“The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive.” Those were the weighty words of President Trump when he spoke to an enthusiastic crowd in Poland.  Though they sound more like the work of his speechwriters than of the tweeter-in-chief, they were both momentous and generally ignored by the […]

Health care “repeal and reform” is a mess, and both parties must share the responsibility for what now appears to be a national crisis. It’s worth recalling the essential elements of the Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – that have led to the crisis. The ACA extended health insurance coverage to tens of millions of […]

Is there such a thing as too much democracy? Voters in many states are more often deciding major issues that have been dodged by state legislatures.  In Maine, three recent questions, decided by popular vote, have come under legislative review this year. The clash between the Legislature and voters on boosting taxes to pay for […]

The income gap between the rich and everybody else is behind the growth of populism in the U.S. and Europe, according to new political analyses. On one side are the rich and on the other is the middle class.  The poor rarely are mentioned these days, either because it is disgraceful to be poor or […]

Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District just completed a run-off election for the vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.  The record of that race reveals much relevant to the consideration of ranked-choice voting. The first round of the election took place on April 18.  In a traditionally solidly Republican district, Democrat Jon Ossoff won 48 […]

The gap between the people and their government continues to grow.  The sense that government exists to serve the people keeps eroding. Many government leaders don’t want a well-informed country, and they are supported by a new artificial media. Last week, Sen. Angus King asked two top national intelligence officials about their conversations with President […]

Susan Collins, Maine’s moderate Republican in the U.S. Senate, should not run for governor in 2018. She should continue to serve in the Senate where she plays a major role for Maine and the country. This is not a political endorsement. Right now, she is running for nothing, but serving a term that extends to […]

World affairs may seem safely distant from life in a corner of the country, but events last week will affect this country for years to come. The most powerful democracies met twice, once at a NATO summit and then at the Group of 7 leading economic powers.  Among countries that count the most, only Russia […]

Maine Supreme Court justices unanimously stated what was obvious: ranked-choice voting, based on multiple vote counts until one candidate has a majority, did not square with the Maine Constitution’s requirement that an election winner should have a plurality of the votes. The moment the votes are counted, the candidate with the most votes – a […]

Big budget battles are under way now. In Maine, the Legislature struggles toward a bipartisan compromise, essential for adopting a state budget, with the central issues being tax cuts for the wealthy and education spending. In Washington, President Trump’s new budget proposal focuses on tax cuts for the wealthy and reduced spending for the most […]