And he insists that everyone who wants to vote come up with proper photo identification before being given a ballot. This is supposed to prevent voter fraud, as when an unscrupulous person attempts to cast ballots in two different municipalities (according to the secretary of state, this infraction occurs roughly as often as space aliens attempting to run for the Maine Legislature). He doesn't seem concerned that this requirement will enable teenagers — with fake IDs obtained on the Internet so they could buy beer — to take part in elections, while denying that right to anyone whose only identification with a picture happens to be a US passport (which doesn't meet Cebra's exacting standards because it doesn't contain the holder's home address).
In their euphoria over assuming power in Augusta for the first time since Chester A. Arthur was president, Republicans like Cebra seem to have forgotten the principles they stood for when they were in the opposition, those of restraint of governmental authority and limited interference in the lives of law-abiding citizens and teenagers with fake IDs.
"I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs least,'" wrote Henry David Thoreau, adding, "Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe, — 'That government is best which governs not at all.'"
The GOP should keep that bit of minimalism in mind, lest libertarian voters vent their spleens — not to mention their bladders — by washing away the Republican majority and replacing it with a different breed of jellyfish.
You can e-mail me ataldiamon@herniahill.net. But you don't have to. It's not like there's a law or anything.
Topics:
Talking Politics
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, Politics, Republicans, Henry David Thoreau, Warren G. Harding, Naples, GOP, State House, Lewiston Sun Journal, first amendment, JELLYFISH, Less 
