Brunswick Area Indivisible Newsletter #26

"We are a grassroots organization of concerned residents of Brunswick, Topsham and Harpswell”

Newsletter for June 14, 2026
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Brunswick Area Indivisible Action Calendar:

Recurring Events (Brunswick)

Tuesdays, 5:30 pm Brunswick Maine Street Route 1 Overpass Rally - Bring your signs and flags.

Wednesdays, 12:30 pm Brunswick Town Mall Cosplay protest. Meet at the Gazebo- costumes optional

Saturdays, 11:00 am to 12:00 Brunswick, Maine St. on Rt 1 Overpass. Bring banners, signs.

Mark your calendar:

Saturday, July 18 — Good Trouble event details TBA 11AM-1PM

BAI Book Discussion to be scheduled in October. Details to follow in August. The next title in the discussion series is You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History For Our Times by Howard Zinn.

For More actions and events, visit Activate Maine and Mobilize​

June Monthly Meeting Report

23(!) folks attended the potluck get-together and brought great summer food for this BAI meeting organized by the Education Committee. Before the meeting, volunteers wrote 100 issue-based postcards to send to voters.

After eating (4 pasta dishes, 3 summer salads, 1 soup, 3 dips/chips and fruit desserts), Wendy Flaschner moderated a brief sharing session. We brainstormed some of the year’s accomplishments: 6 month data center moratorium in Brunswick, 25 newsletters, monthly educational sessions (including governor candidates), sustained public action via sidewalk activities 3 times per week, book club discussions, Avelo Air out of Portland, ICE response training and more.

A representative of each Working Group then had its members stand to be acknowledged and briefly reviewed activities, past and planned…each one would be happy to add new members.

There are no monthly meetings planned in July and August unless an event, speaker or topic of special interest is identified. It was noted that national BAI has decided to take a summer lull to ‘gird our loins’ for the fall election season. (Read on for more about this.)

Ebb and Flow

In their May 14th weekly call, Indivisible cofounders Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg answered questions about summer plans and the ebb and flow of social movements. They acknowledged that Indivisible is in a quiet moment, after the massive push to get the vote out for pro-democracy primary candidates who can be effective against the Trump regime.

They emphasized that movements don’t have a straight upward trajectory. In periods of calm, community building and organizing prepares the movement to welcome and include new people when the next big outrage and next national responses come along. The natural lull between primary season and the run up to November will be brief and Indivisibles should be ready for the next phase.

Indivisible National fully expects the Trump regime to interfere with the general elections in November. Trump has said so. Expect to see doubt and chaos thrown into the process, down to the local level. Will we be ready to call election interference, engage the outrage, respond to local and national threats to free and fair elections? The Brennan Center has an excellent explanation of the Voting Rights Act and the Supreme Court’s partisan ruling.
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What can we do as individuals? It is ok to take a break and recharge. Then, some suggestions:

• Continue working for a better community by supporting local groups, agencies and organizations,
• Sign up for trainings when available for ICE Watch, de-escallation, events marshals,
• Find more groups fighting to protect voting rights,
• Attend ongoing rallies locally or wherever you find yourself in your summer travels,
• Engage with candidates. Ask them point-blank what democracy protection legislation they will have ready on Day One,
• Build bridges, form alliances, talk and listen.

Following Leah and Ezra’s weekly “What’s the plan?” is one way to keep up to date. Sign up for the Thursday live calls on National Indivisible’s site or catch the podcast by finding “What’s the plan?” on your podcast player.

BAI Organizational Structure retreat

On June 10 and 11, ten representatives of BAI’s Working Groups (two from each group) held a retreat to review and refresh BAI’s values, mission, organizational structure and operating procedures, to ensure our continuing positive impact going forward. We accomplished a lot over the two days, including:

• Adoption and adherence to ground rules for respectful dialogue;
• Affirmation and further articulation of our values as an organization;
• Agreement that we will use a modified consensus model for decision making, always striving for consensus and taking votes when necessary to move time-sensitive decisions forward;
• Agreement on a structure that preserves significant autonomy of the Working Groups while ensuring BAI-wide alignment on key issues through a Coordinating Council. Like the group holding the retreat, the Coordinating Council is comprised of two members from each Working Group, creating an efficient means of cross-organizational communication and coordination; and
• Agreement on roles to be played by the Leads of the Working Groups and Coordinating Council.

These decisions now give us a firm footing to move forward with many other pieces of work that will further strengthen our organization. Still to be completed are refinement of BAI’s mission statement; enhancements of our website, including the addition of a comprehensive calendar spanning all Working Groups; a clear process for supporting political candidates; a budget process and many other operational clarifications that will improve transparency, efficiency and effectiveness.

We are working to memorialize our work and will share more details with you in the coming weeks. We are energized by the potential for BAI to continue its great work and to be even more impactful as we head into the mid-term elections. Thank you all for the contributions you make every day to strengthen our nation’s democratic ideals.

With sincere appreciation,

Ann Rea Education, Carolyn Eklund Government, Catherine Whitaker Communications, Diana Seidel Membership, Sheryl Search Action, Melissa Kimball Communications, Wendy Flaschner Membership, Susie Hanley Action, Donna Chale Government, Margaret Gardiner Education

Working Group News -- Government

How To Promote Universal Health Care in Maine

After the mid-term elections the, ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will eliminate many Maine citizens from Medicaid. Federal Medicare funds in Maine are distributed through the MaineCare Program. This will leave thousands of Maine residents without any means to obtain health care. We need to look ahead and determine how Maine can meet the medical needs of its residents.

Developing universal health care in Maine relies heavily on a grassroots strategy driven by state-level ballot initiatives. Advocacy groups like Healthcare for All Maine utilize direct democracy to bypass legislative gridlock, gathering signatures to put constitutional or statutory mandates on the ballot. These initiatives direct the Maine Legislature to develop comprehensive, publicly funded systems ensuring coverage for every resident. By building broad, non-partisan public support, citizens can directly compel lawmakers to design a framework prioritizing health care access as a basic human right.

At the polls last Tuesday, the organization gathered signatures on a resolve directing the Maine Legislature to develop Universal Health coverage legislation. If successful, the resolve will be on the November 2027 ballot. The effort to collect 100,000 is ongoing. To help, contact Maine AllCare.

Another necessary change is the state legislative reform aimed at establishing a single-payer model. Lawmakers can design a state-administered entity, such as the proposed ‘All Maine Health Program’, to consolidate multiple health insurance funding streams into one system. Under this approach, private and employer-based premiums would transition into predictable state taxes. According to fiscal analyses from the Maine Center for Economic Policy, this consolidation would eliminate administrative overhead and insurance company denials, ultimately lowering total state health care spending.

To make a state-administered single-payer plan legally viable, Maine must secure specific federal waivers to integrate national programs. The state must apply for statutory flexibility under the Affordable Care Act and federal Medicare guidelines to divert existing federal health dollars into its unified pool. Federal legislation like the State-Based Universal Health Care Act would streamline this process. Successfully combining these federal funds with state revenue ensures that seniors, veterans, and low-income residents experience seamless, enhanced coverage without losing existing federal support.

Finally, Maine can incrementally achieve universal coverage by aggressively expanding existing public safety nets. Lawmakers can continuously broaden income eligibility thresholds for MaineCare while strengthening state-level subsidies provided through the CoverME.gov insurance marketplace. Simultaneously implementing robust public option plans creates a bridge toward a single-payer future. By continually absorbing uninsured populations and tightly regulating commercial insurers, the state can systematically eliminate coverage gaps until every single Mainer is fully integrated into a stable, universal system.

Pausing the Propaganda?

If you’re thinking of taking a break from the millionaire-owned news media this summer, Indivisible MidMaine (Lewiston/Auburn area) has put together a list of a few truly independent news outlets and newsletter journalists suggested by their members. Check them out here.

-Brunswick Area Indivisible

As always, if you have an upcoming action, article, legislative issue or story that you want to go out on the Brunswick Area Indivisible email list, send it to communications.bai.me@gmail.com
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Have you missed a newsletter, want to look back, or want to share a past issue? The most recent 6+ newsletters can be found on the BAI Posts page.

Want to support BAI? We welcome your time and talents. Contact communications.bai.me@gmail.com for volunteer opportunities. Donations are welcome at our meetings and online through ACT BLUE.