Thom Moore writes and consults in Scarborough. He is a member of Third Act. 

The world’s richest person is funding Sen. Susan Collins’ campaign.

This is part of the GOP’s decades-long effort to make our government work for its wealthiest citizens. As Graham Platner noted, and Troy Jackson also appreciates, the wealthy mean to own everything and rent it to the rest of us. They already rent us the money to run our government, charging us a trillion dollars a year in interest. They should instead pay a fair share of the bills, about 24% of our GDP, especially those who made their money within our economy. 

When we are paid less than we are worth, when staple prices are raised endlessly out of greed or because of unproductive wars and tariffs, when resulting inflation raises interest rates, money trickles upward.

Even when taxes are cut, deficits increase, benefits decrease and interest is paid by us to those who finance the debt, padding their estates at low risk. Those estates steadily appreciate in value from the upward trickling, and that unrealized income escapes taxation as it is passed to heirs by our wealthiest, most senior citizens. 

But we must resist any impulse to make age an issue in this election, nor should we exploit, for political purposes, Sen. Collins’ exceptional seniority and respect among the most corporate-sponsored members of the U.S. Senate. She was influential in bringing defense work to Maine, but she also voted for the reduction of medical care and research support for working-class Mainers. Troy Jackson brings a fresh perspective on the kinds of development that create opportunities to keep Maine “the way life should be.”

We cannot ignore the current escalation in prices, driven by corporate profits, wars, tariffs and wasteful ego projects. Sen. Collins has done nothing to stop this. Maine’s domination by corporate utilities has caused our power costs to be among the highest in the nation. Accusations that renewable energy raises our costs are lies. Power sources get dialed back when supply exceeds demand, namely the most expensive ones, the gas plants. Who pays to oppose the transition to sustainable energy? The fuel industry and power utilities, that’s who. 

Sen. Collins and the GOP oppose working-class collective bargaining and a fair minimum wage. Troy Jackson defends the right of employees to organize and assert their economic value. Maine has more than its fair share of rural poverty and hardship. The remedy for that is new businesses offering good jobs that pay a living wage. Troy Jackson understands that workers must often organize to win fair wages and working conditions from larger businesses. 

Sen. Collins supported the obscene increase in the economic power of ICE. It is used to infiltrate our communities in the name of ferreting out, and in some cases assassinating, immigrants, whether properly documented or not. This is an intrusion into state and local affairs that Troy Jackson will not tolerate. 

Sen. Collins supports the GOP belief that healthcare is a corporate profit center that is only for those who can afford it. They believe that profits should flow from prices determined by demand, rather than reflecting what is affordable. They do not think that the government should pay any costs. Healthcare is a trivial expense for the ultra-rich, but they want to limit what kinds of medical care everyone else can receive, including personal reproduction and body choices. Troy Jackson opposes these intrusions into privacy matters and accepts government responsibility to mitigate hardships where practical. 

The government money that Sen. Collins has brought to Maine would continue to favor her corporate donors, at the expense of working-class Mainers. Troy Jackson would help working-class Mainers receive a fair share of the wealth that their work produces, in the form of higher wages and reduced expenses.