We needed the special report about hate in the July 23 Maine Sunday Telegram (“Hate groups are on the march in Maine”).

The pressures directed against us, and most other people of the world, are likely to increase. Europe, the U.S., Canada and Australia are viewed as safe havens. With starvation and violence afflicting others, we will be unable to keep many out. Better to recognize what’s headed our way and deal with it realistically.

Technology has made the spreading of hate easier, perhaps, than achieving understanding and learning acceptance. Let’s not beat up on teachers and school boards.

Reintroduce civics classes. Teach facts-based history. Accept that LGBTQ folks have a right to exist. Nature has placed a certain percentage of the human and animal kingdom into these categories. It’s natural, so don’t hate them.

Hate punches against democracy. Autocracy is easier; you don’t have to debate difficult issues. Our democracy may be getting a little wobbly. Some 70% or more of our population approves some restrictions on guns and gun ownership. It’s not happening, no matter the size of the slaughter. Across the Western world, democracy is slipping and autocracy is rising in various nations, including Israel, with its independent judiciary curtailed.

Congress must focus on the bigger picture and longer term: global warming, renewable resources, inadequate health care for many, economic and social inequality, mental health issues and improved public education.

Let’s lower the temperature and reduce the time legislative bodies spend on lifestyle issues. Put citizens, empathy and country first; political ideology behind. Seek out truthful news sources. Pay attention and vote accordingly.

John Kruger
Lucie Ayotte
Windham

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