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As it was before
C.S. Lewis once said that God whispers to us in our joys and pleasures, speaks to us in our consciences and shouts at us in our sufferings. We as a nation are suffering now and I believe God is shouting at us to trust in him on this national election.
Our strong and robust nation and vibrant economy was blindsided by a vicious coronavirus that crippled us as a nation, put our health care facilities in peril and tragically killed hundreds of thousands of our citizens. The very nature of this virus keeps us guessing as to what to do next and no one can tell us the best way to combat it, we can only do our best.
Our medical experts and administration combat this virus daily, yet many businesses and jobs are locked down still and life may not get back to normal until we have a vaccine.
Let us trust in God that we are not blindsided a second time by this virus by allowing the circumstances of it to cloud our thinking and judgment on the national election. The country just prior to the virus was very strong, we had some of the lowest unemployment numbers ever in categories of employment such as African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, women and youth. Our economy was roaring and we were never stronger on the world stage.
May we vote for the economy and the administration we had just prior to the virus and win back our nation as it was before.
Peter Pinette
Woodland
Rural Maine and the Postal Service
Like many others, I get medications through the mail. Now they may be delayed. Because of the pandemic many of us plan to vote by absentee ballot to stay safe. Our right to vote safely is being endangered by the Republican appointed to head the post office.
Has Sen. Susan Collins forgotten that rural Mainers need our Postal Service not only for letters but for prescriptions and now for absentee voting? It is time for Collins to stop defending President Donald Trump’s actions and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s inaction and consider the needs of Mainers.
Charles Stephens
Blue Hill
Grateful for Susan Collins
As the owner of York Harbor Inn for 40 years, I will be forever grateful to Sen. Susan Collins for her part in bringing us the Paycheck Protection Program. This program was a tremendous help to my family and more than 60 year-round employees and their families who rely on my business to earn a living here in York and our greater Seacoast area. The program truly worked, and it saved countless small businesses like mine from going under during the early days of this pandemic.
I was saddened to see this paper publish an article by a partisan news source, ProPublica, on the very front page accusing Collins of carving out a loophole for “large hotel chains.” I believe this is a politically motivated hit piece from a news source that is supported by partisans like George Soros and Donald Sussman.
First of all, large hotel chains did not qualify for the program, but rather, individually owned hotels that operate under a franchise name could. That’s a huge distinction that the ProPublica article conveniently overlooked. Further, to receive full loan forgiveness, 60 percent of the funds had to be used to keep chambermaids, banquet staff, custodians, etc., employed and out of the broken unemployment system.
Enough is enough. Let’s stop politicizing this important pandemic relief program, and instead cheer Collins on as she tries to pass another round to help those of us who are continuing to struggle under the rules that continue to be in place to protect public safety.
Garry Dominguez
York Harbor