“Our way of life is not just a nice thing but it is an economic benefit and we lose that at our peril,” Cummings said. “People don’t want to come here just to look at the scenery, they come here to see Mainers doing their thing and they need to see Mainers doing their thing.”
The audience applauded.
After the meeting, as people stopped to second her comments, Cummings, a bookish woman in a sky blue blouse, struggled to define what Mainers “doing their thing” means.
“There’s a way in which we are under pressure to become an economy like the rest of the United States,” she said. “Change is inevitable and there’ll be a balance somewhere. It’s never going to be the Maine it used to be but hopefully we can find a way where we can live together where there’s enough of a balance that our culture can exist.”
About 70 miles away, a man from the small town of Vienna thinks that balance, that new authentic Maine, will be tough to find, even with the help of the report.
“This is a clash of cultures,” said economist Roy Van Til, at the Farmington meeting. “We are trying to cope with this change and it’s not a matter of independence, it’s a clash of ways of living life.”
Related:
The Mighty Wind, The morning after, Review: Capitalism: A Love Story, More 
- The Mighty Wind
The Rhode Island recession, among the worst in the country, has become something of a national curiosity: how could such a little state be in such big trouble?
- The morning after
Democrats and Independents are voting in record numbers.
- Review: Capitalism: A Love Story
In his new film about the Wall Street meltdown, Michael Moore — surprise! — denounces capitalism and its exploitation of the working class. Not that he's above doing a little exploiting himself.
- Some kind of salvation
In 2008, Sean Faircloth, then a state representative from Bangor, lost his bid to become Maine's attorney general, mostly because lots of legislators questioned his credibility. When your credibility is so shaky that even politicians notice, you have a serious problem. It's sort of like if atheists complained about your ungodliness.
- World-class listening problem
Here’s something you won’t want to hear: there’s nothing inherently wrong with property taxes.
- Rebels in the general assembly
To the displeasure of progressives around Rhode Island, the Democrat-controlled General Assembly this year passed mammoth tax cuts for the wealthiest of Rhode Islanders — the same kind of tax cuts for which national Democrats have hammered President George W. Bush.
- Welcome to Atlantica
Big companies in northern New England and eastern Canada have launched another initiative to free themselves from what they consider to be onerous government regulation and oversight.
- Men plus money equals mess
Since Iceland is something of the epicenter of the global financial crisis — its government being the first to essentially go belly up — it's probably not surprising that the Icelanders have come up with the most novel and interesting theory as to what caused the meltdown. And they may be right.
- Stickin' it to the poor
The Maine Heritage Policy Center, a right-wing Portland think tank, has been bragging in news releases about how state leaders have followed its advice, approving a two-year state-government budget that, among other cuts, slashes school aid, programs for the needy, and state-employee pay.
- Has Obama peaked? No, he hasn't
Barack Obama's popularity should not be judged by the day-to-day, media-driven vagaries of politics — nor by the wishful thinking of his opponents.
- Unplugged
An argument can made that just as the Industrial Revolution was sparked in Rhode Island, so, too, did the withering of the Industrial Age.
- Less
Topics:
Lifestyle Features
, U.S. Government, U.S. State Government, Maine Maine, More
, U.S. Government, U.S. State Government, Maine Maine, Politics, Political Policy, Economic Issues, Globalization, University of Maine, Ray LaMontagne, The Brookings Institution, Less
