Susan Collins, one of Maine's two senators in the U.S. Congress, has an opportunity to be as brave as the late Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, who dared to to take on the unhinged demagogue, Senator Joseph McCarthy, with her Declaration of Conscience.

Collins could go down in history like Smith, if she displayed the moral backbone to break with her unprincipled Republican colleagues and call out the defeated and disgraced former President, Donald Trump. She could demonstrate her devotion to democracy by supporting voting rights for all Americans.

She could speak out for truth, against the Big Lie that the election was stolen. She could vote for the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. She could be a profile in courage. Or she she could be a profile in cowardice. A historic figure or a historical footnote.

Steve Cartwright lives in Tenants Harbor