Sen. Margaret Chase Smith inspired my participation in politics during a 4-H trip to Washington, D.C., in 1969. For a kid from a small Maine town, meeting Smith was like meeting the president.

The Winthrop School Department, as a member of Alternative Organizational Structure 97, continues to reflect the excellence that has characterized the efforts of staff, students, and parents throughout the state. We are one of the very few school districts in Maine to have an increase in our student population, and our high school is ranked at No. 20 in academic strength and quality, as measured by the Maine DOE indicators and No. 13 in the latest Maine high school rankings released by US News; we are the only high school in central Maine to receive this national recognition.

Having a personal connection to Maine, I have always appreciated the state for its virtues, including its independent political streak. As a member of Congressman Tom Allen’s campaign staff and one of his first legislative assistants, I learned to appreciate that Mainers value principle over politics and Tom always had support back home for his efforts to bridge the partisan gap in Washington. In the end, common sense prevails in Maine and the public good outweighs that of a select few. For that reason, the state is a policy leader in areas such as education and public health.

“And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

Independence Day is the perfect time to explore the complexities of our freedom of speech.

Many political documents are nothing more than statements of a moment. They’re outdated almost as quickly as a daily newspaper.

Much ink has been spilled (and Internet bandwidth occupied) recently by various opinionators decrying the lack of “compromise” in our highly charged political system.

On Monday, a majority of the US Supreme Court justices wrote that our constitutional system of federalism “adopts the principle that both the National and State Governments have elements of sovereignty that the other is bound to respect.”

George Smith (column, “Internet sales tax a terrible idea,” June 20) makes the case that if Gov. Paul LePage and Rep. Chellie Pingree agree on an issue, it must be a bad idea. He also says that perhaps Maine should simply eliminate the sales tax and repeal the requirement that sales taxes are due on out-of-state purchases.