The Liberated Centrist

Farmer Randy Canarr of Souder Station Farm has been farming and raising livestock in Winterport for almost 10 years, providing locally-raised meats, cheeses, honey, and maple syrup to the greater Penobscot Bay community. He started the farm after returning from U.S. Army active duty, and the birth of his son, Nate, in 2011. Souder Station is a small, family-operated Maine farm, supporting the beautiful way of life that Maine provides for those of us lucky enough to call it home. According to their website, Souder Station Farm’s mission is to provide the highest quality, ecologically-sustainable foods to the community, with a heartfelt promise from Canarr that “if I would not give it to my son, I would not give it to you.” In order to save his hard work, Canarr now finds himself in a dispute with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry (DACF) over a rule that the Department says requires them to seize and destroy 100 pounds of smoked pork products that wer...

In recent weeks, Americans have heard much about the problems with “Big Tech.” National politicians from President Donald Trump to many Democrats running to replace him have been public with their disdain for big companies’ collection and dissemination of personal information, as well as data breaches and censorship. Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, constantly contends with accusations of bias against mainstream conservative accounts for not allowing monetization, deprioritizing videos in its search, and outright banning certain videos from its platform based on vague claims that content conflicted with its policy on “hate speech.” Facebook banned several videos from the conservative non-profit media group, PragerU last year, but was pressured to apologize and ultimately restore the content. Facebook has also come under fire for the way it leverages its users’ personal information.  From the Cambridge Analytica scandal, to the everyday creepiness of seeing...

As is the case with many bills and agencies in Washington, House Democrats’  “Save the Internet Act”  is merely more government wrapped up in a feel-good title. This bill would not save the internet; it would stifle the greatest catalyst for innovation in human history under the ironically named goal of “net neutrality.” “Net neutrality” is not merely — as its supporters claim — ensuring large internet service providers treat all data as equal and forgo “fast lanes” for internet access. It means regulating the internet as a public utility. Before 2015, and since the Federal Communications Commission  repealed  the Obama-era rules in 2017, the internet was and is treated as an “information service.” In this environment, internet companies are much more likely to innovate and invest in their services. If you love the internet, this is a good thing. The more we can do to empower industry to solve its own issues, the quicker we can bring vital connectivity to people ...

Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)  finalized  a rule to no longer allow states to make payments to third parties on behalf of in-home care providers. Under Medicaid, a federal program administered by the states and funded by state and federal tax dollars, elderly or disabled individuals meeting eligibility requirements can receive support at home from a caregiver to assist them with  aspects of daily living , a broad range of everyday activities including “eating, bathing, dressing, grooming, and mobility.” These caregivers can either be paid directly from the state or through a company under which they are contracted to provide care.  Since 1978, CMS has maintained a rule that, absent a statutory exemption, states must make payments directly to providers. In the 1990s, some states began diverting home caregivers’ wages to third parties. In 2014, CMS under the Obama administration’s Department of Health and Human Services, in attemp...

Three employees of Kent State University on Monday, April 29  filed suit  against the University’s Board of Trustees and the Association of Federal, State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 8 because of the union’s refusal to recognize their resignation of membership. In August 2018, Annamarie Hannay, Adda Gape and John Kohl, custodians for student residence halls at Kent State, resigned from their union expecting the automatic deduction of dues from their paychecks to cease. The union refused to honor their resignation, maintaining that the plaintiffs could only resign within the union’s arbitrary opt-out window. The university has continued to deduct dues from the plaintiffs, who each pay almost $600 to AFSCME each year against their wishes. The case filed on Monday by the Buckeye Institute and  Liberty Justice Center  seeks to reaffirm the First Amendment rights of public employees as established in the Supreme Court’s decision in  Janus...

This week, the Maine Legislature’s Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology held a public hearing on  LD 1364 , a bill that would prohibit state funds from being transferred to internet service providers (ISPs) unless they commit to abiding by the now-repealed  2015 FCC order  that instituted so-called “net neutrality.” Curiously dubbed the “Open Internet Order”, the FCC deemed that companies who provide access to the internet would be considered communications utilities, instead of information services. Chairman Ajit Pai  led the effort  to  repeal  that order, and restore the framework for ISPs that had functioned since the 1990s. Passing LD 1364 would double down on a misguided policy that would undermine internet freedom and ultimately hurt consumers. Proponents of net neutrality sell the idea as a critical safeguard for a free and flourishing internet. These claims ignore the fact that the rules were only adopted in 2015, after two dec...

On Thursday, Feb. 14 the legislature’s education committee will hold a public hearing on a bill, LD 464, that would  greatly affect the landscape of options for special needs students  in Maine. If you are a parent of a special needs child and you are not satisfied with how your home school district is providing your child’s education, you have recourse referred to as a “unilateral special education placement.” Under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), parents may move a child from their local public school district to a non-public school in order to ensure a “free appropriate public education” for the child. Parents may request a hearing with the home district to attempt to recover the costs of a unilateral placement. Federal law allows for this to occur as long as parents file a complaint within two years asserting that a free appropriate public education had not been available to their child. LD 464 , sponsored by Rep. Teresa Pierce of Fal...

Recently, State Representative Michael Brennan of Portland introduced a pair of bills concerning the future of virtual schooling in Maine. One of these bills, LD 513 proposes to cap enrollment at Maine’s virtual charter schools. If passed, these schools would not be allowed to accept any more students, nor expand to new grade levels beyond their current charter. The other bill introduced by Brennan, LD 576 would direct the state Department of Education to develop and implement an online learning platform, and report to the Education Committee on its findings. These two bills, both of which Brennan is the prime sponsor, should raise red flags for school choice advocates across Maine. Virtual schools connect students in disparate rural areas with lectures, lessons, interactive activities, certified faculty, and other students in similar situations. They provide a crucial educational outlet which would be otherwise unattainable for many students. There are only two virtual char...

Today’s world in many ways is at a crossroads, especially as technology continually reshapes the economy and specifically models of service delivery. Think Uber, Khan Academy, and even Bitcoin. New and exciting ways to innovate and disrupt capture our collective attention as we  wonder what the future could bring. It causes one to wonder: how long can some industries insulate themselves from the coming storm and resist competition? How long can public services survive in a world where private, digital solutions move faster than government by orders of magnitude? There were other Americans in history who faced this challenge, but the major players are still the same. Would the visionaries of the 19th century (considered by some at the time to be crackpots) have been able to fight the inertia of today’s massive bureaucracy? The story of Lysander Spooner comes to mind. In the mid-1800s, he endeavored to provide a more efficient method of delivering mail than the early Post Off...