Jon Reisman

I attended a Town Hall in Machias for Democratic Congressional candidate Jordan Wood last week. Some 20 mostly gray Downeasters joined me in listening to and questioning the 36-year-old gay leftist. Wood railed against Trump, Jan. 6 insurrectionists, Trump, greed, Trump, transphobia, Trump, ICE, and Trump. Wood advocated for Medicare for All, immigration reform/amnesty, doubling down on climate alarmism, DEI, and ending free speech in politics by reversing Citizens United and regulating political speech and money. There was a lot of talk about protecting “Democracy.” The word “Republic” was never mentioned. The audience ate it up, and I wondered whether there was any hope that this election would produce anything other than more division and bitterness.

I got to ask the first question, and asked about Wood’s position on the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and its effect on the Second Congressional District that he seeks to represent. Wood supports the NPV compact, which Maine joined when Governor Mills let it become law without her signature. The compact would give Maine’s electoral votes to the National Popular Vote winner, replacing our Congressional District allocation, which awarded two electoral votes from the 2nd CD to Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024. Wood had no idea how it might impact the 2nd CD. 

When I informed him that had the Compact been in effect in 2016 and 2020, it would have disenfranchised every right-of-center voter in the 2nd CD, the candidate and audience vehemently disagreed. I decided not to mention that I believed that the reason the Democrats passed the NPV compact was to punish and penalize the 2nd District’s Trump support. When I suggested that in 2024 the NPV compact would have disenfranchised every left-of-center voter in the 1st CD, the collective dismay and disagreement were palpable. Wood added that this was the first time the NPV had been brought up. I don’t think it will be the last, and Wood’s studied ignorance of the issue is both telling and revealing of his carpetbagger status. 

The Democrats are claiming that voter ID and the SAVE Act are racist voter suppression tactics, even as they support policies to disenfranchise Trump voters and allow illegal immigrants to vote (for Democrats). The left is arguing that the Supremacy clause (Article VI, Clause 2) of the Constitution — ”This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.” — is about white supremacy, not the supremacy of federal law. Today's modern Democrats have a lot in common with their Confederate predecessors from 1861. They still support race and gender discrimination, as long as it’s against white males. That stubborn prejudice will continue to leave our American house divided.

Article 1, section 10 of the Constitution requires that interstate compacts like the NPV must have Congressional approval, another bothersome constitutional nicety that the Democrats would rather ignore. I hope that Republican candidates across the board will pledge to support legislation rejecting the NPV compact and respecting the electoral preferences of all Mainers, even the Trump voters Wood and his fellow leftists seek to disenfranchise and silence.

The Town Hall dragged on for more than an hour, with assorted leftist virtue signaling dominating the discussion. When the topic turned to transphobia while ignoring increasing evidence of trans mental illness and violence, I had had enough and left. I could feel the leftist hatred and desire to silence me as I walked out.

Jon Reisman is an economist and policy analyst who retired from the University of Maine at Machias after 38 years. He resides on Cathance Lake in Cooper, where he is a Statler and Waldorf intern. Mr. Reisman’s views are his own, and he welcomes comments as letters to the editor here or to him directly via email at jreisman@maine.edu.