Let’s begin the new year by taking note of the national spotlight focused on Maine since last week when our rogue Secretary of State abused the power of her office — and then was handed the opportunity to use the victim card, and took a hard swipe at a free press while she was at it.
Make no mistake: Shenna Bellows’ baseless decree that Donald Trump is ineligible for Maine’s 2024 Republican primary is a dangerous, publicity-seeking stunt that moves America one step closer to mutually assured destruction. It reminds me of David Horowitz’s warning: “Inside every progressive is a totalitarian screaming to get out.”
In Bellows’ case, her inner totalitarian looks a lot like a little girl playing with matches on a breezy mid-summer day.
The potential boomerang effect of her decision isn’t hard to imagine.
What’s to stop red states from booting Biden off the ballot in retaliation for what Bellows did last week? Texas could make a convincing argument that Sleepy Joe has violated his oath of office by facilitating a foreign invasion, thereby giving aid and comfort to enemies of the United States, in violation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
How long will it take other states, blue and red, to follow suit with ballot disqualifications?
At some point, the U.S. Supreme Court will have the final say, but will that be sufficient to settle the issue in a country as divided as America is right now? Will the legions of angry, brainwashed Biden voters accept a decision that allows Trump’s name on the ballot in all 50 states?
Will the loathsome Sen. Chuck Schumer stand on the steps of the Supreme Court once again and threaten conservative justices with violence (“you won’t know what hit you!”) if they don’t vote as he demands?
As I said over the weekend, and I repeat today, there’s NO excuse for verbal threats against Bellows and her staff, nor for the reported “swatting” of her residence. So, I was very disappointed to see some of Bellows’ conservative critics — including podcaster Shawn McBreairty — post her residential address on social media.
To be sure, Bellows’ street address is public information posted on the Maine Ethics Commission’s website. That being the case, what’s the point of posting it to social media? All that accomplished was to make it easier for Bellows to cry foul — even though the prank call could very well have come from one of her supporters.
If that’s what happened, it wouldn’t be the first time Leftists planted a false flag to discredit and silence conservatives.
Whoever made the call, Bellows wasted no time going on offense, putting her inner totalitarian on full display. She accused The Maine Wire of publishing so-called “dehumanizing” cartoons of her, and alleged further that “dehumanizing a person is the first step in paving the way for attacks and violence against them.”
Wow! That’s a chilling cause-and-effect scenario from Madam Secretary. It sounds to me like the First Amendment would be on the chopping block if she had the power to make that happen.
I wonder, who will determine what constitutes a supposed “dehumanizing” image that paves the way for violence?
I know! The Maine Human Rights Commission can make that call.
Democrats in the Maine Legislature amended the Maine Human Rights Act last year to outlaw any conduct “that would cause a reasonable person to suffer emotional distress.” Gov. Millstone signed it into law on June 23, 2023.
The new statute is a blank check that empowers our woke AG Aaron Frey to drag you into court if he believes you did something or said something that triggered emotional distress in a member of a protected class — which includes just about everyone except white heterosexual men, of course.
Frey, the lying lecherous lawyer who can’t keep his hands off the hired help, is now in a position to punish the regime’s political opponents if they say something that hurts someone’s feelings — or if they publish political cartoons that offend the sensibilities of Snowflake SJWs.
That’s where we are as we begin the New Year.
But I’m not discouraged, and here’s why.
As fervently as Shenna Bellows and her enablers wish to transform Maine and America into a banana republic and then a Stalinist police state, they will fail. Their overreach will be their undoing.
We the people aren’t going to let them destroy this exceptional state and nation. Our grassroots army of peaceful, patriotic Mainers is on the march in 2024, and we will ultimately restore Maine to The Way Life Should Be, no matter how long the battle of ideas takes.
Be strong and of good courage!
Hon. Lawrence Lockman
Maine House of Representatives, 2012-2020
Co-founder & President
Maine First Project
