Implement ranked-choice voting
The passage of ranked-choice voting last November demonstrated that a majority of voters believe this change to our election system is a good thing. After digging into ranked-choice voting implementation around the county, I’m one of those believers. Ranked-choice voting is already working in 11 cities around the country. Five states allow military and overseas residents to use ranked-choice voting.
In “winner-take-all” contests, I felt as though I had to vote against the person I opposed the most, rather than for the person I liked the best. Ranked-choice voting will free me from having to pick the lesser of two evils. That alone makes it worthwhile. Surveys of voters in cities using ranked-choice voting report that races are less negative because a smart candidate can win by being everybody’s second choice, no matter who are their first choices. While some researchers suggest that under a ranked-choice voting system, candidates will find talking to voters is more important than wooing big money contributors and that voter turnout is higher in primary races after switching.
I want ranked-choice voting implemented in Maine because it shows promise to encourage more people to vote, reduce negative campaigning, promote the will of the majority and re-energizes public debate.
Andy Stevenson
Belfast
Tax time
Tax time is upon us. Sure, it’s a pain for most of us, but never forget that it’s also a privilege. We are, after all, privileged to live in this country, and could not enjoy the freedoms and all that makes us proud of our country without supporting the system of government we have created.
Ever wonder how many American citizens actually pay income taxes? There are many, of course, who pay little in income taxes because they have smart people who can find ways to reduce their tax liability to avoid paying their fair share. Is your blood heating up yet?
Here’s what may bring your blood to a boil, as it does mine. The worst possible example of these shenanigans is the man we have elected as president, who during a presidential debate said not paying taxes “ makes me smart” and refuses to release his tax returns, as so many of his predecessors have.
Why? Perhaps he is afraid of exposing the truths about his business dealings and afraid of facing the possible consequences of that exposure. Meanwhile, the American public is paying for his sons to have Secret Service protection while they conduct private business dealings here and abroad.
Jo Devlin
Orono
Elected officials lack compassion
I worry about the lack of compassion that we’re seeing in many of our elected officials in Maine, other states and the federal government. Repealing the Affordable Care Act and defunding Planned Parenthood will destroy the lives of many Americans. The Affordable Care Act has provided health insurance to millions of people who didn’t have it previous to the act. Planned Parenthood provides high quality, low-cost health care to men and women through health screenings, Pap tests, treatments of sexually transmitted diseases, educational outreach programs and family planning.
What kind of a society do we want? If we want to see continued health care for people and wonder what to do about it, we need to contact Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and Rep. Bruce Poliquin to ask them to keep the Affordable Care Act, not repeal it. A bill, HR 370, has been introduced into Congress to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. Change the name, if they must, but keep its coverage.
Urge them not to defund Planned Parenthood. A bill, HR 354, introduced into Congress would defund Planned Parenthood. The people affected by the elimination of the Affordable Care Act and reduced support for Planned Parenthood are our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, aunts, uncles and neighbors.
As Leonard Cohen said, “The real weapons of mass destruction are the hardened hearts of humanity.”
Linda Garson Smith
Belfast
Make Rockland an open community
Monday’s Rockland City Council meeting was phenomenal. A standing room-only crowd of 100 or so people was lined up from the microphone all along the rear wall and the opposite side of the council chamber. In the public comment section, 34 people spoke for nearly two hours. Nearly all spoke about Rockland’s proposed resolution supporting diversity and the environment, the resolution of Commitment to Promoting an Open, Respectful, Healthy Community.
While a tiny minority of people spoke against the idea of a resolution, not a single person mentioned wanting a shorter or compromised version. If anything, they said, “we would want more in it, not less.” People spoke passionately of personal experiences, scrubbing red swastikas off their childhood synagogue wall, being yelled at with anti-gay slurs on the street, family histories of fleeing the Nazis, the fear and harassment, and the high suicide attempt rates and homelessness of local LGBTQI youth. They spoke of family histories as immigrants, and of the apparent recent Ku Klux Klan activity in the state. They spoke of disability and stigma, and of wanting to make the resolution an action, not merely gesture. They spoke of safe harbor, of shelter, and of the Breakwater lighthouse as metaphor for the kind of place we want to be.
People spoke passionately, with vulnerability and power. They broke open the heart so often missing in the regulated confines of city halls.
A council vote on the resolution is scheduled for March 13 at Rockland City Hall.
Becca Shaw Glaser
Rockland
GOP health care bill terrible
I am writing in opposition to the Republican health care proposal. According to what I have read, it is a terrible idea. Many people stand to lose coverage, costs to families and older Americans stand to go up, costs will shift to states, and hospitals and health care providers stand to again be on the hook for providing care for those who can’t afford to pay.
Rep. Bruce Poliquin is a member of several caucuses with an interest in health care issues — the Rural Health Care, Congressional Diabetes and Assisting Caregivers Today caucuses — and he is in an ideal position to understand the ramifications of this cynical cutback on health for American families. He should vote against the proposed health care bill.
When it comes to health care, wealthy Republicans seem to be saying about health, what Marie Antoinette, in her woeful ignorance, said about food: “Let them eat cake.”
Jim Owen
Belfast