Abuse of Power Blog

Writing about the the abuse of power that comes with a hired, appointed, or elected position sometimes seems futile when people who are supposed to be educated act in uneducated ways. Welcome to politics in Maine!

It truly is a sad day when the person who is most powerful in the State government acts like he has the ability to make decisions which would disenfranchise thousands of Maine people. Governor Paul LePage THINKS that he has the power to just decide to shut down Maine schools because he is sulking over our elected legislators doing their jobs. He is upset that our legislators have not caved to his demands for cuts in Maine Care, Maine’s Medicaid program which would effect up to 65,000 people. I realize there are some tough choices to be made when it comes to balancing the State budget. I do not pretend to have the knowledge base to solve that problem. Apparently the governor has no idea either.

How does one define a “Bully?” Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior manifested by the use of force or coercion to affect others, particularly when the behavior is habitual and involves an imbalance of power (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullying). In this particular case of the governor stating that he will “close down Maine Schools, May1,” he is certainly using this statement as a form of coercion to manipulate Maine people regarding their constitutional right to petition their elected officials. Our elected officials have heard from many of their constituents regarding the proposed cuts to Maine Care and many people are not comfortable with the proposed cuts. Our legislators are doing a very good job of looking at things from many angles. They are double checking the math involved with the governors claims (as they should be). LePage is well known for manipulating the “truth” and has been caught at it too many times for anyone at the State house to trust his words.

So now LePage decides that things are not looking good for him and his proposed cuts and realizes that his Scare tactics have not worked to achieve his desired goal. As time moves on, he is like the scared bully on the school grounds who has someone who is standing up to him and very quickly he resorts to threats of others to achieve his desired outcome.

Hmmm, This sound a lot like another scenario. This is EXACTLY what an abusive relationship looks like. What does a person do when they are abusing a young child? They tell the child that if they speak about what is happening, their families may be hurt or worse. An abuser does this to silence the child and to ensure the abuse can continue.

It seems to me that I remember when LePage was running for office, a story ran depicting his “Pull yourself up by the bootstraps” difficult life and how he came from a very poor beginnings and had a tough time. Considering that statistically speaking, children who are raised in homes where poverty is common have higher rates of abuse, it could be a possibility that Governor LePage could possibly be one of those statistics. I am not suggesting that if he were one of those statistics that he is in anyway to blame for that – what I am suggesting is that if he were one of those unfortunate statistics, that perhaps he should seek therapy for the impact this has had on his life.

SES Impacts the Lives of Children, Youth, and Families

Research indicates that SES is a key factor that influences quality of life for children, youth, and families (CYF). SES affects human functioning in many ways, including development across the life span, psychological health, and physical health.

Psychological Health

Increasing evidence supports the link between lower SES and negative psychological health outcomes, while more positive psychological outcomes such as optimism, self-esteem, and perceived control have been linked to higher levels of SES for youth.

Lower levels of SES have been found to be associated with the following:

• Higher rates of attempted suicide, cigarette smoking, and engaging in episodic heavy drinking (Newacheck, Hung, Park, Brindis, & Irwin, 2003)

• Higher levels of emotional and behavioral difficulties, including anxiety, depression, attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, and conduct disorders (Weissman et al., 1984; Goodman, 1999; Spencer et al., 2002)

• Higher levels of aggression (Molnar et al., 2008), hostility, perceived threat, and perceived discrimination for youth (Chen and Paterson, 2006)

• Higher incidence of Alzheimer’s disease later in life (Fratiglioni, Winblad, & von Strauss, 2007; Karp et al., 2004; Fratiglioni & Rocca, 2001; Evans et al., 1997)

Physical Health

Research continues to link lower SES to a variety of negative health outcomes at birth and throughout the life span.

Lower levels of SES have been found to be associated with the following:

• Higher likelihood of being sedentary (Newacheck et al., 2003) and higher body mass index for adolescents (Chen and Paterson, 2006), possibly because of a lack of neighborhood resources — such as playgrounds and accessible healthy food options

• Higher physiological markers of chronic stressful experiences for adolescents (Chen and Paterson, 2006)

• Higher rates of cardiovascular disease for adults (Steptoe & Marmot, 2004; Colhoun, Hemingway, & Poulter, 1998; Kaplan and Keil, 1993)

Education

Increasing evidence supports the link between SES and educational outcomes.

• Socioeconomic status appears to create achievement gaps for Black and Hispanic children, when compared to the achievement levels of White children (Duncan and Magnuson, 2005).

• Children from low-SES families often begin kindergarten with significantly less linguistic knowledge (Purcell-Gates, McIntyre, & Freppon, 1995).

• Children from less-advantaged homes score at least 10% lower than the national average on national achievement scores in mathematics and reading (Hochschild, 2003).

• Children in impoverished settings are much more likely to be absent from school throughout their educational experiences (Zhang, 2003), further increasing the learning gap between them and their wealthier peers.

• While national high school dropout rates have steadily declined (National Center for Education Statistics, 2002), dropout rates for children living in poverty have steadily increased. Between 60 and 70% of students in low-income school districts fail to graduate from high school (Harris, 2005).

Family Well-Being

Evidence indicates that socioeconomic status affects family stability, including parenting practices and resulting developmental outcomes for children (Trickett, et al., 1991).

• Poverty is a reliable predictor of child abuse and neglect. Among low-income families, those with family exposure to substance use exhibit the highest rates of child abuse and neglect (Ondersma, 2002).

• Lower SES has been linked to domestic crowding, a condition which has negative consequences for adults and children, including higher psychological stress and poor health outcomes (Melki et al., 2004).

• All family members living in poverty are more likely to be victims of violence. Racial and ethnic minorities who are also of lower SES are at an increased risk of victimization (Pearlman, Zierler, Gjelsvik, & Verhoek-Oftedahl, 2004).

 

http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-cyf.aspx

I would like to conclude with some positive comments about our Governor however. He is to be admired for his efforts to make our governmental departments accountable for their expenditures. He has managed (or at least has caused it to happen), to ferret out some corruption and wasteful spending from some agencies. I am sure the net effect of this has been to make people who were doing questionable things with taxpayer dollars, think twice and ensure that they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. There are times when his blatant lack of political correctness is – well, refreshing. It is nice to see a politician who is not afraid to tell it like he sees it.

How many people know what they Must comply with when having contact with the police? I dare say, not many. Plus, it is always nerve wracking to have contact with the police, specifically when they are questioning you or have stopped you in a traffic stop. It does not matter if you are a criminal or not. Even getting stopped for speeding, or not stopping completely at a stop sign or red light can cause (and does cause) most people to have an increase in anxious feelings. It’s funny how we’ve become conditioned to become anxious and/or fearful of the police when we have always been told they are there to protect us and keep us safe.

Why do we become anxious when we are stopped for a traffic infraction? Some could argue that they have had previous experiences with the police which did not turn out well. Perhaps they were wrongly accused. Perhaps they got mouthy and were assaulted. But most of us have never actually had a bad experience with the police like the aforementioned – so why do we still become anxious? It comes back to the idea of the power differences within the relationship.

You may remember my previous blog where I discuss the ways in which peoples position in society automatically set up an uneven balance of power. If you missed this blog post you can read it here: http://mainelypublishing.com/blog/category/abuse-of-power/

Ira Glasser, Executive Director for the American Civil Liberties Union  (ACLU), from 1978 to 2001 discusses in this video: http://www.sprword.com/videos/BUSTED/ how to conduct yourself when faced with having contact with the police. Granted the officers portrayed in this video are most likely not the norm, but we all know that people are after only human and sometimes let the power of their position go to their heads. Everyone should know how to advocate for themselves when faced with contact with authority figures. We all know that the police departments in our country are charged with solving cases and crimes. Some (hopefully most) officers are upstanding public servants who take the ethics of their work very seriously. However, sometimes when an officer is faced with finding the guilty party they will fall prey to utilizing some of the “shortcuts” the film discusses.

So, watch the film if you are so inclined – and know how and what to do and not to do the next time you are pulled over for a traffic stop.