Category Archives: History

Happy Columbus Day

Time to say something controversial. Are you ready? Here it goes: Happy Columbus Day. Those three words have become quite the flash point. Earlier this year, Gov. Janet Mills and the Maine Legislature changed the law designating the second Monday in October from “Columbus Day” to “Indigenous Peoples Day.” However, federal law maintains the old […]

We should be united as celebrate America’s history

Psst. I’ve got a secret. There are a bunch of wealthy white men having a closed-door meeting. Rumor is they are conspiring to overthrow the government. Sounds spooky, right? Well, your perspective probably changes depending on what details are added. What if I told you that the group was the Cabinet members of President Donald […]

Symbols matter. That’s why Maine should have a new flag.

Symbols are important. The American flag will fly at half-staff throughout Maine until Sunday, when Berwick firefighter Capt. Joel Barnes is laid to rest. Lowering the flag is one way — a symbol — by which we honor those who have lost their lives in service to others. There are plenty of other symbols we […]

Blame Congress for the wall

“The President’s order does not direct that a congressional policy be executed in a manner prescribed by Congress — it directs that a presidential policy be executed in a manner prescribed by the President.” That line is from a famous Supreme Court decision known as Youngstown Steel. It was part of an opinion against President […]

Good and bad, our labor history lives with us

It is hard to believe it is already Labor Day. With the traditional end of summer, the political season will soon begin to ramp up. The holiday offers a respite before we plunge into the home stretch of campaigns. The paternity of “Labor Day” as a day off is disputed. Both a Mr. McGuire and […]

The GOP convention will be Coolio

It is going to be wild in Augusta this weekend. After all, there ain’t no party like the Grand Old Party. Why? The Grand Old Party won’t stop. With apologies to Coolio, Maine Republicans are gathering in the capital to hold their biennial convention. It is an event steeped in tradition and pageantry. However, its […]

Tax reform or the Augusta War: Which way will Maine go?

“The Great Shutdown of 2017” will be remembered much like the “Aroostook War”; an interesting historical footnote in Maine’s history. The apocryphal casualties of the latter consisted of one cow. For the former, two vehicles of Republican representatives may or may not have been vandalized by individuals who missed the childhood lesson on using their words. […]

Remember the Civil War; return civility to politics

“And now we are engaged in a great civil war.” Abraham Lincoln’s words from the Gettysburg Address echo through the ages. That war — and the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans it brought — tested whether any nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal … […]