DownWithTyranny!: Two Great American Authors Come Out For Shenna Bellows

Yesterday Marianne Williamson endorsed Shenna Bellows for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Susan Collins. "We desperately need candidates who carry the banner of new possibilities for America,” she wrote to her supporters, “and we need to support them in every way possible when they appear. Shenna Bellows represents such a banner. Let's help her get to Washington, so she can do the things we want to see done there." There were 5 specific points Marianne seemed most enthusiastic about after meeting personally with Shenna.

• As Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine for eight years, Shenna Bellows built strong coalitions of Independents, Republicans, Democrats and Green Party members alike to advance civil rights and civil liberties protections. She worked successfully to block legislation that would have infringed upon our constitutional freedoms.

 • Shenna has been a widely recognized leader in the fight against the unchecked and unmonitored use of drones to spy on ordinary Americans. She has led the charge against warrantless drone surveillance in Maine and successfully blocked efforts to invade our privacy. 

• During the national debate over U.S. involvement in Iraq and Syria, Shenna was one of the only voices to publicly criticize President Obama's plan for the use of air strikes. Shenna believes the path to lasting peace and security lies in strong coalition building and a more targeted and thoughtful approach to our foreign policy.

• Shenna has vowed to make repeal of the Patriot Act one of her first missions as a U.S. Senator, believing that this law has been an unprecedented attack on Americans' freedoms as part of a misguided war on terror that has succeeded only in making us less safe while threatening our privacy in the name of false security. 

• The National Security Agency has wasted billions of dollars of taxpayer money spying on the American public. Shenna has been an outspoken critic of the massive surveillance-industrial complex that has threatened our civil liberties again and again by scooping up email communications, text messages and phone data of millions of innocent Americans. Shenna will continue her work to dismantle the outsized powers of the NSA and restore our freedoms and privacy.

The video just above, though, is not Marianne, but another author… it’s probably the best-known Mainer living today— yes, better known even than Patrick Dempsey: Stephen King. He cut a TV ad for Shenna’s campaign. King was born in Portland, lives in Bangor and has sold more than 350 million books. Many of his books and films were set in Maine or inspired by Maine. In May he wrote an OpEd for the Bangor Daily News, For this lifetime Mainer, Bellows is the clear choice. He pointed out that Collins “is considered a moderate who compromises a lot. Sounds good, but when it comes down to casting votes that serve Mainers, she always seems to end up with her Republican colleagues, led by Mitch McConnell— the hardline block that shut down the government last year and has since neglected many urgent issues (including better care for our veterans) in a near maniacal effort to repeal an Affordable Care Act that is already working.”

Collins supports the Patriot Act, and has repeatedly voted for its renewal. She has repeatedly voted to authorize (and legalize) NSA spying. Shenna Bellows advocates repeal of the Patriot Act, and so do I. Obviously we need to keep an eye out for terrorists on American soil, but in the age of drones and mega-surveillance, it’s way past time to restructure this thing. And although Collins claims the NSA spying program is fair, it looks to me too much like a doorway to that world George Orwell wrote about in 1984.

Bellows supports raising the minimum wage. Collins opposes it, which makes me roll my eyes in exasperation. A $10.10 per hour wage in an America where gasoline costs $3.65 a gallon— and where a great many Maine workers have to travel long distances to their place of employment— seems fair to me. The idea that 10 bucks an hour will flatten the economy is basically an idea promulgated by rich greedheads who don’t want to pony up what’s fair to hard workers who are struggling to make ends meet.

Collins supports the Keystone Pipeline. This just makes me sigh, but not because of the pipeline per se. It’s where it comes from. This is tar sands oil, and according to the National Wildlife Federation, it’s “one of the dirtiest, costliest, and most destructive fuels in the world.” It lays waste to fragile ecosystems, emits more of the pollutants associated with global warming when burned, and creates lake-sized reservoirs of toxic waste. It’s a lethally short-sighted quick fix, and the supporters of the Keystone are its enablers.

Bellows believes that genetically modified foods (known as GMOs, and called “Frankenfoods” in my house, but that’s just us) should be labeled. In 2013, Collins voted against a law that would have mandated labeling these modified products, more or less turning her back on all the organic farmers here in Maine who were in favor.

I could go on. Collins voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act, mandating that women get equal pay for equal work (and you thought Lincoln freed the slaves). She voted for the Iraq war, and OMG, what a horrible idea that was. Her personal views on same-sex marriage are unclear to me, while Bellows is frank and up-front on the subject, stating her belief that gay folks should have the same rights under the law as straight folks (and the same responsibilities, of course).

Collins has shown leadership, at least within her own party, which hasn’t always been easy. She shows up, she does the job, she interacts with her constituents. All good. For this lifetime Mainer, however, she’s on the wrong side of too many issues to deserve re-election. I’m voting for Bellows. No smart money there, just smart ideas, idealism and youthful energy.