I have supported Mike McClellan from Day One, when he ran three terms ago for representative of our district, House District 66, and will enthusiastically support him in his fourth and final term. When I think back on the first thing I remember about Mike, it is the slogan on his sign that comes to mind, “Keep Control Local.”

To me, this statement is simple, yet strong. It suggests that the closer to home the control of government, the better the quality of control.

Our founding fathers, who I think were exceedingly brilliant when they created the structure/constitution of our representative republic, said the basis of government was and is self-government by ordinary people. In the beginning of our republic, the greatest amount of government oversite came from the local level and the least amount from the federal government.

Sadly, we are now overburdened with government standards, rules and laws from nameless, faceless bureaucrats that are more interested in ruling over us than letting us be self-governed. Many of the land-use ordinances a town has are mandated by the state of Maine. Other land-use rules enforced are dictated out of the Federal Government coming from the Army Corp of Engineers and others. Our public schools are so addicted to state and federal money that the first priority is to jump through hoops to secure that money, ultimately sacrificing local control to the point where our public schools are severally underperforming.

Surrendering local control to higher government authorities has done incredible damage to our society, which is why Mike McClellan’s “Keep Control Local” is so significant to me. His performance as our representative in fact demonstrates that he has great faith in our ability to self-govern.

Gregory E. Foster

Raymond