Results of recent local elections have shown clearly that Scarborough is not ready for fiscal conservatism.

Various factors are responsible. With the ability to work from home, young progressives have flocked to Maine’s natural beauty and inexpensive real estate to flee the fast and complex pace of urban areas. They have started families and set up roots while encouraging equally left-wing wealthy parents from deep blue states to the south to move north. This has created a formidable voting block with progressive ideals such as deficit spending, with little regard for smart money management, since they will always have the funds to cover the extra (versus those whose personal coffers are far more meager).

The majority party in Augusta has feasted on this transformation to create a $1 billion shortfall that they will cover by adding taxes (again, a trivial issue for the voting block noted above). In the process, Maine has become one of the nation’s most heavily taxed states. We’ve all heard this story before. As Margaret Thatcher once said, “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” When will taxpayers learn?

Roger Gutner
Scarborough