Censure the governor
I would like to address the recent comments Gov. Paul LePage said about cartoonist George Danby. I am outraged by the governor’s remarks. It is time for the Republican-controlled Senate, including my Sen. Michael Willette, to publicly censure the governor for what he said to Danby’s son at Dirigo Boys State. Any action by the Republican Senate this coming week other than a strong condemnation of the governor will be an act of cowardice.
Stephen Freeman
Presque Isle
Address racial prejudice
In their June 24 BDN columns, both Matt Gagnon and David Farmer discussed our focus on symbolic rather than substantive responses to the Charleston, South Carolina, massacre. Gagnon said that we should talk instead about our “social, economic, familial, political and cultural problems,” but then declined to mention any. Farmer helpfully suggested opening our eyes and acting accordingly, but also failed to offer specifics.
I grew up in Missouri in the 1950s, near Ferguson. For most of my life, our society’s prejudice against gay people, both personal and institutional, was as extensive and deeply held as prejudice against black people, yet recently there has been significant change in the former. This is primarily because, as it turns out, there are gay people in most all of our families, and thus, when we were finally forced to meet that enemy, we found that it was truly us.
To make the same change in racial prejudice, we must talk seriously about affirmative action, reparations and massive integration in our neighborhoods, schools, jobs and other institutions until our families become intertwined and we can move from an “us against them” society to “just us.”
I challenge both columnists to address this, from their different perspectives, in future columns. We have never been more in need of everyone’s creative energy.
Judson Esty-Kendall
Glenburn
Help LePage
It is obvious to me that, sadly, Gov. Paul LePage is a very sick man. Sad also is his being our governor. I suggest we pray for him and for our state. He needs our help. But our help is not enough on its own. He himself must seek the necessary therapy to help him deal with his abusive childhood experience that has led to his pleasure in bullying institutions, other people and families.
The first step is for him to ask for Mark Eves’ forgiveness. His next step would then be to engage Eves as a therapist. He has 15 years experience as a therapist working in the field of behavioral health and that, together with his own personal family background serving as an example, would be invaluable in helping LePage get his life in order en route to becoming a healthier person mentally. Together they would explore the cause, the ultimate negative effect those causes have had upon his life, and find pathways for him to cope with his illness.
During this time he must step aside for his own sake and for the sake of the people he is supposed to serve. As Lee Iacocca once said, “You lead, follow, or get out of the way.” As governor, he has neither led nor followed, so he needs to get out of the way in order for the business of this state to move forward.
Ted Little
York
Health care models
We read that doctors are ripping off Medicare, earning millions of dollars annually doing certain procedures. Doctors complain about the cost of education and malpractice coverage. When visiting a doctor’s office, we repeatedly fill out papers. Many people are not covered for medical needs at all; few for hearing aids, eye exams or glasses, and dental work.
A woman came to our food pantry recently. She was laid off from her job and told to drive to another town for work. Because of her medical condition, she cannot drive. The Affordable Care Act will not take her because she turned down COBRA, which she cannot afford. Unable to care for her medical needs, she is asking for food for the first time. Does it have to be this way?
The short answer is no. In other countries, universal coverage is provided by national plans. Everyone is covered. Doctors are paid salaries, not by procedures or by patients seen. Paperwork is eliminated; records are on an electronic card carried by the patient and updated immediately. Medical education is free and the cost of a year’s malpractice insurance is equal to one week in the U.S. Hearing aids, eye exams, glasses and dental work are often covered.
This costs other countries less by far to provide complete medical care for all citizens than it costs us for our cobbled-together system, which only works for some.
When are we going to wake up? Caring for everyone wins.
Delene Perley
Portland
Lewiston led on gay rights
Back in 1993, when I was the young mayor of Lewiston, the City Council and I supported an ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the areas of employment, housing, credit and public accommodation. We were crucified in public, with the most extreme opponents complaining that we were promoting bestiality, transvestism and molestation of children in our schools.
There was one complaint in particular, more than 20 years ago, that I heard over and over: “If you give ‘them special rights’ now, someday they’ll want to get married.”
Yes, I told many of the opponents, they will. Someday, they’ll eventually want to get married.
The Lewiston City Council and I supported anti-discrimination in a conservative old New England mill town, not when it was popular, but when it was opposed violently. And now, more than 20 years later, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, has said that two people can consummate their love for each other, even if of the same sex. Live and let live.
It was a great day, following victories on health care and housing from the day before. The right-of-center Supreme Court cementing the legacy of President Barack Obama: Who would have thought it? Every time you think this country is broken beyond repair, we have a couple of days like during the past week and we realize, despite its flaws, this is still a pretty amazing place.
Jim Howaniec
Lewiston