Originally posted on CBN

By: Andrew Ian Dodge – Tea Party Patriots State Coordinator of Maine

I am declaring my candidacy for US Senate for the state of Maine. I urge you to visit my website,http://www.electthedodge.com/. For too long, Maine has been represented by tax and spend partisans. It’s time a true leader forged in the fire of Tea Party fiscal conservatism grabbed the reins.

My opponent, Olympia Snowe, is not, and never will be, such a leader. In fact, she has more in common with partisan Democrats than with patriotic Americans. Don’t take my word for it – ask Rosa Scarcelli, a former Democratic candidate for Governor, who called Olympia Snowe “a wonderful moderate senator” in Politico.

In contrast, Sen. Snowe claims she’s a “fiscal conservative.”

Let me share a small sample of Sen. Snowe’s “wonderful moderation”: Sen. Snowe is the cosponsor of an “internet kill switch” proposal to give the government power to shut off the internet, and has come out in favor of the unconstitutional McCain-Feingold legislation.

What about her “fiscal conservatism?” In 2010, Sen. Snowe helped vote Obamacare out of committee in the teeth of her party and the people. She also voted against making the Bush tax-cuts permanent while voting for TARP and every other bailout. Clearly, for Sen. Snowe, “wonderful moderation” means being a rubber stamp for the Obama agenda of killing our freedoms, and “fiscal conservatism” means being a Democrat-lite tax collector for the welfare state. Small wonder that Sen. Snowe has expressed her disdain for the tea party movement.

Sen. Snowe has turned her back on her constituents; it’s time for us to return the favor. Unlike Sen. Snowe, I have been involved in the conservative movement for the last 25 years, and have been a tactical leader in the Tea Party movement. I live my life by the three core conservative values of Constitutionally limited government, free market and fiscal responsibility. As a Senator, I would judge any piece of legislation that crossed my desk by those values alone.

I know that now, more than ever, Leviathan is on the march. Washington’s powers-that-be believe that they can trample on the Constitution while bribing our elected representatives to look the other way. They pay for these bribes out of the pockets of our children. For every one good law Congress passes, two infringements on liberty follow. Dependency has spread like a parasitic fungus on the tree of liberty, and unnecessary laws have sprung up like weeds to choke the body politic.

I say it’s time for a little brush clearing. As a Senator, I would push for the radical reformation, if not abolition, of government departments like the FCC, NEA and the TSA. I would adhere to a philosophy that every government program is wasteful until proven worthy. I would push for a permanent ban on earmarks, and severely curtail special interest subsidies. I would purge corporate welfare and the “too big to fail” philosophy that turns the government into a sugar daddy for big business.

I have the courage to do this because unlike so many professional politicians who have adopted tea party colors for the sake of their ambition, I am the real deal. In this era of bailouts and mandates, I stand for the proposition that the only thing that is too big to fail is our freedom, and the only mandate is for a new breed of leadership. I stand against debt, dependency and decline because I stand for liberty, responsibility and American greatness.

I hope you will join me by donating and spreading the word about my campaign to become Senator for the great state of Maine.