Sen. Susan Collins has said, regarding pledges against her in 2020 if she votes to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh: “I think it demonstrates the new lows to which the judge’s opponents have stooped.”
Sen. Collins is wrong. I reached legal voting age in 1997 and have voted for her in every election since, but that has all but come to an end. Once upon a time, she stood for moderation and speaking against her own party, like John McCain did, when it was the right thing to do. However, in recent years she has more often pushed back only when her votes are inconsequential.
There are clear signs that as a Supreme Court justice, Judge Kavanaugh will be pro-big business, pro-executive power, anti-consumer, anti-individual rights and anti-choice, besides credible claims that he has lied under oath, and yet Sen. Collins has given every signal that she is going to vote for him. This isn’t about a single issue, and confirming Judge Kavanaugh is not what’s best for the majority of Mainers. It’s what her party leadership and corporate donors want.
Collins shouldn’t try to claim that raising money for a hypothetical future opponent is “stooping to a new low.” People are trying to show her that it’s hers to lose in her next election. She must show us that she’s still that moderate voice who will stand up for what’s best for the majority of her constituents, and not just those who pad her re-election fund.
Joshua Rose
Kittery
Send questions/comments to the editors.
