How this headline may connect to industries in Maine. Technical scores are below — click any ? for what a metric means.
Why enthusiasm about electing Graham Platner is both sensible and helpful.The other day, a community member here posted a short, supportive diary about Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner which quoted some economic populist remarks from Platner’s stump speech.The diarist concluded by saying: We are at the crossroads between democracy and corptocracy: government, of, by, and for, the multinational corporation.We are good at punching right, now is the time to learn to punch UP!One of the very first commenters posted: OTOH… That’s a video clip of one segment from a long Platner interview with journalist David Sirota.In this clip, Platner is talking about his views on gun safety legislation — not economics.The comment struck me as odd as it seemed to have nothing to do with the diary.The only connection I could see was that the diary had linked to an article Sirota had recently written about Platner, which is where the diary’s stump speech quotes came from.Did the commenter for some reason want to change the subject from economic policy to gun safety legislation?The diarist replied to them that if they were implying “that Platner is anti gun control, you are mistaken.” The original commenter said: “If you’re against banning assault rifles, that seems about as anti-gun control as you can get.” This got folks going on a debate about the merits of an assault weapons ban.Longtime members of the Daily Kos community know that debates here about gun safety legislation have sometimes been as tenacious as debates on Israel/Palestine.But if you’re thinking that perhaps the original commenter was anti-Platner and attempting to threadjack, they clarified: nb: I’m supporting Platner for Senate because he’ll be better than Collins and essential for Democratic control, but I don’t fantasize about how he’ll be a “real progressive” This “I don’t fantasize” remark suggests that the purpose of the original comment was to be a reality check.Since the diarist was expressing enthusiasm about Platner’s progressive populist rhetoric, it would seem that the commenter thought it would be helpful to advise folks to curb their enthusiasm, because in their opinion, while Platner will be “better than Collins” we should not expect him to very much exceed that low bar.We should not expect him to be a “real progressive.” And so, to buttress this view, they linked to that video clip.It’s a dismal view, I think, but certainly pessimism is not uncommon in this forum.But if our goal is to stay grounded — which I agree is important — I think there are a number of things we should keep in mind.First, enthusiasm is crucial to parties in election season.Second, Platner’s published platform is much more elaborate than the typical candidate’s.This helps to show where he stands, what his priorities are.Third, he does have a history as a progressive activist in Maine and he’s using been using his Senate campaign to leverage progressive causes.For example: Democratic Rep.Valli Geiger of Rockland said Platner used his campaign to draw attention to her bill to establish a rape kit tracking system that was languishing on the governor’s desk.“Most politicians focus on their own campaigns,” Geiger said at a March press conference.“The generosity of Graham’s many acts like this is what makes him a different kind of election seeker and one of the many reasons I am a supporter.” Shay Stewart-Bouley, a longtime anti-racism activist in Maine wrote: Platner shows up in a way that’s rare for white folks.Much less a political type.When the ICE surge started here, he reached out directly to me and others to see how he could assist.These are examples of folks who actually live in Maine, are involved day-to-day in progressive legislative and activist arenas there, and have had the opportunity to get to know Platner up-close.Fourth, gun control historically is an area where Democratic Congressmembers from rural Northeast states who are otherwise very liberal in their politics, have sometime voted more conservatively.For example, Vermont’s Bernie Sanders and his former colleague, retired Sen.Patrick Leahy (who was Vermont’s first-ever Democratic U.S.senator), both voted against the Brady Bill.Yet no one could mistake these men for Blue Dogs.Indeed, Sanders was a co-founder of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and served as its first chair for eight years.Maybe somewhere there’s a universe where Bernie Sanders was elected to Congress and turned out to be just like John Fetterman and Kyrsten Sinema, a fan of Benjamin Netanyahu and a foe of boosting the minimum wage.But it isn’t this universe.Leahy, too, was a very reliably liberal member of the Senate.You may recall that the “Leahy Law” was mentioned a lot in the last couple years of the Biden Administration.This law is intended to stop U.S.military assistance to foreign security forces whose governments allow them to violate human rights.Leahy also authored a landmark law in 1992 which banned U.S.exports of land mines.And finally, on the subject of gun rights, Platner has demonstrated that he’s not an absolutist.Last November, Maine voters had the opportunity to vote for a ballot measure to enact a “red flag” gun law.It was called “Question 2” and it read: Do you want to allow courts to temporarily prohibit a person from having dangerous weapons if law enforcement, family, or household members show that the person poses a significant danger of causing physical injury to themselves or others?The measure was in response to the Lewiston mass shooting in 2023.Prior to the vote, it was not at all clear how it would turn out.A late October poll showed a practically even split, with 40% opposed and 38% in favor.Maine’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, opposed the measure.Platner supported it.It ended up passing overwhelmingly: the Yes vote was 63%.Platner has also signaled that the democratic will of the people on gun safety is more important to him than holding fast to doctrinaire libertarian views on gun rights.In a November interview, he was asked about another Maine law that was passed in the wake of Lewiston, a 3-day waiting period on firearms purchases.At the time of that interview, the law was being held up by a court challenge over its constitutionality.Platner said: As a firearms owner and someone who’s bought a lot of guns in the state of Maine, I do think the three-day waiting period is a bit excessive.That being said, it was passed by this legislature.It was passed by people representing the people of Maine, and I certainly don’t have a problem with it if the people of Maine want to go that route (Last month, the law was fortunately upheld by the First Circuit Court of Appeals.) Do I expect that if Platner is elected, he’s likely to champion all of the gun safety legislation I’d prefer?That would surprise me.Do I otherwise expect him to be among the most progressive members of the Senate, like his famous endorsers, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren?Yes, I do.We'll get straight to the point: The financial hardships that Daily Kos is facing this year are tough.We continue to be paywall-free.We continue to be supported by our readers, not billionaires or corporations.But we need to bring in more revenue.We are leaning on our community more than ever to help make ends meet.It could be because of network issues or a problem with our commenting provider, or your browser or an extension may be blocking them.This can happen with Firefox Strict mode, uBlock Origin, Brave, or ad blockers.Try reloading the page, disabling your ad blocker for this site, or switching Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection to Standard mode.