Democracy Forum 5/20/16

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine    
Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Participatory Democracy

Program Topic: Us vs Them: Is Government the Enemy

Key Discussion Points:
a) We’ll discuss the history and cultural origins of American attitudes toward government
b) How these attitudes have evolved over time, and
c) Whether these attitudes have been purposefully amplified by vested interests.

Guests:
Colin Woodard, award winning author and journalist http://www.colinwoodard.com/
Amy Fried, Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine https://umaine.edu/polisci/faculty-and-staff/amy-fried/

The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes:
John Bradford
Linda Hoskins
Ann Luther
Marge May
Pam Person
Leah Taylor
Linda Washburn

FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 5/19/16

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Over 200 years ago, the philosopher Jeremy Bentham proposed a prison model called a Panopticon based on the belief that people change their behavior when they think they may are being watched. Recently, the National Telecommunications Information Administration has confirmed that people are behaving differently online today based on fears about privacy and security. That could be bad news for both our civic and our economic health in the US. To read about the report, go to https://www.ntia.doc.gov/blog/2016/lack-trust-internet-privacy-and-security-may-deter-economic-and-other-online-activities. To listen, click right here.

Maine Currents 5/18/16

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Engineer: John Greenman

Nearly 1400 people packed the Collins Center at the University of Maine Monday evening to let Senator Angus King and Jonathan Jarvis, Director of the United States National Park Service, know how they feel about a proposal to designate land east of Baxter State Park as a national monument. A national monument can be designated by the President, whereas a national park requires the approval of Congress. Roxanne Quimby’s family foundation is offering 87,500 acres of land for a “Katahdin Woods and Waters” national monument or park –and millions of dollars to support it.
While a much smaller meeting in East Millinocket earlier in the day drew mostly opponents to the proposal, the audience at the Collins Center was overwhelmingly in support, as evidenced by a sea of pro-monument t-shirts. Today’s show features Lucas St. Clair presenting the proposal, some of the public comments pro and con, and Director Jarvis’ responses to questions.

The full, unedited (3 hr, 16 min) meeting can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/amy-browne-1/public-weighs-in-on-natl-monument-proposal