Dear Editor:

I have been reading the history and statutes that have been enacted in Maine since it was deemed to be a centrally managed economy in 1976, eight years after the United States was deemed to be a centrally managed economy when The United States Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 1968, Public Law 90–577 was enacted. The 1968 law instructs states to adapt their constitutions and municipalities their ordinances to the federal law in order to qualify for federal grants.

Due to my independent research, I know that many major laws are enacted or amended in Maine with no media coverage.

While character is undoubtedly important in an elected representative, so are issues.

In December of 2021, The Pine Tree Zone tax exemptions will sunset again as they did in 2017, and yet no one running for office is talking about the Pine Tree Zone.

I have analyzed what occurred during the last congressional hearing on my own blog, Andersen Design Economic Evolution Discourse, including the history leading up to those hearings to make a more complete story. In essence, there was one faction missing from those hearings and that was the voice of the people who have to pay the bill but do receive the benefits. OPEGA supposedly represents those people as a function of determining if an act is consistent in practice with its enabling statute, but the Legislature relied on an outside consultant and OPEGA complains that it cannot get the data it needs to complete its function. It is of the nature of a public-private government — that there is built in opacity when in the private side of the arrangement.

Coronavirus and automation are changing our world. Isn’t it time we reconsidered our twentieth century policies? Where is the issues discussion?

Mackenzie Andersen

Boothbay