By Ray Cardello for February 8, 2025, Season 30 / Post 32

Rather than stand on its own merits and create an identity of its own, Maine is working feverishly to be the California of the East Coast. The Progressives who are clustered in the big cities are spending money they don’t have and threatening to lose federal funds by defying Washington edicts. Maine does not have California’s size, natural resources, or economy. It is squeezing every possible tax dollar from its residents to be like the WOKE Mecca of the Pacific coast. In Governor Mills’ address last week, she did her best to convince Mainers that the state is in great shape and that life has never been safer and more prosperous than today. Every day, Mainers know better and do not share the governor’s twisted vision. Maine has the fourth-highest overall tax burden in the country and boasts the number one property tax burden. Unfortunately, the average household income for Maine has not kept up with Augusta’s spending, as the state currently ranks 29.

The information Mills presented on January 28 was mixed with good and bad news. The good was Maine finished the fiscal year 2024 with a surplus of $94M, but the bad was the projection of a $450M shortfall over the next two years. Since Mills’ term as governor ends in 2027, that news does not bode well for her successor. Few states can boast they live within their fiscal budget, but you can almost guarantee a Democrat state will never stay within spending guidelines. Declaring the state a sanctuary for illegal migrants, as well as any underage person looking for an abortion or transgender care, is not fiscally sound, nor does it align with the thinking of traditional Mainers who live outside of the major cities. This is the conundrum that many states on both coasts must live with. The states are philosophically opposed from the urban to the rural areas.

The Maine Department of Education is also trying to mirror California, and with that effort comes wasted money and poor results. Both states have sharply increased the budgets for their schools, but the state department of education is failing, just like its federal counterpart. Money is not the answer, but teacher quality and a curriculum based on basic fundamental concepts rather than CRT or DEI is key to getting test scores back to at least pre-COVID levels. Maine has not shown a propensity to curb a WOKE curriculum, which makes one question what the motive is of politicians and education administrators to harm children by hindering their education.

Another decision this week in both states is to defy the President’s Executive Order prohibiting male-born students from female sports, locker rooms, and bathrooms. This action by Donald Trump has a 79% approval rating (67% of Democrats favor the policy). You cannot get 79% of the population to agree on whether it is day or night, but they are united on this protection of girls, except in Maine and California. We have already had female athletes seriously impacted with lifetime injuries, and some were denied scholarships because boys have beaten them, but that is not enough proof for the two coastal progressive havens. These states are in jeopardy of losing federal funds in addition to the harm done to female athletes of all ages.

There is only one cure for Progressivism, and that is to vote them out of office and keep them from being elected. We must cultivate a strong bench of young conservative candidates and then support them. Trump and his team can do their work at the federal level, but it is up to us to do the same at the local and state level.