Preserving The American Political Philosophy

Trump has brought into focus a long brewing social crisis SELECTED FOR THE BEST OF TREMR darren-deloach-unsplash I was a Republican, until the 2016 convention when a petition gathered enough signatures to let delegates vote their conscience, and was promptly dismissed by a voice vote.  That was when I first became aware that the Republican party was afraid, intimidated and dominated by the Trump base. I felt the party took the traditional base of the party, which included myself, for granted, as if we were party players, guaranteed to support the party, unquestionably, no matter where it went. Deeply ro o ted party obedience has been established. Many whom I once respected and are no longer recognizable. Those of us who did not follow the leaders no longer have a place in the Republican party and have largely become Independents. I voted straight blue in the last election, but consider myself Independent. There is no reason to believe that either one party or the other will continu...

  A Cautionary Tale for a time when municipalities are encouraged to become development corporations. william-daigneault-unsplash This post is taken directly from research I did a number of years ago. In the midst of composing a post about the current rural estate boom in Maine and the rise of remote working, I recalled the discovery of a region of municipalities which were chartered as development corporation quite unconstitutionally by the Maine Legislature in 1997. It is unconstitutional for the Maine Legislature to charter corporations by special act of legislation pursuant to Article IV Part Third Section 14 of the Maine Constitution, and yet it happens quite frequently. In fact, I would say there is a danger of any town in Maine being transformed into a development corporation by town leaders, as this is the kind of thinking that has been encouraged in Maine since 1976 when Maine became a centrally managed economy. As I was writing a current article, I discovered that the act...

  Portrait of John Jay Gilbert Stuart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Angus King is my Senator and former Governor of Maine. When Angus King was Governor many laws that I interpret to be unconstitutional, pursuant to the Maine Constitution. were enacted. In particular Article IV Part Three Section 14 of the Maine Constitution was routinely violated under the administration of Angus King. It says this: CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF MAINE Article IV. Part Third. Legislative Power. Section 14. Corporations, formed under general laws. Corporations shall be formed under general laws, and shall not be created by special Acts of the Legislature, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where the objects of the corporation cannot otherwise be attained; and, however formed, they shall forever be subject to the general laws of the State. This section of the Maine Constitution which governs the powers of the Legislature, has been routinely violated many times over since 1976 when th...

 A comment on the public policy of centralized economic development meeting-between-the-united-states-and-china-on-trade-(public domain) I just spent several weeks navigating the SBIR.STTR grant support system as an uninvited outsider, which is to say as one deemed at the outset not qualified for support. The general assumption appears to be that the applicant will accept the adjudication from the first support organization approached and be done with it. I, however, decided to proceed to see if I could find an open door where I could apply on my own. Eventually through persistence I returned to my original starting point and this time passed through the door to have confirmed what I had already concluded. Along the way I found a place where a public comment on policy can be submitted. Whether the commentary actually gets to anyone of significance, is not known but the following is written with such a purpose in mind. This commentary is on the practicing policy of SBIR STTR grants...

Featuring The Maine Capital Corporation of 1976  Established in the wake of a newly centralized United States Economy,  Image for post Image by Mackenzie Andersen using public domain clip art Legal status disclosure: This is an opinion of a layperson. independent researcher ,and private citizen of Maine. My generation, aka the baby boomers, did not create the great wealth divide that advantages the few at the expense of the many, but we allowed it to take place. In order to understand a great effect, one needs to understand the molecular response occurring at the scale of individual human interaction.This story posits that the centralization of the American economy was a large contributing factor in the creation and escalation of the wealth gap and examines how it manifested on location to the benefit of the private capital interests of the few. The story takes a step back in time to the when the first act of legislation passed after the centrally managed economy of Maine was ...