Current Issues
Border Security/Immigration
What’s happening on the border is a crisis. In addition to illegal immigration, human and narcotics trafficking across our southern border is out of control and puts all Americans at risk. People are paying traffickers three to nine times as much to enter America illegally because we are not doing the hard work of fixing our broken border and immigration system. The current administration is doing nothing, and we need people with integrity capable of making difficult decisions in Congress to put the pressure on them to make America’s borders safe again. Ours is a country of immigrants and we are strengthened every time a new American joins us, through the legal process.
National Debt/Responsible Spending
Spending by politicians on both sides of the aisle is at record levels and they are racking up new debts every day that our children and grandchildren will have to bear. As the national debt surpasses the $30 trillion mark, hardly anyone in Congress seems concerned.
Congress, right now, is looking to increase the tax burden on hard-working Americans from $2.5 to $6 trillion. There is never an ideal time for new taxes, especially in the middle of a struggling economy. This would be a disaster like none we have seen before.
We need to rein in out-of-control spending, and get the ship of state back on course.
Education
Let’s teach the fundamentals. Many schools are failing at the most basic level; teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. Let’s encourage our young people to learn the trades.
Let’s also teach true, unrevised history. Our founders created the greatest, freest, most prosperous and generous country in the world. Historically, when we made mistakes, we put our hearts and our minds into fixing them — and our children need to be taught this, beginning in kindergarten. Instead, our children are being taught to doubt America’s greatness, that America is an institutionally racist nation. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously stated that a person’s skin color should be the last thing we notice, and the Bible teaches us that there is only one race, the human race. America has made great strides in discouraging discrimination, in all areas of government, education, economy, and society. Reverting to teaching one ‘race’ should be favored above another is the wrong direction.
Lastly, parents should be able to choose where their kids go to school. School choice encourages competition, and competition encourages excellence. School choice would encourage us all to do the best we can.
Economy
When it comes to the economy, the government needs to follow the same rule doctors follow when tending to our health: First, do no harm. But inflationary spending is doing plenty of harm, and to those who can least afford it.
During the Covid crisis, state and federal governments used taxpayer money to pay people to stay home. This made it hard for small businesses, and in too many cases, people had to close the doors of family businesses that had lasted generations.
Meanwhile, a tidal wave of new regulations threatens jobs across the state and nation. For example, a recent decision by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to shut down nearly 1,000 square miles of lobster fishing waters suggests the federal government is trying to push Maine out of the lobster industry. Be it farming, fishing, or forestry, onerous government regulations have burdened these traditional Maine industries for far too long. We need a fighter for the Maine economy in Washington D.C.
Election Integrity
Soviet tyrant Josef Stalin once said, “It doesn’t matter who votes; what matters is who counts the votes.” Too many people today are questioning the integrity of the system, and we need to do something about it.
In 2016, a large majority of Democrats believed the election was stolen. In 2020, a majority of Republicans believed the election was stolen. We simply cannot continue to have disputed elections and expect America to survive. Ensuring election integrity should not be difficult. We simply need the political will to do it.
Our electoral system needs to be beyond reproach. I will fight for measures to guarantee one person, one vote, and real accountability for absentee ballots. In a fair system, we all agree on the rules. It helps when they are rooted in common sense.
Committee To Elect Ed Thelander for Congress, Inc.
P.O. Box 111 Damariscotta, ME 04543