by Jonathan Reisman

Federalism is the balance and sharing of powers between the national government and the states. Federalism is a means of protecting against the tyranny of majorities and of allowing for a diverse electorate and political cultures. Maine can be Maine rather than California, Massachusetts, or New Hampshire. The Electoral College, the U.S. Senate, and the 10th Amendment are all elements of Federalism designed to protect freedom.

Last year, Governor Mills and the Democrats passed the National Popular Vote (NPV) Compact, which would replace the Electoral College and federalism with the popular vote. In 1969, John Martin, a young Democratic lawmaker from Aroostook County, proposed and passed legislation that awarded Maine’s Electoral College votes on a Congressional District basis. It’s hard to control the deplorable peasants and serfs of the 2nd CD, so in 2024, the 1st CD Dems passed the NPV Compact that disenfranchises or threatens to disenfranchise a substantial fraction of Maine’s voters.

Had the NPV been effective in 2016 and 2020, it would have disenfranchised every right-of-center voter in the 2nd CD. The Democrats were confident that Republicans would likely never win the national popular vote again, especially after working the system to invite illegal immigrant voting and ever-increasing DEI tribalism.

The 2024 election didn’t quite work out the way the left planned, and the Democrats have a problem: their too-cute-by-half effort to do an end run around the Electoral College and constitutional amendment process would have disenfranchised every left-of-center voter in the 1st CD had it been in effect. Oops.

LD 252 would repeal the NPV compact. The public hearing was held April 14 before the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. Here is a portion of the testimony I delivered via Zoom:

The National Popular Vote Compact is a divisive effort that disenfranchises or threatens to disenfranchise a substantial fraction of Maine’s voters.

Had the NPV been in effect in 2016 and 2020, it would have disenfranchised every right-of-center voter in the 2nd Congressional District. Last year, I testified to this committee that I believed the NPV would disenfranchise the right-of-center voters in the 2nd CD if it was in effect for 2024. I was wrong. Had the NPV been in effect in 2024, it would have disenfranchised every left-of-center voter in the 1st CD. I somehow doubt that is what the majority had in mind in passing NPV, or what Gov. Mills had in mind when she let it become law without her signature. 

I did correctly predict that 2nd CD right-of-center voters would not look kindly on efforts to disenfranchise them. I suspect that 1st District left-of-center voters will have the same reaction. Please vote ought to pass on LD 252 and work towards a less divided Maine.

I don’t expect the Democrats to give up on their plans to disenfranchise and neuter the deplorables of the 2nd CD. I don’t expect the Soros-bought-and-paid-for Maine legacy media to do anything to expose the corruption and moral bankruptcy of the leftist criminal enterprise currently running and ruining Maine. I do hope and expect that peasants with pitchforks will show up at the polls in 2026. Maine Democrats have been pushing climate, energy, and cultural policies that are having an adverse, disparate impact on rural Maine, the 2nd CD, and freedom. Equity demands they be held accountable for their perfidy.