Insanity, as the adage goes, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Yet — again and again — Maine voters send Susan Collins back to the U.S. Senate. The result of this action has never changed: always concerned but never taking action, always siding with Republican hardliners except when they have enough votes to let her appear centrist, always avoiding direct engagement with voters.

Compounding this insanity are numerous “lifelong Democrats” who will once again fall for it and vote for her, shirking the history of the party of FDR and the New Deal. We could have great things from paying our taxes: universal healthcare, infrastructure, social safety nets for retirement or life-altering events, free education and not one child ever going hungry again. Susan Collins desires none of this for Mainers. She will always do what Donald Trump tells her to do.

I, as a lifelong Democrat, am not falling for it. I am not falling for the relentless onslaught of mailers paid for by her billionaire donors. I am not falling for the empty words of a woman who willingly voted to take away the bodily autonomy of other women and girls. I am not falling for the promise that this time, this sixth term of a promised two, will be different. I want the world to substantially change for the better, for myself, for my daughters, for all Mainers. Join me in stopping this insanity. Vote Troy Jackson.

Andrew Swayze
Cape Elizabeth