Growing up, the Republican Party I knew wanted less government intrusion in our lives. It wanted to put more control in the hands of states and of the people. Yet today, we have the leader of the Republican Party ruling from the White House and his Florida mansion, spewing forth a never-ending stream of Sharpie-scrawled edicts that do just the opposite — controlling our lives, bypassing and overriding our right to have any say in how our country is run.

Meanwhile, the elected legislators of the GOP (and some Democrats as well — I point to Jared Golden here) sit back, timid, too frightened of Trump’s wrath to take a stand and defend not only the integrity of their party, but the integrity of our Constitution and democracy.

The current situation in Maine is a clear example. While the question of transgender student-athletes may be worthy of debate, it’s a discussion we need to have here in Maine, among our neighbors, not directed by caveat from Washington, D.C.

It is time for the members of Congress, Republicans specifically, to remember the bravery of Margaret Chase Smith and stand up, show some backbone and do the job their constituents elected (and are paying) them to do.

John Gold
Saco