Our legislature is in session and thus, as we’ve noted before, we’re all in some danger. If we acknowledge that the government is not completely separate from us, an alien entity, but to some extent a projection of our hopes and dreams, than we may have to also acknowledge that we may not be completely well-adjusted!
Bills, have we got bills! All kinds of legislation having to do with education and consolidation is being introduced. There are many who think we can fix problems through the Legislature. Given that a significant part of our problems were created there, wouldn’t it be best to forswear legislation entirely? Perhaps as a money-saver the Legislature could just go home?
Matthew Stone (19, 20, 21) and Brian Hubbell (20) and the Maine Municipal Association (16, see p. 5) are trying to keep track of this flood. The complete (as of 1/16) list of proposed legislation stretches to 10 pages in this MMA listing. Hubbell lists three that aren’t included in the 1/16 MMA list. Stone includes these, plus twelve more!
What do you suppose the odds are that we’ll close out this session with fewer laws? More laws? Just about the same?
*As with all our outrageous post titles, this one’s from a song, in fact from the near-continuous Bob Dylan soundtrack (I’ll eventually have to do something about that!). It’s from Desolation Row. We especially relish the lines immediately following our title phrase:
Here comes the blind commissioner
They’ve got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other is in his pants
Their applicability to our present circumstances is a matter of interpretation — yours!