Our government is shutdown. I’m exhausted. But I will continue to eat and my kids will eat even though our government is not functioning.
For now. Eventually this chaos and dysfunction will interfere with all of our daily lives.
I work in advocacy in Maine which means I am paid to recommend policies and courses of actions to end childhood hunger here and in the US. The federal nutrition programs are created and funded by Congress, managed by the USDA, and then implemented by state (here in Maine) and county agencies and so I work with our members of Congress, their staff, state lawmakers, their staff, and the Mills’ administration and staff, and candidates for all these positions.
Maine’s motto is Dirigo, which means “I lead” or “I direct” because we are the eastern most point of the United States and see the sun rise first on top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. We have been able to lead on some major policy and electoral reforms, like universal school meals and ranked choice voting. We can be a pilot scenario because of our size, our citizen legislature, and what was once a pragmatic political environment removed from the heavy-hitting party politics that keeps DC “swampy” and slow. We only have two senate seats and we split our electoral votes and seem to punch above our weight class in national influence despite a tiny population and no real economic power. We sell a good story of “the way life should be.” Enter Janet Mills and Graham Platner - two different versions of Maine democrats who are going to have to sell competing stories during their campaign to win the primary. People not from Maine, or younger people from Maine, might not remember the Collins of pre-MAGA, pre-lobbyist husband, but she had the same politics as Janet Mills. They are essentially the same Maine woman - they chose different parties and different colors - Susan loves the red dress and Janet sticks with her blueberry outfit and bomber jack. I’d say Susan upped her style accordingly to her DC role and Janet hasn’t even tried, but aside from the hair styles and lipstick shade - they are the same. Neither of them ever had the option of rocking up to a national interview in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, like Graham Platner - although Janet still tries with the jeans much to my amusement.
Most of the people writing on Substack, or even in the news, don’t actually know much about government, policy or the operation of government. They cover politics, They know the game of politics and report on that, and not even very well (for a variety of reasons - they don’t have the time nor money nor clout to scoop the party machinery). We are seeing the government shutdown covered like a game of chicken instead of an abject failure of governance by the Republican leadership who currently control Congress and the Executive, and so if they were competent they should be able to avoid a congressional resolution and have a budget agreed according to the law. If either party was competent we shouldn’t need CRs at all. If they aren’t competent then the Dems should be screaming about their policies and offering alternatives. No one is close to making a deal because no one wants to make a deal.
We are at the point where people and states are going to stop getting paid. This means bills aren’t going to get paid and the healthcare system will stop working in the marginally functional way it does now. It means Maine doesn’t know where the money for food stamps, WIC, school meals, and more where will come from so they will either decide to spend it anyways (possibly going against USDA instruction) or the bill gets passed onto families, cities and towns who have to cover school meals and then recoup the loss through property taxes, or food banks, and GoFundMe, and small business owners who might not get paid back either.
Along with other advocates I’ve spend the last two weeks asking members of Congress, state agencies, state lawmakers, including Mill’s office, what the plan is to keep programs running now and over the next couple years as the impact of the Republican changes to Medicaid and SNAP change drastically and the cost burden shifts to the states. There is no plan. Or not one anyone wants to publicly commit to which reads to me as there is a lack of leadership.
I’ve given presentations and facilitated meetings this past week trying to inspire communities and organizations to engage in collaborative, local advocacy, which is where my expertise lies, not in specific food or nutrition policies. Advocacy needs to raise awareness, create a will to do something differently, and then ultimately lead to a change in behavior by the public, influencers, and decision makers for policies and systems to change. When Platner announced his candidacy for Collins’ seat, I spoke to him that week about food policy.
My organization is nonpartisan and can not endorse candidates or align with specific ballot initiatives or parties. I’m not a food policy expert. Before this I worked for the Maine Senate Majority, Democrats, in communications, and before that I’ve managed government policy programs or consulted on policy research and grants. I worked for Senator Susan Collins almost 25 years ago. Yes, she was in the Senate that long ago and I’m that old. I met her last spring in DC, chatted with her chief of staff who was the chief of staff when I was an intern, and will continue to work with her while she’s in office, and like most policy advocates and researchers, my passion isn’t partisan campaigning, but policy reform.
Platner, in our conversation, sounded just like he does in the media. Someone in his campaign clearly understands the mindset needed to counter our apathy and depression right now - frame the issues we’re all facing such as hunger, lack of housing, a broken healthcare system, as collective systemic failures, not solvable through individual responsibility. I frankly applaud any decent person who wants to run for any public office, especially now and I’m also suspicious of anyone who posts on Redditt full stop, but I don’t have a huge stake in Platner winning and I don’t know if he can beat Collins.
But for me, the real story this week is why Schumer, in the middle of a government shutdown that needs to be fixed as soon as possible, is fundraising for a democratic primary candidate in Maine. I think the real story is who sourced the Reddit posts for CNN or who pitched the story about Platner this week. No one is reporting on that, and I have no proof, but someone could investigate and report on this instead of just repeating the Reddit post messages. My feelings about shit posting on line aren’t strong. We are probably seeing the last generation of old timers in Congress who don’t have a dodgy internet past. It’s not good, people’s online activity is representative of their beliefs, mindset and values and people can change and take accountability.
Platner has no track record of voting or governing that people can go on anyways, so his campaign is not really asking Dems to vote for the man - they are asking us to vote for the potential of a collective progressive movement and different way of doing things - they are asking us to gamble on change. I think the bigger story is the DNC’s response to the momentum he has here in Maine and that response was 1) back a seventy-seven year old candidate who is essentially Collins in a blue suit 2) initiate a media campaign against Platner and 3) have Senate leadership fundraise for Mills instead of governing while we are in a state of emergency. Unrelated to Maine, I’ll add 4) a giant No Kings parade/protest. I’m not sure what to call it because I don’t really understand what it is and who it is trying to influence. It looks fun and it’s great to see people coming together against fascism, but the message is silly, or cringey, and turns off young people. How about “Arrest Trump” or “Do Your Jobs” or “Stop ICE” or “Open the Government?”
Dems have had repeated chances to stop Trump and his MAGA agenda. We’ve probably never had a politician so unabashedly corrupt and criminal who could have been tried for treason and Congress did nothing to hold him accountable and protect our government from him. He is currently elected. He told us he won’t give up power and yet the “No Kings” protest isn’t calling on anyone to do anything differently.
Nothing I’ve seen this week makes me think the Democratic party in Maine or in the United States is coalescing around the right leadership or the right framing to change mind sets and ultimately change the system. Trump and MAGA have proven already they can and will change the system to benefit themselves. Who is going to do it for the rest of us?
