To say the last few weeks have been unsettling, or even heartbreaking for me and many others, would be a huge understatement. Partisan venom and vitriol seem to dominate our everyday conversation. Maine, and in fact our Nation, are being torn apart right in front of us, and the rapidly growing divide guarantees one easily predictable outcome; our mutually assured destruction. This fracture must be mended, right now, and will only be healed if we can agree on just one simple thing; we CAN do better. This one simple thing is achievable, if we all agree to individually stop fanning the flames.
Some weathered and crotchety old folks like myself have seen this coming. In the earliest days of my first legislative session, I found myself staring into the abyss which is Augusta politics. On March 20, 2025 at approximately 3:23pm, as a freshman Maine legislator with unscripted and unbridled emotion, I stood on the Maine House floor and declared “Wake up!” My very first substantive floor speech ever is available via video archives located at www.legislature.maine.gov, if you need proof for yourself. Regrettably it appears to me now, my words fell on mostly deaf ears, and so here I sit today, typing yet another plea to any and all that will at least consider hearing me.
Good People of Maine House District 18, I have come to learn the value of the strategic pause, and nine times out of 10, I elect to respond rather than react. I am a human, and yes, I get frustrated, disappointed, and sometimes even angry. Over the course of my chosen professions, I have been directly shot at a few times, and a couple other times I have been immediately within the indiscriminate blast zone of explosive devices intended to kill anyone proximal. Surviving these events ultimately shaped how I look at most things, and set the foundational perspectives which I reflect upon to guide me in how I respond to crises.
Recently I was asked by a constituent from the same political party I align with “Where are your Facebook posts attacking them for what they did”? My response was quickly offered back, “Hate corrodes the vessel in which it is carried”.
To all of the People I humbly serve, I offer this. I will continue to fight for you, for a better Maine and for a better America, for as long as you are willing to have me as your Representative. I will not however fight hatred and evil with in-kind tactics. If I go down that path, I know where it leads to. I trust you understand where I am coming from, and I HOPE you will join me in efforts to calm things down, so we can all re-focus on the important duty we all share; to leave it better than we found it.
Rep. Mathew McIntyre (Lowell)