Dear Editor: 

On Nov. 3, whatever our party leanings, we must ask not only who is on the ballot, but also what is on the ballot. In these perilous times, we need to flip the House and Senate and restore the U.S. Constitution as the guardrail of our democracy.

As for the who: Chellie Pingree and Matt Dunlap for the U.S. House, Troy Jackson for the U.S. Senate and Hannah Pingree for governor.

As for the what: Articles I, II and III of the Constitution, which set out the powers, and the limits, of the Executive, Congress and the Judiciary. Those are three big reasons to vote Democratic. In 1787, the framers struggled into the night to balance those powers. In this 250th anniversary year, that balance is at stake. We can right the ship with our votes.

In my view, the scales now tip heavily toward the Executive. Congress, not the Commander in Chief, holds the power to take the nation to war, yet we are at war with Iran. Congress holds the power of the purse, yet one estimate puts the funds the administration has cut or withheld at $177 billion, from USAID to the National Institutes of Health. Seasoned public servants have been fired, and voting rights protected since 1965 are being weakened.

The First Amendment declares that Congress shall make no law abridging a free press. Yet the administration has barred outlets such as CNN from White House press events. Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, would have a fit.

In 1950, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, speaking as a senator, a woman, a Republican and an American, stood up to Joseph McCarthy with her Declaration of Conscience. We have three big reasons to vote Democratic. But maybe we need just two: the U.S. Constitution, and that same Declaration of Conscience.

Ron Phillips

Waldoboro