LePage refuses job training funds
I was appalled when I read that Gov. Paul LePage will refuse about $8 million in funding to help the unemployed and underemployed to train and find better jobs.
Doesn’t the governor frequently say to these very people, often on government assistance, “Get a job”? Now he’s pulling the rug out from under of a program designed to help them do just that. Evidently, there is little information available from his office on how or why he reached this decision, except that he wasn’t being given his way.
Do we really want our governor to snatch help away from those who most need it? Inflated ego doesn’t have a place in governing for the need of the people.
Carol Gater
Belfast
Peace is possible
A review of world and national events would lead anyone to believe that violence is inevitable. Every day we witness the violence of climate disasters, bloody civil disputes, widespread genocide, endless war, nuclear threats, pervasive racism, police brutality, vicious assaults and so on. Our world is spinning out of control and is fueled by mindsets that reflect hatred, domination, greed, oppression and imperialism.
Is it even possible to change this paradigm? The first step is to understand that violence is not inevitable. As a method to resolve interpersonal and societal problems, violence is ineffective. Can we honestly look at our world and believe that violence is the answer? How will we as a society come to believe that a new paradigm is necessary if we are to thrive, or at a minimum survive, as human beings?
Transformative action is required for change to occur. History offers us powerful examples of nonviolent change such as Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas Gandhi and Jesus of Nazareth. Nonviolence is an active, creative process that transforms individuals, communities and nations.
Together we can create effective change. On the afternoon of Sept. 16, more than 30 local organizations and faith communities working for peace, justice and environmental sustainability will gather at West Market Square for the End Violence Together rally. This gathering is an opportunity to learn more about nonviolence as a personal path and a strategy for social change. Peace is possible.
Mary Ellen Quinn
Co-coordinator
Pax Christi Maine
Winterport
Implement ranked-choice voting
A majority of voters passed ranked-choice voting last November, allowing voters to rank candidates for a particular political office in order of preference. The passage of this law ensured that our representatives would be backed by a majority of voters in future elections. Extremists of any type could find winning harder. Elected moderates could find governing easier, their work more effective and the solutions to problems more reasonable.
This past spring, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court was asked by those unhappy with the voter-approved change to rule on its constitutionality. The court determined that using ranked-choice voting for general elections for governor, state Senate and state House violated the plurality provision of the Maine Constitution. The court did not apply this ruling to primaries for governor, state Senate, state House and Congress, and general elections for Congress because they are governed by separate statutes.
Legislators know well the pluses and minuses of the current system compared with ranked-choice voting. The clear path is to respect the will of the voters, implement the legal parts of the law now, and send an amendment to the voters on whether to change the Constitution to allow for the use of ranked-choice voting in general elections for governor, state Senate and state House.
The June 2018 primaries will arrive sooner than we realize. Ranked-choice voting is perfectly legal to use in the primaries. Let’s take the time now to make sure that administrators, candidates and voters are prepared to operate in this system for these elections.
George Waldman
Harpswell