Earlier this month, I read with amusement Chellie Pingree’s statement that “she is not a communist, but a very proud progressive.”

As Rep. Allen West, R-Florida, recently alluded, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and votes like a duck . . . guess what?

Let’s see if she agrees with these communist principles:

— Redistribution of wealth from the haves to the have-nots;

— Infiltrate the press (have your rich husband buy a newspaper);

— Use the term “social justice” to institute class warfare;

— Provide American aid to all countries, even those who advocate your destruction;

— Discredit America’s Founding Fathers as a bunch of white, rich, slave owners;

— Ignore and circumvent the Constitution (32 unelected czars who set policy);

— Promote unrest and anarchy (Occupy Wall Street);

— Ignore and weaken the Constitution (abuse the courts and legislators);

— Criticize the family and religion;

— Create a ruling class that is free from the will of the people (bureaucrats) to govern; and

— Use the public education system to teach that capitalism is wrong and socialism is right.

Does Pingree share any of those communist goals, or is she a “horse of a different color”?

Does a “very proud progressive” and a “communist” have different goals?

George Mathews, Auburn