If you are a parent, might become one, or come from a family you are close to, what do you need? Not much really, safety, income, time for family life, respect for your faith, and freedom. Is more government better or worse?

Liberal friends ask me, “What is so wrong with Democrat policies?” Nationally and in Blue States like Maine, why do you write so much about government failures, overreach, overspending, and high taxes? Why are you running for Governor in Maine?

I start with the basics. We have to cut crime, cut taxes, cut the nonsense that passes for reality, but it goes deeper. I was raised by a mother who worked hard, kept what she made. She knew we were safe in town, gave us time, love, faith, and schooling.

We got a good start in life because she – a working mother – benefited from less government. We were safe. She could make ends meet on a teacher’s salary. We learned skills in Maine’s solid public schools.

Of course, every state needs a safety net, affordable assistance for seniors, a level playing field. Maine needs nutrition programs in schools, special education– my mother was a remedial reading teacher. We need funded Mainecare, transitional support for he unemployed, reliable funds for core functions.

What we do not need is constant growth in spending, massive overspending, waste, corruption – because government programs often undermine families.

You may question this, but follow me. Many parents in Maine – now ten thousand – must work two jobs to make ends meet. My mother did. We have an “affordability crisis,” traceable to Democrat policies.

Parents pay more taxes than ever in history, as combined income, sales, property, and hidden taxes make Maine one of highest taxed states, despite a per capita income of just $42,000.

Regressive taxes, those that hurt lower incomes, are unforgivably high, going higher as  Democrats push new taxes on prescription drugs – needed by seniors, paint and hardware – for fixing homes, fishing and hunting – which puts food on the table, cigarettes – which hits lower incomes. It is inexcusable.

Maine faces another year of record spending, budget of $6.8 billion eight years ago now $11.7 billion, zero funding for year two of Mainecare, $450 million deficit.

All this excess spending – and higher taxes – does little for Maine families, puts older and younger on edge. Democrats don’t get it. They have created a crisis,  median income 200 dollars less monthly than median rent. How does that work?

What does it mean? Families stretch every dollar, strain to avoid the breaking point, because this state’s Democrat government is wildly out of touch.

Grown children live at home or they just move away. Aging parents worry if they can stay in their home, senior living homes meanwhile collapsing under taxes, and independent pharmacies, hospitals and local stores following suit.

That is not the end. Beyond nothing being affordable, constant overspending, missing functions, Maine’s Democrats are corrupt. A state audit just found $2.1 billion in corrupt contracts, many given to family and friends, a runaway train.

All this hurts families. Then add vanishing public safety. Instead of my youth, with no worries or drugs, we live in a state under siege. Instead of kids’ safety – a safe state  – we are awash in traffickers, 5000 illegal aliens, Democrats pledging 75,000 more illegals, record fentanyl deaths, 300 Chinese grow houses, needles everywhere, 10,000 overdoses last year. That is a nightmare for parents.

Public safety – our kids’ safety – matters. And now our public schools are near the worst in the country. Democrats push boys into girls’ sports, and academics collapse.

Maine’s government is actively working against parents, failing to educate, and public schools, once revered now distrusted. We are failing our kids, mothers, and fathers.

Maine’s leadership is way off course, anti-parent, anti-student, anti-family, spending and taxes are unsustainable, public safety disappearing, priorities wrong, schools now a concern not a relief. It is time for a pro-family state again.

That, in a nutshell, is why I stepped up, to fix what is plainly broken, return peace of mind to Maine families. Government should not work against families, but with them. They will when I am governor.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).