Angus King

"I dont have any illusions that Im naively going to go down and Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell are going to say, "Angus, tell us how to do this." I mean, I know thats not going to work. But I think, No. 1, my election would send a significant message and, No. 2, it might provoke similar movements in other states. If there were four or five people like me, that would change the whole dynamic."

"Jefferson said the states are the laboratories of democracy. But the problem is, nobody reads the lab reports. Weve got every state trying to reinvent everything. I was struck even more so after this trip how little exchange there is among states that are coping with exactly the same issues."

"You have to take advantage of the opportunities that life gives you, particularly the moments in time when you have time, when youre between jobs or you retire. Get out and go. I think most of us are way too intense. We need to take a deep breath and do things that maybe dont fit the normal picture of what were supposed to do at that stage of life. In some ways, this book is one big argument for just plain loosening up."

"Theres a paradox at the heart of the creation of any government, whether its here or anywhere else on Earth, and anywhere else in history. Theres a paradox built in, because the essence of creating government is to give it power, give it our power, in order to look after us, in order to provide for the common defense, to ensure domestic tranquility, to provide justice to our people. In other words, were giving our power to this separate entity. But we have to do so with the realization that the power thats being given has the potential to be abused. In other words, how do we give power to this entity, this government, and ensure that the government itself doesnt use that power to abuse us as citizens? This is a question at the heart of all political discussion throughout history. The Romans even had a question that captured it. The question was, "quis custodiet, ipsos custodes?" It means who will guard the guardians? Who will guard those who we have given power to guard us? Its a fundamental question thats confronted every society and every government throughout history."

"This small group, and we dont know who they are, but this small group apparently its reported in their 20s have no experience with government, no experience with foreign aid, no experience with the operation of the United States government, but theyre making basically policy decisions and constitutional decisions. The Constitution does not give to the President or his designee the power to extinguish a statutorily established agency. I can think of no greater violation of the strictures of the Constitution or usurpation of the power of this body. None."

"Just in the past ten days, weve seen the literal destruction of a statutorily, I emphasize that word, statutorily established and funded federal agency by people ostensibly working for the president understand vague authority, no transparency, and no guidance from the congress."

"I find it especially galling to read the sneering comment from the richest man in the world that, quote, ‘we spent the weekend feeding said into the chipper. Describing an action that will literally take food from the mouths of starving children. Forget red lines. Do we have no decency?"

"King is the early favorite as a very popular former governor. He took 59 percent in a three-way reelection race in 1998 (that’s not a typo)."

"On Monday night, Feb. 27, former Maine Gov. Angus King was sitting in his Brunswick home talking with his wife, Mary Herman, about the trips they would take in their new RV. On Tuesday night, they were discussing whether he should run for the U.S. Senate. It was just that quickly that his world shifted into high gear, after Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe announced Feb. 28 that she would not run for re-election. "I really agonized over it. It was a huge personal decision and it completely changes our lives," said the former two-term independent governor. "But Ive been handed a truly unique opportunity, and if I didnt take it, I think I would have regretted it." That unique opportunity, he said, is to shake things up as a centrist independent in Congress, an institution he called broken."

"We began our careers here with the following words, "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic." When each of us arrived here in the Senate, we took this oath to support and defend the constitution and as it says against all enemies foreign and domestic. I think its interesting that the framers concede that there might be domestic enemies to the constitution. Our oath was not to the Republican Party, not to the Democratic Party, not to Joe Biden, not to Donald Trump, but our oath was to defend the constitution. And right now — right now literally at this moment that constitution is under the most direct and consequential assault in our nations history. An assault not on a particular provision but on the essential structure of the document itself. Its hard to grasp what is happening because of all the events that are swirling around us over the last several weeks. Its coming from so many different quarters and so many different actors. Its hard to get a picture of whats really happening fundamentally. But this is an assault, and how we respond to it will define our lifes work, our place in history, and the future of our country. None of us will ever face a greater challenge."

"We have to understand, we are an anomaly in history. The historical norm is pharaohs, kings, dictators, emperors, presidents for life. But the fact that were such an anomaly, and weve seen in our lifetimes other governments, other systems based upon ours slip into authoritarianism and dictatorship tells us how fragile what we have is. What we have in this country is an anomaly in history and its fragile, and it needs to be, must be, protected from generation to generation. This makes this moment all the more urgent and portentous."

"Michael Jordan did not get good at basketball by practicing 42 minutes a week, which is what most kids have in the computer lab. … Whether its a scalpel, baseball bat or a computer, the skill in the use of a tool rests upon practice and familiarity, and thats what these kids are going to have to an unprecedented extent."