In his return to political campaigning last Saturday, former president Donald Trump channeled Goldwater when he claimed vindication for many of the positions he took during last year’s presidential campaign and in the four years of his administration.

Now it gives that conspiracy of ignorance the force of law, requiring that we prioritize white people’s emotional comfort above truth. For all people of conscience, that should be an easy call. A hundred years later, let’s finally speak some truth.

And let comfort fend for itself.

Clearly, the GOP constitutes a dire threat to this democracy. That’s why more than 160 professors from Duke, Yale, Stanford, Georgia State and elsewhere, scholars who study how democracies rise and fall, have signed a letter that declares that several states are being transformed “into political systems that no longer meet the minimum conditions for free and fair elections. Hence, our entire democracy is now at risk.” It is something many far less-credentialed observers have been saying for months.

A couple of months from now, it could be obvious that the highly touted Biden revolution is sputtering to a stop before it even gets started.

If so, the fault won’t be Manchin’s or Sinema’s, or in our stars, but in the simple fact that Biden doesn’t have enough votes in Congress — never did and never will.

As the Maine Legislature continues its consideration of extended producer responsibility proposals, it must stay mindful that revenue should support solutions, not be the solution. Let’s work together to build an EPR system that sets the standard for other states, and begins to fix recycling now and for future generations.