Making Blue States Red

Maine, like many blue states, has long suffered from reckless, uneven, increasingly ideological, and ultimately damaging leadership, which boils down to having little or no leadership. Hope springs eternal that a strong conservative will lead the state out of the desert. How is that done?

First, at every level of government, good people must be encouraged to step up and run. Not needed are more worn-out old pols, cue cards, old ideas, and names, especially not legacy names. Needed are fresh ideas, fresh conviction, and a willingness for good leaders to step up.

How do we do that? From school boards to legislative races, from the house and senate to the governor, a willingness to throw down, say “enough!” to untruths, lack of integrity, and misguided policies must be cultivated. From local school boards to those who go to D.C., red leaders must rise in blue states.

Second, understanding where the landmines are is vital, the bureaucracy’s bag of tricks, how they beat and outlast a good leader – so that leader can beat them at their own game. Reasonable people must be hard-bitten at times to get deadwood out, make government accountable. Seeing the problems clearly is one thing; fighting effectively to fix them is the aim. Knowing how is key.

Third, knowing what people really feel, their real pain points – not blasting them with shared opinions, but understanding what threatens their day-to-day “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” – is part of winning, and by winning, being able to fix what matters most.  

In Maine – and many blue states – artificially high costs, driven by reckless spending, are a huge pain point, and will be until government becomes accountable, more limited, and rolls back waste, fraud, and endemic abuse. 

In this state, everything from fuel oil to housing is out of reach, and getting worse, boxing out young people from home ownership, robbing seniors on fixed incomes of their homes. That can be reversed, and fast with good leadership. 

Then, the state – like others under blue domination – has a shiveringly high level of drug trafficking and drug addiction, a turn to darkness that kills 40 to 70 kids a month here, and shatters families across the state. That can be stopped, then a get-well-stay-well plan offered for those affected.

Finally, driven by out-of-state influences, Maine’s education system – like many blue states – is near the bottom, and that is tragic, because it robs young people of hope and the American dream. At the state and local levels, a reversal is in order: accountability, efficiency, and outcomes.

People have many flow-down concerns, but public safety, trust in government, a chance to make a living, stay in a lifetime home, give kids a chance for the American Dream, home ownership, and a career, rank high. Listening is not just about letting people vent; it is about learning so you can act.

Fourth, understanding the institutional structures, the broken legislature, the broken executive branch, preparing to remove incompetent, ideological, and corrupt actors – getting good constitutional officers back in place – is central to success.

Finally, in this same vein, a complete, whole-of-government audit – looking to unearth what is plainly mass corruption within the executive, should be paired with a remake of the judiciary. In Maine, Supreme Court justices serve seven-year terms and often repeat.

The next conservative leader in Maine – optimally hard-charging and thoughtful at the same time – will have the chance to remove six of the seven left-leaning Maine Supreme Court justices, and should do so. The last one can be replaced at the start of a second term.

Bottom line: Blue states can be fixed, it just takes awareness, energy, and a determination that red leaders are historically better, and need to step up. That is why my life mission now is to restore good leadership – high integrity, high efficiency, lower costs, peace, and public safety  – to Maine.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).