OPINION:
Troy Jackson, the Maine Democratic Party’s prospective nominee for the U.S. Senate, is Graham Platner lite.
Mr. Platner withdrew from the race to face incumbent Susan M. Collins, a Republican, after an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman — a charge he has denied.
At least Mr. Platner was consistent in his Democratic Socialists of America views. Mr. Jackson, on the other hand, resembles a flip-flopping fish out of water.
Mr. Jackson has changed parties faster than he changes clothes, going from Republican to independent to Democrat. He reminds me of the line attributed to Groucho Marx: “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them, well, I have others.”
Once, Mr. Jackson was pro-life, earning a 100% rating from Maine Right to Life while a state legislator. Now, Planned Parenthood has given him its 100% approval.
Mr. Jackson, who was raised Catholic, “explained” his flip to The New York Times: “I was always conflicted. I had a hard time getting to a place I felt comfortable. But as time went on, I had a lot of conversations with people.”
That is not a moral argument because the status of the unborn did not change. Mr. Jackson now favors a federal right to abortion, even after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to regulate the procedure, or even ban it. He is guilty of political pragmatism — at its worst, cynicism.
Mr. Jackson also once opposed same-sex marriage. Now he embraces the entire LGBTQ agenda. He has gone whole hog on the rest of the DSA platform, favoring “Medicare for All” (without saying how he would credibly pay for it), abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and you know the rest.
“I’m running,” he told The New York Times, “because of income inequality, poverty, unfairness, corporate greed and political cowardice.”
That last one qualifies as the ultimate in hypocrisy. The rest are all political buzzwords.
Someone should ask Mr. Jackson why none of the problems he mentions were fixed when Democrats held the White House and both houses of Congress. Trillions of dollars have been spent on anti-poverty programs. If they are not working, perhaps it is because the causes of poverty are not something that money alone, or mainly money, can cure.
Corporate greed? Another favorite buzzword Democrats love to spout. It is a euphemism for covetousness, which is a violation of the 10th Commandment — not that anyone pays attention to that or the other nine Commandments these days.
Socialism would make everyone equally poor. It robs people of any incentive to work and succeed. Capitalism offers the opposite: the opportunity to achieve one’s goals in line with one’s talents and willingness to work.
If people are taught persistence instead of envy and entitlement, they will achieve levels of success that socialism can never give them. If that occurred, there would be less need for politicians.
If that need evaporated, so would the careers of many of them, which in my view would be something good for them and the country.
In case Mr. Jackson has not noticed, corporations provide jobs. Jobholders pay taxes, even though the government wastes much of the money. People with jobs take care of themselves and their families. They acquire the dignity that goes with work and career.
As for “inequality,” we are all unequal in that we have different talents, goals and incomes.
An old political slogan says: “As Maine goes, so goes the nation.” It used to mean that the state is a reliable predictor of national voting trends. With Mr. Jackson’s candidacy, one hopes that is not true.
If it is — and it may be, given recent DSA election victories — Maine and the country will ultimately come to regret it.
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books).
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