I am a Democrat, a citizen of the United States, and I believe in democracy and freedom for all.

As a longstanding member of Resist Central Maine — and we are all gray-haired retired folks — we meet once a week with our signs supporting Harris/Walz.

Every week people with Trump signs on their cars ride back and forth across the bridge, yelling, using their middle finger and calling us dirty names. We don’t engage and don’t respond to their hateful words and actions.

Is this what “real” Republicans have become? I don’t think so. I have Republican friends and neighbors — they don’t intimidate, and they don’t use scare tactics. Those who do so have forgotten what it is like to actually be a Republican. We all have a right to vote for what is important to us.

We also have a right to be safe and participate in “peaceful assembly.”

Virginia Starbird, Lisbon