Last Monday night, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders addressed the faculty and students of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

He acknowledged the personal and political differences that existed between himself and his audience.

Then he went on to emphasize those other ethical and moral imperatives that should motivate all sentient and caring (Christian and other) citizens to action: to eliminate poverty in all the usual ways, and especially, to address the obscene fiscal disparity that exists between the rapacious haves and the increasingly vast majority of have-nots in our contemporary world.

For the most part, he was treated with respect (which he asked of – and promised to – his audience), and received several approving cheers on many of his points regarding how he thought our society should conduct itself.

In my opinion, the only down moment occurred when Liberty Vice President David Nasser (who acted as host, and accompanied Bernie on stage) asked Sanders to square his desire and plea for equality and justice for all people, with his lack of extending the same fervor for the perceived neediest of all, the innocents in the womb.

Without rancor, Bernie (who is pro-choice) directed his response back to his original talking points regarding the greater injustices and immorality that existed because of the reality of the disproportionate distribution of wealth in this country.

Whatever anyone may say about Sen. Sanders, he did what few of the other candidates (and none of the Republican candidates) has done: He stepped into the lion’s den of an oppositional audience and offered a collaborative discourse to address those problems plaguing our society that we must address if that society is to survive.

And he did it for 60 minutes without once disparaging his opponents!

Cam Cate

Ogunquit