Confederate displays offensive
The average German soldier who did not have anything to do with the murders of Jews, Gypsies, Eastern Europeans, mentally handicapped and so many others still wore the uniform of the Third Reich, and as such they bore individual and collective responsibility for its crimes.
I do not understand why some think that holding battlefield re-enactments somehow “white washes” the causes of the Civil War or revising actual history can somehow translate into “Southern pride” or “Southern heritage,” something they share intimately with African-Americans. In Germany, you will not see World War II re-enactments, rather there are museums that focus on the true horrors of the Third Reich to educate the Germans and wider world about the truth.
Put Confederate uniforms in a slavery museum, and beside them tell the true story of their belonging to a traitors who took up arms against their country for the purpose of maintaining slavery in the South and spreading it to the Western Territories. Slavery and nothing else was the root cause of the Civil War.
The display of a Confederate battle flag by protestors in the South can be clearly witnessed in any footage of African-Americans peacefully marching for their civil rights throughout the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. It represents white supremacy, not anything else. I don’t think anyone would be waving one hereabouts if this was 1890. White Mainers should be as offended as I am to see anyone displaying that flag, for we had the most soldiers per capita fighting in that horrific war.
John Randolph
Sedgwick
Time for tax reform
The federal tax code was once 500 pages but now is more than 74,000. In the three decades since our tax code was last reformed, numerous new tax breaks, loopholes and exemption have been added.
Even though lawmakers may have had the best of intentions when creating each of these new tax breaks, the cumulative effect has bloated our tax code and distorted the American economy, making us less competitive globally, keeping trillions of dollars from returning to our economy and picking winners and losers in the business world.
This is not a Republican problem nor a Democratic problem; it’s an American problem.
Our tax code has Americans and their employers losing a lot more than they are winning. Workers lose when companies stop investing for growth and start investing to pay less taxes, and they lose when their employer has to budget absurd amounts of money to comply with the tax code instead of investing in their workers.
Small businesses lose when their larger competitors take advantage of the distortions in the tax code.
Americans spend 6 billion hours each year doing taxes. Six billion! That is six billion hours we are not spending doing something for ourselves.
It’s time for America to start winning. A bipartisan effort to reform the tax code, clear out the tax breaks and loopholes, and use those reforms to lower rates for everyone will put America on the right track.
Scott Seekins
Saint Albans
Expand Medicaid
I am a small-business owner in my 60s, married to a retired Navy physician. I live in a nice house, in a nice neighborhood. I donate the maximum to political causes and candidates, and I chair my municipal political committee. My hobby is knitting.
I am also an alcoholic who was unemployable and lived in someone’s basement for a year. My life changed in 1986 because I qualified for Medicaid and there were treatment centers available. The government invested six months of Medicaid and food stamps in me and in the ensuing years I have paid more in taxes than I ever imagined.
Moving four miles away to New Hampshire would mean a substantial savings in state income taxes, but I choose to stay in Maine. The two women who work at my business also pay taxes. I think that’s a very good return on the government’s investment.
Mine is not a unique experience. There are thousands of people in Maine who have recovered with the help of Medicaid and now lead productive lives. Medicaid expansion will bring revenue into Maine. We need to view it as an investment, not a handout. Vote yes on Question 2 to expand Medicaid coverage to 70,000 Mainers so some can have the same opportunity that I had to recover from a disease and become an asset to their communities.
Kathleen Marra
Kittery Point
Poliquin is a disgrace
Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s betrayal of regular, hard-working Mainers has been on full display this year. Voters should ensure that his despicable actions haunt him at every step along his re-election campaign.
Poliquin has no respect for us. Poliquin proudly voted for the American Health Care Act, which would have devastated Mainers — including ripping health care coverage away from 60,000 men, women and children in the 2nd Congressional District alone.
Poliquin has no respect for seniors. Poliquin’s vote was a crystal-clear message that he is perfectly happy to see a low-income, 64-year-old’s premium (earning $26,500 a year) soar by more than $15,800.
Poliquin has no respect for 99 percent of Mainers. The American Health Care Act that Poliquin boldly backed would have given enormous tax breaks to the top 1 percent of Mainers — people who are doing just fine already, thank you — while offering little to nothing in way of tax relief for the rest of us.
Poliquin has no respect for our economy. In Maine, the American Health Care Act would have cost our economy $1 billion and result in almost 10,000 jobs lost.
Did Poliquin know his “yes” vote would cause this damage? If he didn’t, he’s clearly inept at his job — and can’t be allowed to continue representing us.
We don’t elect people to run away and hide from the serious issues. Poliquin’s policy of duck-and-cover won’t do. We want a representative who will speak for all of us, not go to ground when tough questions are asked.
Nathalie Arruda
Member
Mainers for Accountable Leadership
Orland