Rep. Lawrence Lockman’s Nov. 27 column, “Trump win traumatizes Portland progressives,” takes malignant pleasure in bashing progressives and characterizes the media’s treatment of rural Americans as “grotesque.”

He proclaims the dominance of conservative principles in the areas of human sexuality in a “Judeo-Christian worldview.” He maliciously, and incorrectly, characterizes progressives as people who despise rural voters. Perhaps emboldened to write what he did, he reveals a stunning provinciality and a profound conservative bias.

We have two choices. We can strive to understand the forces in the world and hence to control their influence in our lives. Or we can choose willful ignorance and simply lash out at everyone who disagrees with us. The former helps us to protect ourselves, and the latter will make us a victim.

These forces are external to Hancock County, where Lockman lives – even beyond the borders of the United States.

Progressives understand the complexity, see the indirect causation, sincerely believe society should be fair and deal with the messy business of protecting people from these forces. Yes, progressives tend to be better educated than your average Ameri- can. It’s not required, but it certainly helps.

I laud the Press Herald for its efforts to promote intelligent discourse. Lockman decries an “elitist contempt for Trump voters” in the Press Herald. The Donald Trump voters are under a microscope. It’s not a comfortable feeling.

However, progressives want to understand why anyone would vote for someone who is so profoundly unfit to lead the country. It’s a natural result of an intellectual approach to politics.

Lockman should notice that the Democrats are also under the microscope, with many articles and opinions dissecting their losses and failures.

We call it a free press, and we use it to inform ourselves about the entire world around us, including those parts with which we do not agree.

Rob Whitehouse

Brunswick