Tuesday is Election Day. At long last this way too long campaign season will come to an end for this time around. I don't think it will ever return to a reasonable time as too many people want to take over America and the only way that can happen is to see how much money can be spent to control the outcomes.
That's too bad. Our country is taking on a whole new direction similar to the directions of other failed countries around the world. Instead of continuing to grow as a leader, we are falling back into being just average. The ideals that made this country great are slowly eroding away and I feel sad about that.
I have already voted. I'd bet that anyone who has read these comments over the last several years already knows how my ballot was completed. But I'll jump in again to let you know one final time.
There are a couple of unofficial "licenses" that may affect my thoughts here. One of the licenses is called "poetic" or "literary" license. The other is a "political" license. There's really not much difference between the two as it gives writers and politicians a "license" to express themselves as they deem necessary.
Politicians and people like me often write or say what they honestly believe even though often people who don't agree with us simply say we're lying. You've read here before that two sides often have differing versions of the truth and the real facts lie somewhere in between. In politics it is the negotiations of the sides, we call that "bi-partisanship," that lead to a compromise, probably a "real" truth. That's the way it should be and that's when government works best.
Unfortunately, today's society has developed into hard and fast sides. Both sides have differing views and they will not change. That leads to name-calling and failure. And government slides. That's when outside radicals, both left and right, take over and the greatness that once was America continues to fall into that European model I mentioned earlier.
This has been one of the dirtiest elections I've seen. It may even rank as the worst. Both the Republicans and the Democrats have engaged in the debauchery, but from the mailings I've received I'd have to say the Democrats are by far the leaders of the pack. The outright lies, personal attacks, and viciousness have ruined any credibility in the process. I won't say the Republicans haven't also engaged in questionable campaigning, but not to the extent of the Dems.
I said very early in this year's process, which, I think, began at least two years ago, that one major flaw of the Republicans is the inability to fight the attacks. It now appears that I was right, especially in the Charlie Summers campaign for U.S. Senate. He learned nothing from the failure of Dean Scontras two years ago when he maintained a high road to loss. Summers this year simply tried to maintain the high road and never countered the attacks on him. Republicans don't know how.
Angus King, on the other hand, who started out saying he wouldn't go negative, began to lose to that high road so on the attack he went. Following the Democrats mantra of say it often enough, loud enough, and the people will begin to believe it. Attack without real threat of response and the election will be his. (King, incidentally, may be unenrolled, but he is a Democrat.) It appears now that his getting into the Dem playbook has led to success.
The two House seats are interesting. In the First District, gazillionairesse Chellie Pingree Sussman hasn't needed to go negative. She is capable of it as she showed Scontras, but the Republican candidate doesn't seem to be much of a threat.
The Second District is a different story. Mike Michaud has held the seat for a long time and incumbents are difficult to replace. Kevin Raye seems to be doing a credible job of it and the one totally false ad my Michaud over a kitchen in the Maine Senate was wasn't might be the difference. I have no feeling right now about that outcome.
You know I always vote against bond issues. Most voters still don't understand that bonding is debt that must be paid back through our taxes. Bonds are loans, or mortgages, that have to be repaid with interest over several years thus increasing the cost of that new debt. Bonds look like they're something the state is selling to get money. Technically, I suppose, they are; but they're only paper. Perhaps if the ballot question was rephrased from asking voters if they wanted to sell bonds to asking them if they wanted to borrow more money, the outcome might be different. Probably not.
Fifty-one years ago this month, the man stood before the girl about to be my bride and me and finalized the occasion with, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." It was "husband" and "wife," male and female. He didn't say, "I now pronounce you spouse and spouse." Nor was it, "Marital unit 1 and marital unit 2." Nor any other combination. It was husband and wife. My values have not changed. If anything, they've strengthened over the years as my wife and I have grown together.
Same sex marriage is just another step in the attempts to change our culture. "There's no hidden agenda," we're told over and over again, just like those stories the Dems have learned to tell. I'm not going to challenge whether or not the accounts expressed in the Vote No ads are correct. Changing marriage in Maine will be just the first goal.
Edited Fri 5:45 PM...I hope those of you who believe the new culture will never appear in school saw the news on Ch. 6 this evening about the incident at Gorham Middle School. Whern I added this, it had not yet been posted on WCSH6, but I'd bet it will be soon. End edit.
Those things in other states (and now taking place in other countries) won't happen in Maine. Well, they've already started. Just two or three years ago one local legislator introduced a bill in our state legislature to remove the terms sons and daughters from our legal way of life. Fortunately, at least in my opinion, the effort to officially rename them to Unit 1 and Unit 2 failed.
A difference between my generation and today's much younger ones is the teaching of history in our public schools. We used to learn it. One of the greatest of all ancient empires fell, primarily due to three things. Society today is already facing two of them, perhaps even all three. I'm not going to attempt to teach a history lesson here as you would better understand the events if you researched/studied them yourself. Too bad we can't learn from the past. Unless we do, our destiny is sealed.
I would suggest to you our best bet to return America to its greatness would be the election of Mitt Romney as President. He wasn't my first choice, or my second. But he is what the Republican Party has to offer this year. I fear greatly what will happen to the United States if he is not elected. Most of the fears I expressed four years ago have come or are coming to pass.
If you haven't already done so, please vote Tuesday.
Dave
