Recently, my 4-year-old daughter made a card for her dad that read, “My daddy is my hero.”

From Washington, D.C., this week comes fresh evidence that our 18th century governmental institutions may no longer be adequate to the task of ruling our society.

On Saturday evenings in summer, over a rise about a half-mile from the house, rockets have been known to whistle skyward and boom kaleidoscope colors for 20 minutes or so. The kids dance in backyard firelight, while the encircled adults relax and watch the show.

In the early days of my career as a sportsmen’s advocate, I knew all of the principles in Maine’s forest industry. Paper companies owned most of our North Woods, and their woods managers were Mainers who were readily accessible (and accountable) to us.

It would be a mistake to dismiss the OneMaine political organization founded by recent independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler as simply an extension of his campaign or a personal political vehicle designed to carry him to victory in the next election.

Chester is lying comfortably under an apple tree, munching to his heart’s delight on old rotted fruit.

Our politicians’ rigid and vicious posturing is a result of our precarious economic situation at home, our heritage from and our political and economic ties to Europe, and intensifying resentment against us from others abroad.

We all know that stereotyping is wrong, and a rule against it should extend beyond race, religion, gender and ethnicity.