I have always believed that when a legislative body meets, the members will do one or two things to those who elected them and sometimes they do both simultaneously. One result will cost the taxpayers more money and the other will result in less freedom. That’s what I used to say about the Congress of the United States until it became so entangled in the politics of hatred between the Democrats and Republicans that they have forgotten that they were elected to do the people’s business. I can’t say that is true of the Maine Legislature and the Windham Town Council but that’s not good news either.
My feeling is that Windham had some councils that definitely weren’t all that business friendly. Windham also had councils that had absolutely no vision for the future. Now I have a sense that everything has turned 180 degrees with a strong push for rapid business growth without any regard for Windham’s rural past. I find proof of that theory with the huge push for the North Windham/Windham Center sewer project being railroaded to the ballot this November. I also believe four councilors will vote to put the $37.8 million bond (with interest over $60 million) on the November ballot.
In Augusta where the Gov. LePage, the Maine House and Maine Senate are controlled by the Republicans, things are rolling along pretty much the way that party wants it to. Yes, I agree with some things, especially not putting any bonds on the ballot. And although I am glad to see some changes, for example the Maine Housing Authority, I still see some things running no differently. Recently, the Maine Turnpike Authority increased tolls on the turnpike because it needed more funds to pay for past bonds on turnpike improvements. Was the widening similar to the Big Dig project in Boston with its massive overruns in cost? I haven’t heard any news like that but I do wonder why they did something without having the funding in place.
The bad news is that Congress is now in session and the political infighting has begun once again. I would say that’s good news but what’s even worse is with the upcoming presidential election, each political party will propose legislation that touts negative advertising against the other party. Normally I would be ecstatic that there is a total stalemate in Congress but our nation faces some huge obstacles in the near future. The Democrats will propose legislation that shows the Republicans want to cut Medicaid and the Republicans will put forth legislation to cut food stamps or something similar to show Democrats want to spend more money.
The United States is facing a fiscal cliff in 2013, mainly because the Bush tax cuts will expire, the expanding cost of ObamaCare and the huge cutbacks in military and social services budgets. If the Bush tax cuts expire, some economists have predicted anywhere from 2 to 10 million jobs could disappear, pushing America into an even deeper recession than we just experienced and which still isn’t over. Food stamps usage, in Maine now known as the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) and with a new federal name of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), has increased from around 27 million recipients in January 2008 to more than 46 million presently, while unemployment has had a slight decrease.
What’s even scarier about the inaction of our floundering members of Congress is the huge, mandatory cuts to our military budget on Jan. 1. Those massive cuts could leave us with a military smaller than many of us have ever seen when we are still faced with a global war on terrorism and an ever-growing expansion of the Red Chinese military that is pushing for dominance in places far from the Chinese borders.
Lane Hiltunen, of Windham, might take a permanent baycation if Obama is reelected, either on the shores of Bermuda or The Bahamas.
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