We live in odd times, whether on the sidelines or center stage. When it comes to politics, we default to being cynics, trust no one, condemn them all, and see what happens. That is good, and not good.
That we are here is not surprising, as we have all been lied to. Still, staying cynical undermines us. Missing – as I see daily running for Maine Governor – is the resolve to discern between lies and what is real. It takes energy, but we need that.
For me, the hope is 2024. In that election, by some miracle, American voters thought “critically,” looked hard at choices, discerned between fiction and fact, and trusted and voted for President Trump.
That same critical thinking, pondering of choices, separating fiction from fact, and learning to trust the right people have to be applied, or we slide. We cannot get lazy or think it does not matter.
On the campaign trail for any state’s governorship, a candidate encounters things, some predictable, some not. You encounter an outpouring of support from those who know you, want you to prevail, understand your motivation, message, mission, and conviction to fix what is broken.
You encounter doubt, the need to prove yourself to those who – like all of us – have been lied to by the self-important crowd, who buy political office, spend our money, raise taxes, and spout lies.
To hear doubt is fine, an invitation to conversation, over time bringing people around, helping them see we all fight the same dragons, and have been for a long time, are sick of the same things, can together bring the dragons down, or else they win.
Being questioned is part of earning respect and trust, helping people understand who you are, and also helping you – the candidate – understand urgencies, what is wrong, and what needs fixing first.
In this category, given my Maine upbringing and professional life, people ask how bad the drug infestation really is, illegals, how we get them out. I pull no punches. They talk about property and income taxes, how we roll back waste, cut taxes, and then how we fix our failing schools. Long conversations.
People ask about 2nd Amendment convictions, personal faith, commitment to downsizing, patriotism, and wood values – my roots. I just lay it out, I am what I am. I grew up in a little town, just four kids raised by our mother, a school teacher, and pushed to get educated and then to serve. We all do.
Professionally, I fought drug traffickers, brought down cartels, in military and civilian roles, know how to bring them down, and get them out of Maine. And I will. I also have compassion – those fighting addiction. They need to win, effective treatment, not fake answers. Their battle is also ours.
Words are cheap, action is real. My life has been about this fighting, law enforcement, military, intelligence, but also prevention, treatment, and parents who have lost kids. It does not get more real.
On government waste, I cleaned house, delivered results for a two-billion-dollar global operation, and served as Assistant Secretary of State. When it comes to accountability, five years of high-intensity investigations into corruption, Waco to criminal referrals, no compromises. There will be no compromises with corruption when I am governor. Mark my words.
My small company – 99 percent of Maine companies are small – is 25 years old. I never miss a pay period, sign both sides of the check, understand planning, taxes, and pain. On education, from a family about educating, I know the pain points, where to cut, how to empower success.
What is real? What is not? On the 2nd Amendment, I was an NRA safe hunter – like many Mainers – at 12, owned numerous guns, loved them all, would never let a red flag get into Maine law, fought it last August tooth and nail, am a constitutionalist.
My faith is my lifeline, has saved me over and over. Without it, I would not be alive today, nor would my family be. Life is being put to work in the service of the Lord, who gives us the power to do all we do, expects of us that we step up with what he has given us, no excuses, no candles under baskets.
Downsizing? Years doing that for conservatives – Reagan, Gingrich – at the federal level, making Maine easy to downsize, while retaining core functions for seniors and young Mainers, restoring accountability, affordability, and reliability. In my governorship, waste and abuses end.
Why a patriot? Ten years in the Navy, military family back to the American Revolution, many in Arlington…America’s roots are in me. I bleed America, have written books on why, ready to die.
Then comes the last bit, that hard-bitten cynicism, questions about authenticity, young me in the woods. My ads have me splitting wood. Yeah, that’s real, too. The cynics need to quit; do your research. Because here, in a nutshell, is what you will find.
We four kids grew up humble, no electric heat, three wood stoves all fed by cords of wood I cut with another, two years ahead, each and every fall. That wood was split by me all winter, lugged by me, stoves fed morning and night, just how it was. When I left home, my brother picked up.
Bottom line: The world is a mess, lots of fiction – but also fact. Cynicism is needed, but do not stop searching for the real. It is there. Where cynicism meets bedrock, you have truth. That is why, having suffered enough fools and fiction, enough to make us irate, I am finally running to lead this state.
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).
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