Curtis Memorial Library added to Q&A tour, Instagram now active, and why we are unbothered by competition

Today I finally prevailed over the Instagram Demons and now have an active account with posts there. Facebook seems on the fence now about whether or not I’m a real human, but now that it also exists on my phone it seems content to let me be. If I vanish mysteriously over there it’s because they’ve decided I’m a robot.

I’m often asked so will now address:

I have no qualms about running against a relatively popular incumbent for several reasons. First, it is always and has always been okay to look at a job being done and say “I am also willing to do that.” That’s how teamwork happens, that’s how work and responsibility gets shared, that’s how we figure out who’s actually willing to pull weight in our society and where they’re trying to lead us. I hope when my own children, should I be lucky enough to have any, are my age they also remember that sharing is for the work of our communities as well as for the rewards. Sometimes this question is asked very accusingly, so I will state very plainly: you do not have to be bothered by anybody in order to like me, support me, and vote for me. I do not and will not require this of you. Liking any part of what I say enough to work together for it is as much as I will ever need.

Second, between the lot of us candidates running I am the one in this district who will have to do the most living with the consequences of whatever decisions happen in the next few years. I’m young enough that the costs of raising a family is imminently relevant, if I can afford to at all, hardworking enough that when the government says we need to build more houses it will be me out there doing the building (literally I am a carpenter), and neighborly enough that when folks of any party say nobody stops on the side of the road to help people anymore I get offended because I literally do those things. I can’t even walk through the front door of my own home without emptying my pockets of the trash I pick up off the street.

Third, this is how we tell our government we want things to be different. Every other year we spend millions of dollars deciding who will be our member of Congress. That money would be better spent paying for the things Congress is supposed to be paying for, and if we want better we have to lead by example and be better. We have to do better than the system that’s already running, which is why my campaign spends fully half its budget on the nonprofits in our communities that keep us running.

It also just seems like an absolute waste of an opportunity to be in one of the very few states with ranked choice voting and not have any choices to rank. This is a valuable chance both for us in Maine and the country as a whole to find out which of the things in political parties’ platforms actually get them votes and which is just nonsense. It’s a chance for us to say that not only do we need affordable healthcare, we want the person arguing for it to have their back against the same wall as us. And besides, in this age of magnificent scandal if some news suddenly breaks we all need a third option to go to that isn’t The Opposition ™ as sanctioned by your Party of Choice, if you’ve got one of those.

Anyhow I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that on Saturday May 23rd I will be at Curtis Memorial Library in the Morrell Meeting Room from 2:15-3:45 for a candidate Q&A. The rest of the week is still settling out but you can see the preliminary schedule at the top of the email. The Library would like you to know that they do not sponsor or endorse this event in any way, but they are renting me the space and there will be up to 140 chairs available. As the plan always is: bring your friends, questions, and food donations for the nearest pantry, and I cannot wait to see you there. This event is absolutely kid friendly and there will be art supplies and possibly squishy balls to play with.

And as you can see looking at the schedule, there is a lot we still don’t know about. Leads on venues and help organizing would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and have a marvelous day!