On Wednesday evening, I joined 51 other residents of the Portland area (and around 100,000 other Americans across the country via a live feed) to share our commitment to the issues being raised by Sen. Bernie Sanders – and, for many of us, to begin to work to make him the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.

I was struck by the diversity of that group of 52 Mainers representing seven different communities in the area from Buxton to Old Orchard Beach to North Yarmouth and all the places in between.

A former pollster recently indicated that Bernie doesn’t stand a chance since the core of his followers are “Volvo-driving, financially comfortable” liberals who are “pretty much white.” There wasn’t a Volvo in the parking lot, but there were lots of family vans and everything from “beaters” to two BMWs.

There were students from the University of Southern Maine; recent nursing graduates; young people, some with families; people attending their first political meeting, and, yes, folks with gray hair and memories of the struggles of the 1960s.

One thing we had in common was our love for this country, our desire to leave it better than we found it and our belief in “liberty and justice for all.”

I would hope that the Press Herald will see fit to report on democracy in action, by the people, for the people. We don’t have money, but we have time, talent, enthusiasm and a candidate who has consistently championed the cause of working people in this country.

Loren Johnston

Scarborough

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