at such a young age but also their successes as they continue on in school.
Granted, I do not pay property taxes in Bangor, but it would be prudent for these few disgruntled citizens to spend more time making themselves familiar with all the positives “Bangor Kids” receive through the Bangor school system instead of attacking our youth.
Jim Paton
Carmel
Education privacy
I see that the Maine Senate followed the House in overriding Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of LD 59. That is 175-2 in the House and Senate.
My wife and I asked our state Rep. Robert Foley of Wells to introduce this bill after a private Christian school that we sent our son to released his school records. In a public school this would be a violation of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a law that protects children’s privacy. Schools that receive no federal funding can do as they please. We know.
I want to thank Foley for all his hard work in seeing this bill through and the Maine Education Association for supporting it as well.
They say you can’t fight City Hall. I guess you can fight organized religion.
Tim White
Wells