Emerge Maine

There is no doubt that Emerge Maine board member Andrew Roth-Wells has done his fair share of jumping around in the political world.From running a congressional campaign in New York to working on Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s 2002 U.S. Senate campaign to working on various economic and social justice issues with advocacy organizations, Roth-Wells has seen all sides of progressive politics.

We are all unique.  Our childhoods, our experiences, our fear and joys, they are all our own.  Yet when we tell the stories and share the emotions we felt in those times, they resonate far and wide and our differences melt away.  We are all unique which in turn makes us all the same.  It is in this paradox that we empathize and mobilize, together.

I recently saw the movie Lincoln and was deeply moved by it.  This astonishing man persuaded Congress to support the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery, with his conviction, even while quietly buying votes by offering plum jobs to Democratic lawmakers. Quite a Machiavellian move from the man we nickname Honest Abe!  Lincoln was a ferocious fighter, but he was also brilliant at finding common ground and getting things done.