Zitat des Tages von Chellie Pingree:
In Maine, we are fortunate to have a Clean Elections system that allows legislators to turn down corporate special interest money. At the national level, Congress should follow Maine's example by empowering the voices of small donors.
Access to quality, affordable health care is particularly important here in Maine, where many of us own small businesses or are self-employed.
With Net Neutrality, the level playing field that gave us Google, YouTube and eBay when they were start-ups would suddenly start to tilt in favor of the big, established players.
Our businesses can't create jobs when they're losing revenue, and the unemployed can't apply for jobs when they can't pay their phone bill.
As president of Common Cause, I joined a coalition of groups ranging from the Christian Coalition to Consumers Union, and we went to Congress with over a million signatures asking that Net Neutrality be made law.
There is an incredible renewable energy resource off both coasts of this country - wind and tidal energy that can power our economy, create good paying jobs and reduce greenhouse gas pollution.
For too long, the system has been biased in favor of oil and gas developers: sweetheart lease deals, generous subsidies and a regulatory process so slanted in favor of Big Oil that often permit reviews are simply waived.
Incredibly, oil and gas companies don't have to pay certain environmental costs that amount to small change to them, while an offshore wind project start-up is faced with fees that could mean the difference between building a wind farm and packing up and going home.
We need to make Net Neutrality the law. We need to elect a Congress that will make it a priority to keep this important principal intact - and insure equal and open access to the Internet for all.
The founding leaders of our country believed in a three-part sharing of governmental power, with each branch jealously watching the actions of the other two.
People's mouse clicks decide what businesses, services, and content succeed. Users have equal access to tiny businesses with viral ideas and blue-chip companies, allowing these enterprises to compete on their own merits. It's how so many small start-ups have been able to become Internet success stories.
One of the reasons I wanted to leave my position at Common Cause and return to politics was to regain the freedom to speak out politically - to not be constrained by a non-partisan organization.
Renewable energy has economic advantages that extend beyond steady, predictable electric rates - and Maine is in a good position to capitalize on those opportunities.
Maine people have a live-and-let-live philosophy, and tend to be fair and open-minded.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has been one of my good friends in the House of Representatives. When she was brutally shot, Gabby was out doing what she loved to do - meeting with her constituents in a local setting, allowing people to speak to her directly about the issues that concerned them.
Net Neutrality - a guiding principle of the Internet since its beginning - means that content is all treated equally.
I'm always amazed how many politicians have a very unlikely story, and when I talk to groups of students, I remind them that not everybody who gets into politics is a lawyer or went to school to study it. We all come to it for different reasons.