Angus King

On November 12th, 2020, The Perspective Project was pleased to welcome U.S. senator and former Maine governor Angus King, for a virtual dinner conversation moderated by Waynflete students Sylvette Dupé-Veté-Congolo '21 and Chris Saadé '21. Senator King began by making opening remarks in which he explained that being a Senator consists in working in committee meetings and voting on the one hand and on the other, of advocating for his constituencies. Senator King gave his predictions about the elections foreseeing Joe Biden as 46th President of the United States but with a predominantly Republican U.S. Senate. He also highlighted the ways, according to him, the current political polarization of the USA would affect future legislation. To conclude his opening remarks Senator King stressed that COVID-19, healthcare, and climate change are the most pressing matters to consider in the USA.

 He discussed campaign finance reform. Senator King shared a concern about the financial involvement of big corporations in campaigns and those living outside of the State and financing electoral campaigns. He believes there needs to be total transparency about those donating money to political campaigns. He concluded that money cannot be taken out of politics, but there needs to be transparency and those who do contribute financially should only be individual citizens not big corporations.

Senator King then discussed his position as an independent. He underlined the way being an independent was productive when he was governor and he could appoint officials based on their talents and relevance to the task and not on their political allegiance. He maintained that the dynamic is similar in the senate. He is able to benefit from a more fluid work space with opposing members than if he had chosen a conventional path with a linear party. On the topic of partisanship, Senator King remarked that government officials have lost the ability to compromise.

When addressing climate change, Senator King observed that the issue is more than just an environmental one, and he commented that “there’s no difference between our environment and our economy, especially in a state like Maine.” Senator King remarked that the most pressing concern in terms of converting to green energy is that of storage. Senator King claimed that officials need to research and continue working on large-scale batteries and storage. He said “that’s the key” to transitioning to clean energy. Additionally, Senator King advocated for green vehicles, quick charge technology, and implementing a mileage tax to substitute the gas tax currently funding our highway system.

Senator King discussed systemic racism and defunding the police. Instead of defunding the police, Senator King would like to find different approaches to resolving this issue. He believes that the issue of police reform is “a local decision” which starts with education reform. Senator King stated that to make change, we need to come together and have a shared understanding of the facts.

To conclude this hour-long event, Senator King expressed his support to young people and encouraged them with the words “be engaged, you can change the world!”