Andy Young lives in Cumberland.

There are many jobs I’m unqualified for.

One of them is “financial advisor.” Yet despite my obvious lack of qualifications in that area, I feel a certain sense of responsibility when it comes to helping my offspring manage their fiscal affairs, which is why I’ve offered them one (and only one) piece of advice when it comes to managing their money: never, ever give even one red cent to anyone running for president, Congress or governor. 

My rationale is simple: whatever amount my hardworking children feel they can spare to nominally help a candidate they believe, that amount in cannot begin to compare to what political action committees (PACs), overcompensated lobbyists and billionaires bent on become multibillionaires will contribute in order to further their own self-serving agendas.

Sadly, those sorts of forces will, barring some unforeseen change in campaign finance laws, continue to purchase influence and power for the foreseeable future. The best an ordinary citizen’s money can do is pay a fraction of the postage on ads that come in the mail from time to time. And those appeals don’t change anyone’s mind anyway.

An honest person owns up to their mistakes. I’d like to use this space to publicly admit I was wrong. Not about the advice I’ve given my children, but about the rationale for that advice. Those political ads that arrive in the mailbox can indeed affect how people choose to cast their ballot.

I learned of my error thanks to two 5½-by-11-inch pieces of card I recently received to my home.

Their purpose, I assume, was to convince me to vote for a certain candidate for governor. And since the Blaine House will have a new resident next year, I feel it behooves me to learn a bit about each of the people aspiring to live there.

The first full-color ad I received warned me that liberals have put Maine and my family at risk. Reading on, I learned that these “liberals” are allowing drugs and crime in our neighborhoods, and also letting illegal aliens infiltrate our towns.

Two days later, I received another appeal in the mail. This one informed me that Janet Mills (who appeared on the card in a most unflattering photograph) and her “liberal” pals have allowed government fraud and corruption, rampant crime, wokeness in our schools and surging everyday costs to destroy our state.  

I was understandably concerned about these evildoing “liberals,” a group that clearly consists of drug dealers, organized criminals and other subversives determined to destroy our way of life. But just to make sure I understood exactly what sorts of threats my fellow Mainers and I have been contending with recently, I looked up the word in the dictionary.

“Liberal,” it turns out, has several definitions.

The first one listed on dictionary.com is, “favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.” Subsequent descriptions include, “relating to or having policies or views advocating individual freedom,” “giving and generous in temperament and behavior” and “tolerant of other people.” According to Thesaurus.com, some synonyms for “liberal” are “broad-minded,” “humanistic,” “enlightened” and “libertarian.”

I was wrong about those cardboard mailed political ads. They really do help people make up their minds.

Regarding this November’s gubernatorial election, I’m still not sure who I’ll be voting for. But thanks to those two ads the Restoration of America PAC sent me last week, I know for sure it won’t be for Garrett Mason, or any other candidate who appeals to fear, suspicion and ignorance in an attempt to further divide everyday, ordinary Mainers whose common interests far outnumber their individual differences.