Dear Editor:

I have lived in Wiscasset for 33 years, and last week something happened to me that I couldn’t believe would happen in our town. My friend and I were followed down the street by someone who felt he had to berate us for our support of Donald Trump. We had not engaged him in conversation or done anything to provoke his actions, but we were called immoral, disgusting, and some other vile words too crude to repeat. He suggested that we read a sign in the yard of someone in the neighborhood, which he felt our country should be about. It was a statement of beliefs, one of which was “Love is Love.” It was suggested, with expletives, that we needed to “get out of town.”

Is this his version of “Love is Love?” Since 2016, Republicans, and Trump supporters in particular, have been called the “party of hate.” Signs saying “Love Trumps Hate” were everywhere. The truth is that we are not the party of hate. We consistently respect the differing political opinions which are so vigorously expressed in our local newspapers in Letters to the Editor. We are automatically labeled as racist, homophobic, misogynistic, and every other derogatory term they think applies to us. The violence taking over the big cities in our country right now is not fueled by hateful Republicans. The angry students who hound conservative speakers from their universities are not Republicans. The violence triggered by the wearing of a MAGA hat is not carried out by Republicans. The anger and hatred that my friend and I experienced last week was typical of those who cannot tolerate a belief system that is not theirs.

It is time for us to ask who the party of hate really is. My friend and I would never steal someone’s political signs, repeatedly deface expensive signs on a political party’s headquarters property, or demean someone’s character because they support different values than ours. We all need to practice respect, tolerance, civility, self-control, and the willingness to allow free speech in this country that we all love. So, who is the real “Party of Hate?”

Linda Winterberg

Wiscasset