Can the Voices of Inhabitants be Part of the Political Process in Maine in 2023?

And What is going on in Boothbay?

Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Edward Mason Eggleston 1931 Public Domain source

This newsletter is called the Individual vs the Empire. When I chose the name, I didn’t realize how apt it would be as I do now after watching the legislative work session about the “replacement school charter” for which I had submitted testimony. As I listened, I felt that Boothbay was being treated very differently regarding community participation than the other locations in Maine that were part of the earlier discussion. This could partly be due to the nature of my testimony, which touches on political philosophy, a subject seldom discussed by our public-private state for good reason, the political philosophy of the public-private state is inconsistent with that of the Maine Constitution. My testimony upholds the Maine Constitution and even submits that our local charter should require the Maine Constitution be taught in our district public schools starting in secondary school since our state sees fit to not include the Maine Constitution in public education at all.

My gut instinct told me that the non-receptive response to my testimony, which was never properly represented during the work session, has to do with the private cabal in Boothbay, visibly headed by Paul Coulombe and speculatively composed of private investors negotiating with the state, offering the state an opportunity to advance its business agenda embodied in the newly chartered Maine Space Corporation, using the public education system as a financial vehicle to capitalize the state’s new business by setting up schools as workforce training centers.

§13201. Maine Space Corporation established

3. Workforce. Facilitating the creation of a highly skilled workforce and attracting and retaining young workers in a new space economy. The corporation shall work closely with the University of Maine System, the Maine Community College System, career and technical education centers and regions and satellite programs, elementary and secondary schools and other organizations in the State to ensure education, training and recruitment programs are in place for the primary purpose of ensuring the availability of a highly skilled workforce to support the State’s new space economy;