Linc Sample is no stranger to controversy; in fact, truth be known, he rather enjoys stirring the political pot.

He is the son of a Boothbay Harbor shipbuilder, a proud veteran of the Navy’s Seabees, a tireless volunteer for veterans causes and has served as a town selectman. He is also an outspoken defender of, and advocate for, conservative causes, especially both the First and Second Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Most of us know Linc through his hand-stenciled billboards that stand in his front yard, most proclaiming gun rights issues.

Some folks, especially reporters from away, seem surprised at Linc’s billboards, especially those that tweak their liberal sensibilities, like the one that featured the silhouette of an M-16 rifle over the words “Black guns Matter.”

But others just shake their heads and say: “That’s just old Linc.”

His latest sign is fancy. It is all dolled up with an old-fashioned style of printing called Allegheny. After years of struggling with stencils, Linc recently entered the computer age and purchased a vinyl plotter that will print out his message on a plastic sheet. “I am messing around with fonts,” he said.

Linc’s most recent sign proclaims: ”Preserve the 12th Amendment. Repeal 17.”

Those of us in the shrinking newspaper racket depend on the First Amendment which protects freedom of the press. It also protects free speech, the exercise of religion, the right to petition the government and the right to assemble peacefully. We know about the 2nd and the 5th, too. But, Linc, the 12th and the 17th? What gives?

The 12th amendment provides for the separate election of a president and vice president. The original Constitution provided that the candidate who gets the most votes is president and the second place guy is vice president. That way didn’t work out as well as the founders hoped in 1800 when there was a tie vote in the electoral college throwing the election into the House of Representatives where Thomas Jefferson finally defeated Aaron Burr on the 36th ballot.

Linc wants to preserve the 12th Amendment because he says it protects the electoral college where each state is entitled to one vote for the number of its members of the U.S. House and Senate. Maine, with two senators and two representatives, has four electoral college votes.

Some political circles advocate getting rid of the electoral college in favor of direct election of the president.

“The framers (of the Constitution) were suspicious of majority rule,” said Linc.

OK, OK. What about the 17th?

For the first 125 years, senators were chosen by the state legislatures. In 1913, as part of the “Progressive” movement, it was changed to permit the voters to elect senators directly.

It seems the state legislatures had political problems with senatorial contests. Some became deadlocked, others were under the control of political bosses as others were (surprise) seen as beholden to private interests.

When Congress considered the 17th amendment, it became ensnarled in a bigger issue that would give the state legislatures exclusive control over the time, manner and place of the state election. It was an attempt to skirt the 15th Amendment, which gave the right to vote to everyone no matter “their race, color or previous condition of servitude.”

Linc Sample explains the founders didn’t envision professional politicians (like we have today) who concentrate on national issues. By shifting the senatorial election back to the state legislatures, it would sort of enact “term limits” on senators, he argues.

Some conservative thinkers believe that the direct election of senators was a way to take power away from the states and consolidate it in the executive branch.

Of course, while we all are fed up with the gridlock and silliness by our senators and representatives, I fear term limits are just another stab at proposing a simple solution to a highly complex problem. It also would give lobbyists more power to pull the wool over the eyes of newly elected legislators.

And wise political thinkers tell us the voters oppose any attempt to take away rights, as a chance to vote directly for our senators.

In any event, Linc Sample is right when he says most of us have no idea what is in the document (the Constitution). He says he wants his sign to contribute to the national political conversation.

He does it with a sign in his front yard. Others do it on Facebook or Twitter or other social media posts.

Do some of his signs and others' posts stir up controversy? Of course, they do.

But we live in a nation with free speech. When you live in a nation permitting free speech, sooner or later someone is going to say something you don’t like.