HOPE FLOATS: Maine Oysterman, Graham Platner, for U.S. Senate

Positioning is fundamental to brand advertising, and some of today’s Democratic Party candidates are positioning themselves as pro-labor, anti-oligarch defenders of the American people and the American dream. Graham Platner, an oysterman from Maine, is one such candidate.

He is running to replace the state’s incumbent Republican Senator, Susan Collins. Democrats from coast to coast would love to see that happen in a little more than a year from now.

Early in his powerful and persuasive launch video, Platner says, “We have watched this state become essentially unlivable for working-class people, and it makes me deeply angry.”

Anger can be a strong motivator, and Platner’s anger happens to be shared by fellow citizens. Will it drive them out to vote in record numbers? According to Platner, “People know that the system is screwing them. They know it in their bones.”

There’s something refreshing about this man’s honesty. Imagine what the nation would be like if more people fearlessly spoke truth to power on a regular basis. Don’t we owe it to ourselves and to future generations to get square with how we got here?

Maine’s housing costs are about 33% higher than the national average, and the state has the 10th-highest cost of living among all U.S. states. Thus, there’s ample room for economic and environmental arguments to be made and won by the man who works with his hands and requires a healthy ecosystem to stay in business and hopefully prosper one day.

Platner, the candidate, is plainspoken and unafraid to rock the boat. When it comes to his opponent’s claims that she’s a moderate, he says, “The difference between Susan Collins and Ted Cruz is at least Ted Cruz is honest about selling us out and not giving a damn.”

Platner is serious and tough, but his personality and by extension, his political brand, is tempered by a wry sense of humor. And laughing helps at a time like this. Don’t you think?