So, Susin Collins faces a lot of opposition from the left. And Maine is a senate seat that I really have no idea what's going to happen. There's no real polling out of Maine, and Susan Collins, while a moderate republican, is facing increasing disdain from her voting base for going along with Trump's agenda. And given that 2026 is, without GOP screwery, likely to be a blue year, we have a shot at taking it. Idk how much of a shot, I'd probably say 50-50.
However, the opposition to Collins is...well...kinda crappy. One candidate is Janet Mills, the establishment democrat choice who is as ancient as the rest of the democratic party, and about as interesting as fricking drywall (and she looks like she's gonna turn to dust like drywall at her age).
And then you have Graham Platner, who is a "progressive populist" of the Bernie wing of the party. However, Platner has a lot of controversies surrounding him. First, his reddit account was found and apparently he posted on r/antiwork and was a self described "communist", which is getting a lot of ire from people. And...to give my thoughts, well...Im an ex poster from r/antiwork, and I still consider myself to be anti work, but I'm not a communist. But if anything, that's my problem with r/antiwork. it's a bunch of communist larpers who arent really against work, but against the wage labor system of capitalism but would probably be okay with work under a different, leftist paradigm. Like, my ideas are what a pragmatic anti work person would actually get at, and I actually am dedicated to making humanity slave away less, but I aint welcome there because I dont pass their nonsense ideological purity tests.
Now, is this guy really a communist? Well, he was in r/antiwork, I would probably think that he had a communist, leftist ideology at the time. Has he changed since then? Maybe. Should we believe him? Eh...idk.
If we look at his platform, it's pretty standard progressive fare. Maybe, given he is running for office, he woke up, realized that that sub's ideas are entirely unworkable, and he is running as a more traditional demsoc. I wish he would actually run on, ya know, UBI, but eh, Bernie style progressives are our closest allies and I'm happy to see him actually put pragmatic ideas ahead of an unworkable ideology that could kill people. But still, should we be concerned he was ever a communist? Maybe. I mean, the closest I got was flirting with democratic socialism, and even then I backed off of it since I tend to go in a different direction. Anyway, he explains his past comments that he was disillusioned after the military and that was just where he is and he wasn't there any more. Should we believe them? Hmm. Maybe. Most r/antiwork types just stay in the abstract which is why i crap on them as larpers. This guy actually has convicitions and seems to have moderated himself to bernie style progressive, which means he's at least trying to make his ideas workable. Still, does making these comments make him a political liability? Yes. And has he full distanced himself from being a communist? Eh, i have doubts.
As such, should we support him? I mean, on paper, he's arbuably a solid candidate, and i do think he's authentically left wing, but i dont quite trust the whole "im not an extremist, believe me" stuff.
Now, onto the OTHER controversy. It's recently come out he has a nazi tattoo. However, in his defense, he said he didnt know it was a nazi tattoo at the time, and that he was just like WHOA COOL SKULL AND CROSSBONES. Do I believe him? yeah, 20 year olds in the military getting bad### looking tattoos while drunk and not thinking their actions through sounds about right. "Boys will be boys" after all. And given his political convictions, do I think he's a nazi? hell no. If anything, I actually worry about him still being that secret communist. So...to me, I can forgive this, especially since he now plans to get it removed.
So...what do I think of him? Eh...I mean, if not for these controversies he'd be a shoe in for me. I mean, bernie progressives are, again, my closest political allies in mainstream politics. A human centered capitalist candidate who is pro UBI is gonna be rare, and I do think this guy is a legit progressive. But I do still wonder if him harboring secret far left thoughts and being a lot more radical than he appears. I doubt it will be a problem, but you do kinda gotta worry. We got all these rightoids who are secret, and more recently, not so secret nazis. And I could see, if the overton window shifts left in 20 years, he starts outright acting like a tankie. So I am somewhat alarmed by his former hard leftism, even though I also have crazy views.
As for me, and I do wanna say this as well. This is a problem I'd have if I ran for office. I have a much more extensive internet history, full of views some would see as radical. Im not a communist, but I do tend to reject work ethic, want to give people UBI, and have a very different way of thinking. I also have a lot of moments where i blow up on people, because i am a hothead with little tolerance for peoples' stupidity. And I know if I ever run for office, people would have concerns about my own views.
My view on this is this. I am who I am. My views have been remarkably stable since 2013ish, and you can go back to 2016 when i started this blog and STILL get someone who agrees with 90% of what i post now. I cant say I havent evolved, everyone does, but all in all, my convictions are my convictions. I doubt I would really shy away from my comments without massive worldview changes, and if anything, I'd point to my relative consistent perspective as being evidence that I'm honest and the real deal. My views are my views. Take them or leave them. They will always be a part of me. Even if I evolve further, I'm still me. If I did run for office, maybe I'd moderate somewhat to make my views more palatable or pragmatic, but on values I'm still me, and I'm the real deal. What you see is what you get. This is the real me politically. That's not to say that I won't moderate or make compromises as needed to achieve at least some of my goals, but wouldnt the people rather have someone honest who stands by their perspective over someone who shapeshifts every chance they get? I mean, come on.
But knowing that, going back to platner and his....former comments, I really have to wonder if the communist posting on r/antiwork is the real him and he's just moderating out of pragmatism here. On the one hand I'm like "cool an r/antiwork poster is running for congress" but then I realize most of them are raging communists and I'm like "oh dear god, an r/antiwork poster is running for congress." Ya know? I dont like far leftists much. The ones who wanna overturn the system to push something unworkable. But at the same time, a democratic socialist is...well..that's okay in my book. if you're more bernie and less stalin or mao, I can accept that. I cant say I'll see eye to eye with such a person completely, but given between that and some nearly 80 year old neolib...eh...let's just say we'll have to see how that situation unfolds. Either way, my core priority through 2028 is just beating the GOP. Ideally Id rather do it with progressives, but if a race requires a moderate to win, screw it, let's just focus on winning this time.
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