Tag Archives: Affordable Care Act

Don’t let coronavirus lessons go to waste

“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” That phrase was most famously said in recent history by Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama’s first chief of staff. In the wake of the so-called Great Recession, it became a clarion call built atop the Obama campaign’s “hope” and “change” slogan. So what did the […]

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 […]

Divide the government and get things done

“As Maine goes …” The famous saying may have new meaning. Democrats will probably take the U.S. House of Representatives and hold the Maine House. Both here and in Washington, the Senate will be balanced on a knife’s edge. And the executive branch is definitely going to be led by a Republican in D.C., while […]

Tribalism is not patriotism

That didn’t last long. John McCain was laid to rest last weekend. Regardless of your opinion on his politics, he was lauded as someone who tried to put the nation’s best interest first. That is why he was eulogized by two former presidents, who each bested him en route to the White House (with supporters […]

Congress needs to know its role and stop wrestling over Kavanaugh nomination

“Know your role.” Before Dwayne Johnson’s real name was popularly known, his wrestling persona “The Rock” coined the catchphrase. We could probably heed his advice in the public sphere. One of the details seemingly lost in the tales full of sound and fury — ultimately signifying naught — related to Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to […]

No political litmus tests for next Supreme Court nominee

Will God save the honorable court? With Wednesday’s surprise announcement that Justice Anthony Kennedy submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump, the political world whirled. It did not help matters that two significant decisions were handed down by 5-4 majorities at nearly the same time. The problem is aggravated by political lawfare. It seems every […]

Lessons from 1776: Lock lawmakers in a hot room until they get something done

Two hundred forty-one years ago this weekend, colonial delegates were shut in a hot and steamy room debating the idea of independence from Great Britain. They ultimately came up with an answer. And they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to see it through. That debate was dramatized in the musical 1776. […]

Want a government program to work? Be prepared to pay for it.

This just in: if you don’t adequately fund a program, it is not going to work. And in other news, water remains wet and Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. Chevy Chase made that last line famous on the first season of “Saturday Night Live,” and with good reason. It lampoons the breathless media coverage […]