Solvent government must be a priority. It serves also as an example to us. There will always be vote seekers who cater to those who want a soft berth in life. Divided authority can be a handicap to progress.

At one time, Maine was a powerhouse, with agriculture, logging, shipping and related industries. Welfare did not exist. Families took care of their own. Drug abuse? What’s that? A 10,000-page health care tome? Doctors made house calls. Much better.

Since then, there have been significant changes in lifestyles and commerce. When Maine’s virgin forest was depleted, loggers worked their way west. Then the homestead farm surrendered to agribusiness. Who can resist the supermarket’s monopoly and convenience with foods from out of state?

Shipping followed when giant metal ships with skeleton crews took over. Then came the lure of higher wages in megacities such as Boston and New York City.

Maine’s most capable young men and women were siphoned away, and immigrants no longer come with a hunger to farm the land. They were men and women with lasting family values and work ethics.

What if government required agribusiness to eschew the use of chemicals. That would make more jobs available in the countryside.

And someone has to address the breakdown of the family unit, which forms the very foundation of our economy.

Maine’s former powerhouse status was as much due to working women as to men. As homemakers, women made possible the productivity of their men and assured the health of their children. Abraham Lincoln said it all, “No one is poor who had a Godly mother.”

There is no FDIC for an insolvent state. Success with Marden’s adds to our governor’s credibility.

Russell Vesecky

Harmony