Everybody goes to Becky’s Diner. Depending on the time of day, you might see a lawyer, a CEO, a fishermen, a family with young kids, teenagers on a date. Sometimes even politicians.

The 24-year-old waterfront diner gives candidates a chance to shake a few hands while the cameras are rolling, with a background that instantly says you are in Maine. It’s a stop few of them want to miss.

“I welcome everyone,” said the diner’s owner and namesake, Becky Rand. “I always say yes, as long as they behave themselves and don’t stay too long.”

But her welcoming attitude is becoming a problem. It started last year when a visit from New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie on behalf of Maine Gov. Paul LePage created some nasty backlash on social media. She got another helping when Christie and LePage made a return trip last week, a day after Christie announced his candidacy for president.

Once again, a customer got on the restaurant’s Facebook page, telling management that he was never coming back.

“After what transpired at your establishment today, we will not frequent your business anymore,” he huffed.

“Boycott Becky’s” an online commenter wrote on the Press Herald site.

“I will feel sick trying to eat there,” another commenter wrote. “I will be thinking this was where those creeps ate.”

We all need to take a deep breath. Rand has been letting politicians of all stripes meet her customers since she opened the place, and never got this kind of backlash before. She is convinced that politics in Maine is just getting meaner.

I would have to agree, and since I tend to blame Paul LePage for everything, I blame Paul LePage.

To hear him talk, people aren’t wrong, they’re liars. They don’t disagree, they’re corrupt. And if they don’t do things his way, he’ll do anything in his power to crush them (see Eves, Mark).

You could argue that it’s a good way to govern a state – he has had more than his share of wins in the political arena. But it is a terrible way to operate in life, where most endeavors require some amount of cooperation.

As much as I wish I could blame it all on the governor, however, it’s not his fault.

The Internet has provided many opportunities to be mean these days without ever having to pay a price. President Andrew Jackson once shot and killed a man who called him a “poltroon” to his face. Gov. LePage probably gets far worse in his Twitter feed every hour.

Maybe we should all use the diner as a model.

Becky keeps her politics to herself, but her customers don’t and she knows that she’ll have Democrats and Republicans perched on adjacent stools, without political differences getting in between them and their breakfasts. You don’t have to agree with everyone in the room to eat a stack of pancakes.

And Rand has found that customers enjoy getting to meet someone that they’ve only seen on TV. It’s not unusual for one of Becky’s customers to ask a question and tell the politician that they don’t agree with the answer.

Last week, video of Christie pressing the flesh on the first day of his campaign shows two Becky’s customers holding up hastily produced “Bernie in 2016” signs they had written on napkins in support of Democrat Bernie Sanders. The answer to speech you don’t like is more speech.

One memorable night in 2008, Bill Clinton came in unannounced and worked the room.

“He shook everyone’s hand in the place and stood for pictures. He stayed for an hour,” Rand recalled. “Even the Republicans were thrilled to see him.”

And, he bought food for his whole entourage, which is something not every visiting politician does.

“I think a diner is a place for people to sit next to each other,” Rand said. “I welcome everyone, I am thrilled to serve everyone, even politicians.”

It’s easy to isolate yourself. We all have our own favorite websites and news sources and our groups of friends who tell us that we’re right. It’s harder to engage, but Rand believes that that’s the right thing to do.

“I’m not a religious scholar, but I know that God wants us to love each other,” Rand said. “In the end, only kindness matters.”

That’s a good message for all of us who sometimes get too worked up over politics. Maybe Becky should run for office.