The Honorable Fight for Maine: Lower Costs, Less Government, More Freedom

Honorable people fight honorable fights and do not always win, but the honor in them – the thing that brought them to the fight – keeps them fighting. A great campaign for a great state – and for freedom from an enclosing circle of government – got me up to fight for Maine. I will not stop in that mission.

The chief lesson learned in this fight for the governorship – after meeting 30,000 Mainers – is that working people are scared. They fear their state leaders, see them as accountable, future not affordable. They see fraud, rising costs everywhere. They do not want free stuff; they just want their children to make it, not to lose their homes.

They do not want Socialist charity or forced dependence; they do not want their frog pond regulated. They want to raise their children without interference, schools that teach math, reading, science, history, and the trades, not activism and excuses.

They want reinforcement for business expansion, and through the tax code, more and higher-paying jobs, not the reverse. They love nature but want the heritage trades – lobstering, fishing, logging, agriculture – unmolested by regulation.

They want common sense in electricity generation, a sensible mix that is both affordable and reliable – not ideological policy makers bankrupting Mainers to save the world. They want electricity costs down. They do not want their dams pulled to put salmon above people.

They want good roads, good housing, good health care, not promises and waste, corruption and ideology. In every county, they do not trust government. Basic business is in peril. Unchecked fraud, waste, and sole-source contracts for friends abound; corruption, self-dealing, conflicts, and abuses go from departments up to the governor-elect. They know it.

On housing, the state pushes rents and property taxes over the limit. Builders are overregulated, keeping 80,000 units unbuilt. When supply does not match demand, prices rise, forcing young people to leave and older citizens to fear losing homes.

On health care, the state fails miserably. Spending on things no one wants, like a million solar panels and mountain-marring wind towers, the state fails to pay the bills to hospitals, does not reimburse at procedure rates, accelerating failure.

Maine has lost multiple hospitals, stands to lose more. They lost 12 birthing units, 15 nursing homes, 25 assisted living centers, 75 home health companies – all by state mismanagement or socialist intention, if the goal is complete state control.

Beyond this, the state undermines, underfunds, and deauthorizes law enforcement at every level, cutting off communications between state and local police and federal law enforcement with a “sanctuary” policy. The state gives free housing, cash and healthcare to thousands of aliens, sidelining citizens, clogs the system.

Hospitals are over capacity, jammed down every hall, citizens forced to wait or go to another state. Crime has doubled, a problem compounded by uncoordinated addiction services, record foreign drug trafficking, often left unpunished.

The capstone, however, is the arrogance of power. Democrats in Maine and nationally pushed hatred for Trump and made all Republicans, no matter their differences, into Trump. The goal was winning by hate. Next cycle, that will change. We will fight the Socialist love of hate. Honorable people fight honorable fights and do not always win, but the honor in them – keeps them fighting.