Keeping the Electoral College
In a recent letter to the Times Record, a writer indicated her support of pending legislation that would dramatically alter the way we choose our president. Instead of the current system that allots electoral votes to each state, it would simply count total votes across the country to determine the winner. However logical that sounds, I have a different take on this topic.
In establishing the electoral college system, our Founding Fathers had the foresight to recognize the more populated cities and states would dominate every national election, thus silencing folks and nullifying votes in less populated areas. This issue has not changed. In the 2020 presidential election, Mainers cast 795,309 votes for president. In Brooklyn, New York alone, over 900,000 votes were cast in that small area. Los Angeles County cast over 3 million with Miami-Dade County coming in with over 1 million.
I oppose any change to the current system knowing that when I cast my lone ballot, it stands a better chance of counting towards something as Maine possesses a handful of electoral votes that could impact the outcome of the overall election. If we resort to a winner take all format, my vote will be lost to those larger populated areas. If we give up on the electoral college system, New York and California would be choosing future presidents, and we all know which way those states lean. I suspect this is the actual motivating factor given the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
Don’t be fooled by the “I want my vote to count” argument. The current system is the best method by which Maine’s voters will be counted and mean something.
Steven Edmondson,
Topsham
The move left
Former Attorney General Bill Barr’s book, “One Damn Thing After Another,” is the autobiography of a smart, insightful person who cannot be categorized as left or right, conservative or liberal. Highly objective, Barr writes the best explanation I have ever read on how the media lost its objectivity.
Barr writes, “Some liberal and progressive commentators suggest that our polarizing politics was somehow the consequence of an upsurge in right-wing extremism, but no sentient person could take that seriously. The decisive development intensifying the political divide has been the Democratic Party’s radical lurch to the Left.
“A left-wing journalist, Kevin Drum, known for his insightful statistical analysis – and himself ‘happy’ about the Democratic Party’s move to the left – concluded, based on an array of survey data, including from Pew Research Center and Gallup, that Democrats had moved significantly to the left, since 2000, while Republicans have moved only slightly to the right.”
Drum’s conclusion: “It is not conservatives who have turned American politics into a culture war battle. It’s the liberals.”
Barr writes “I would not call today’s progressives ‘liberals.’ The leftward shift of the Democratic Party is not just an incremental step in a more liberal direction along the continuum of liberal democratic ideas. It is a break with the liberal democratic tradition. Radical progressivism’s messianic premises; its totalizing ambitions to control all aspects of life; its need to tear down society’s existing belief systems and institutions; its antagonism to free and open debate – all are alien to the values of liberal democracy.”
Paula McKenney,
Woolwich
The night sky
Of the world’s greatest problems, it is not. However, light pollution is a problem with increasing consequences and something we can address personally. Most Americans can no longer see the Milky Way. The same holds true for about 80% of the world’s population as light polluted skies affect our planet. Light pollution has been increasingly shown to affect animal habitats, human health, astronomical research, and our cultural heritage and quality of life.
April 15-22 is International Dark Sky Week, an opportunity to raise awareness and help people make wiser decisions at home on their use of electricity and outside lighting. The International Dark Sky Association recommends five things one should keep in mind about outside lighting: Light only what you need lit, only when you need it (use motion sensors versus leaving lights on all night), with only the amount of light you need, use full cut-off fixtures (so light shines down, not up), use warmer color-temperature bulbs (soft white versus daylight bright), by following these simple rules we can reduce the amount of light shining into our night skies (and perhaps onto our neighbor’s property), protect animal habitats adjacent to our yards, and save energy. Since most of our electricity still comes from fossil fuels, every wasted photon is a waste of electricity which adds to global warming.
Southern Maine Astronomers, based in Brunswick, is holding a star party at its headquarters at 179 Neptune Drive on Saturday night, April 22, from 7-9 p.m. to help showcase International Dark Sky Week. In addition to exploring stars and deep-sky wonders of our universe through telescopes we will also demonstrate the effect of light pollution and how people can do “citizen science” to measure its effects in their own backyards. The event is free and open to the public. We hope many will come to learn about how each of us can do our part to help our neighborhoods, communities and planet by reducing light pollution.
For more information, see southernmaineastronomers.org.
Rob Burgess,
President, Southern Maine Astronomers
Against Maine abortion bill
Maine, the way life should be. I have agreed with that maxim for 36 years. Life here is simple, pure, and beautiful. We look out for our neighbors. This is why I write today. Bill L.D. 1619 is out of the Revisor’s Office in Augusta. This bill introduces abortion on demand at ANY time in pregnancy in Maine. Yes, up until the birth of the child.
Now, these children cannot speak for themselves, but does that make them any less human? The American Medical Association states that health care should “protect the most vulnerable … and seek to improve health outcomes to the greatest extent possible.” Hopefully, we will choose to support human life. Please contact your congressperson and senator and let them know Maine stands for life.
Clare Shumaker,
Bath
Don’t expand abortion access
I have a BA in women’s studies and I am a registered nurse with clinical focus in hospice and end-of-life care. End-of-life review is a time when joys and sufferings, and decisions we have made are revisited. The anguish of women who will suffer the effects of abortion of a viable child is very real. This anguish will play out for the remainder of their lives, particularly at death.
True leadership demands that the most vulnerable in society are preserved and protected. Legislators of Maine, you must view L.D. 1619 in light of the fact that one day you too will do your own end-of-life review. Do you want the unimaginable suffering of women and death of viable babies to be on your shoulders?
Abortion advocates state that full term abortion is a difficult and painful decision. This is true because choosing to inject chemicals into your child’s body to stop the heart, and to soften the tissue and bones to make the child more easily pulled from the womb goes against all the instincts of a pregnant woman. Women do not want to end the life of their child. They want relief from fear.
All humans live with challenges, some more than others like women in distress and my son with Down syndrome. Supporting one another in these challenges is how we grow in love, patience, and a desire to serve others. It is how we build societies that work for the common good and protect its own. If you vote yes on this horrific bill you are voting to diminish humanity in profound, far reaching ways. Vote no on L.D. 1619.
Stacy Veevers-Carter,
West Bath
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
