Maine Legislature Lives Up to State Motto, Overrides Governor's Veto

Maine's State Seal includes the Motto: "Dirigo" (Latin for "I Lead") underneath the North Star, which represents their dear state, and is "...the object to which the patriot's best exertions should be directed."

Recall what happened to redcoats who underestimated the fortitude of patriots? Didn't end so well.

So it's strange that Maine's own Governor Paul Le Page has misjudged the

fortitude of his people by rejecting their right to have their votes matter.

The good Governor has repeatedly gone against the will of the people of Maine, who went to the voting booths and approved the legalization of recreational use of cannabis.

Le Page seems to think he knows better than the voters.

So state legislators joined the battle and beat back Le Page. The [Maine] House voted 109-39 and the Senate 28-6 to override LePage’s veto of cannabis legalization legislation, setting the state on a path to the legal sale and production of recreational marijuana some 18 months after voters approved legalization at the ballot box in November 2016.

(This seems to be only one of Le Page's strange thoughts, for example:

• "You try to identify the enemy and the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority of people coming in, are people of color or people of Hispanic origin.”

• ...His version of the opioid epidemic is ""...guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty" come from New York and Connecticut to sell their heroin in Maine, and "half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave."

• He "challenged the lawmaker to a duel — "I would point it right between his eyes," he told the Portland Press Herald and TV reporters.

Bt the way, until the 1930's the motto "Dirigo" had real meaning. Prior to the New Deal, politicians claimed "As Maine goes, so goes the nation," because Maine was the only state to hold its elections in September, two months before all others.

Perhaps the phrase has new meaning for anti-cannabis crusaders who think they'll get away with thwarting the will of the people.