Principles are pretty easy to have. It doesn’t take much effort to say that you believe in things like free expression, multiculturalism, religious tolerance, a limited government, social justice or fiscal austerity. All it takes is a broad philosophical agreement with the tenets of those principles. The problem, though, is that living out those principles […]
As a general rule, I try to avoid actually watching political debates anymore. They have long since stopped being either useful or meaningful, and the media’s obsession with them as some kind of important guidepost for the campaign is as disappointing as the event is predictable. Still, considering that the Democrats have now had something […]
Call me conservative, but I love tradition. And there is no finer tradition on these pages than the month of December, when I get to make predictions for the coming year, and — as I’m about to do now — I hand out superlatives for the year that was. 2019 came and went all too […]
I’ll start with an admission: I genuinely like Jared Golden. To be clear, I view the manner in which he was elected to Congress to be repellent and illegitimate and I think that Bruce Poliquin should be the 2nd Congressional District representative right now. But Golden is a really decent person. He is pleasant, and […]
I will begin this annual tradition of mine by acknowledging a failure of my final prediction of 2019. You see, in last year’s column, I told you that this year I would simply do a top 10 list of my predictions, as the number of required predictions each year was getting unwieldy. Alas, there is […]
Lawmakers want your money, and they never stop wanting your money. At any given opportunity, they will dream up new ways of identifying it, taking it from you, and then using it. When they can’t get it, they just take it from you anyway by spending money they don’t have and covering it with debt. […]
This week, people across Maine and across the country will come together and celebrate Thanksgiving. There will be turkey, there will be gravy, there will be stuffing, and there will be endless debates about which side dish or dessert really belongs on the table. There will also, undoubtedly, be some ridiculous squabbles over the state […]
For years, following politics in the United States has felt — at least to me — like trying to take a refreshing sip of water out of a high pressure fire hose. In other words, overwhelming, painful, and ultimately unsatisfying. I’m burned out. Sincerely. I don’t have any idea how people can find any of […]
There are currently 17 candidates running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, and there seems to be a little something for everyone? Do you want to vote for a socialist? Well, I’ve got great news for you, because socialism is the new black in the Democratic Party, and you’ve got plenty of people […]
Most people in this country don’t trust the media. Gallup, which runs an annual tracking poll on public perception of the media, asks a rather simple question to people every year. “How much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media — such as newspapers, TV and radio — when it comes to […]
