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Republican candidates today
I’m glad to see there are at least two sensible Republican politicians in Maine (Sept. 12-13 OpEd in the BDN, “Why two lifelong Maine Republicans are voting for Joe Biden,” by Kevin Raye and Roger Katz). My great great grandfather, Theophilus Cushing of Winterport, who ran a lumber mill there as well as a station on the Underground Railroad, was a founder of the Republican Party in Maine. He would be horrified by the state of the party today.
As for me, there used to be Republicans I could happily vote for. When living in Vermont, I regularly voted for George Aiken, Bob Stafford and Jim Jeffords. Alas, Republican representatives and senators — Susan Collins among them — have all been enablers of Donald Trump, a thoroughly dishonest man, who has put the lives of millions at risk. The death of nearly 200,000 from COVID-19 is apparently OK with him.
The bottom line for me is that there is no way that I could vote for a Republican candidate for office today.
William A. Haviland
Deer Isle
Help those living with ALS
As a member of the ALS community and advocate, a constituent of Rep. Jared Golden and proud Mainer, I call on Congress to pass quickly H.R. 1407 and S. 578, which would extend Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits for patients living with ALS.
Today, improving the quality of life for Americans living with ALS has taken on a whole new level of urgency. Someone is diagnosed with ALS globally every four minutes. Based on current projections, ALS diagnoses are expected to climb 69 percent by 2040. Millions of mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, neighbors and friends will be impacted in the decades ahead.
ALS is a terminal, progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the body’s motor neurons, causing decreased mobility and eventually leads to death. There is no cure at the moment and this legislation would provide ALS patients and their loved ones access to SSDI benefits without having to wait five months from the time of diagnosis – an eternity within the two-to-five-year life expectancy of the disease.
Now more than ever, it’s time we help those living with ALS. This disease is an enormous financial burden. It is critical for those living with ALS and their families to have as much support as possible. Congress, I urge you to pass H.R. 1407 and S. 578 now.
David Doane
Bucksport
Rank Savage first
The first U.S. Senate debate on Sept. 11 (sponsored by BDN and other media) was interesting and informative. Independent Lisa Savage (recently retired school teacher and former union negotiator) from Solon did very well in answering questions and avoiding the trash talk that the other three candidates engaged in.
Savage made clear that as the only non-millionaire running for the Senate she was representing working families who are daily struggling to survive. She supports Medicare for All and warned of the dangers of the growing climate crisis.
She offered the vision of ending our expensive and wasteful wars and using those funds to build sustainable systems like commuter rail and offshore wind turbines which would employ more people than building more weapons. Studies at Brown University and University of Massachusetts Amherst reveal we could double the number of jobs we get by doing just that.
We are in serious danger of economic and environmental collapse if we don’t quickly change course. Maine needs a real leader in Washington like Lisa Savage. Please consider ranking her first in November.
Bruce K. Gagnon
Bath
Understanding the American people
As followers of current events know, former Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward records that President Trump purposely downplayed the threat of the coronavirus to the American people. According to Trump, he did this to avoid public panic. If that is true, then Trump does not understand the people he leads.
The United States just celebrated the anniversary of 9/11. If President George W. Bush had wanted to cover up the events of that day to avoid panicking the public, it would have been impossible. Thousands of Americans lived it in real time — in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. Television networks turned to live reports of the fires and wreckage; there was even live coverage of an airliner full of innocent people striking the second tower of the World Trade Center. Fellow citizens were dying before our eyes, and we understood that foreign terrorists were living amongst us. And what did Americans do on Sept. 12 and in the weeks and months to come? We certainly didn’t panic.
Americans responded with resolve in the aftermath of 9/11. We recognized the challenge international terrorism posed to America, and were determined to defeat it. Some of us willingly served multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries in the war on terrorism, while at home, Americans accepted new travel restrictions and other steps designed to keep us safe.
President Trump cannot lead because he doesn’t understand who he is leading.
David Klausmeyer
Ellsworth
Re-elect Collins
Sara Gideon claims she is working for middle class Mainers. Is she? If she is elected, we can expect to see many more of our hard earned dollars heading to Washington with her. Gideon has already said she would work to repeal the 2017 tax reform and thus raise taxes. Data show middle- and low-income people and working Maine families benefited from the tax cut bill.
Gideon has also supported increasing taxes on gasoline and home heating oil, which would hurt senior citizens on a fixed income, and has supported a new payroll tax.
Gideon says she is funded by small donations, but don’t believe it. National Democrats have targeted Sen. Susan Collins and they are spending tens of millions of dollars to try to defeat her.
People will find less money in their wallets if they send Sara Gideon to Washington. Don’t believe the distorted ugly propaganda on our televisions. Re-elect Susan Collins as senator from Maine!
Elaine Beal
Alfred