Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to letters@bangordailynews.com

A poem of promise

We are shaken. The storming of the Capitol was a terrifying end to four very difficult years. Who is not physically and psychologically exhausted? Please don’t say, “Oh, it wasn’t that serious.” Don’t minimize what we saw with our own eyes — a violent attempt to suspend the Constitution as we know it.

There is profound indignation that the peaceful transfer of power was nearly subverted. While the inauguration did go forward, it was under unprecedented lockdown conditions in a city occupied by 25,000 National Guard troops; all on alert out of a legitimate fear of our own citizenry. Shame!

Even so, across our weary country there has been a great and tearful sigh of relief. Jan. 20 was a sweet day. Thank you to Amanda Gorman for her youthful presence and poem of promise. She provided a balm that so many of us needed, and that sadly has been missing for far too long.

George Mason

Nobleboro

Looking forward to a NECEC referendum

Recently the government of Quebec (through Hydro-Quebec) did an exhaustive poll of only 500 Mainers to gauge where we stand on their unpopular New England Clean Energy Connect project. Central Maine Power, another foreign-owned corporation and their partner in the project, released the results. Collectively, these two companies stand to make over $15 billion in profit off the corridor project, so of course, Mainers should trust that their motives are pure.

The truth is that both of these companies have shown disrespect to the voters of this state since the inception of this for-profit project, doing some of their dealings behind closed doors and spending a small fortune on lobbyists and lawyers to prevent a statewide referendum. They could seem to care less about how we feel about the project, which is evident from the questions posed in the poll they released last week on the same day that No CMP Corridor delivered more than 100,000 signatures to the Secretary of State to trigger a statewide vote.

I believe Hydro-Quebec has failed once again in the “facts” department and appears out of touch with the reality of the situation, perhaps because they are based in another country. Their whole poll was ridiculous and a waste of time, and it shows just how desperate they are to slash their destructive corridor through our state to profit off a contract with Massachusetts. I look forward to voting yes this November to stop them once and for all.

Theresa York

Farmington

What Mills should be dealing with

Gov. Janet Mills should spend all of her work time on doing her job recognizing and dealing with priorities. I think that dealing with fears and discomfort caused by Maine Capitol Police Chief Russell Gauvin’s private opinion is not part of her job as a governor. Dealing with the consequences of the pandemic is.

She seems to have a problem differentiating between the two. That alone qualifies her more than Gauvin to be investigated and removed.

Jozef Nielubin

Brewer

Not ready to celebrate the Electoral College

My idea of democracy differs from Michael Goff’s in the Jan. 21 OpEd “Electoral College saved democracy.”

In my somewhat simplified model, each adult American has one vote. In the presidential election, all the votes nationwide are counted and totaled, and the candidate with the most votes becomes president. This makes sense because the president and vice president are the only American politicians now elected by a nationwide vote and should be equally responsible to all Americans. State boundaries and state vote totals should be irrelevant to their election. A president should not reward or punish a state because of its Electoral College vote.

I note that the Electoral College did not win Goff’s praise for “preserving democracy” in 2016, when Hillary Clinton had almost 3 million more popular votes than Donald Trump, or in 2000, when Al Gore had about 500,000 more than George W. Bush.

Karl K. Norton

Bangor