Heather Dubois holds a flag aloft while walking along West Grand Avenue in Ocean Park during the community’s Independence Day parade on Thursday. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Americans are bitterly divided over politics, Supreme Court rulings and cultural issues. They’re concerned about the direction of the country, and they’re frustrated with the two major candidates for the nation’s highest office. But they’re also optimistic about the future and our ability to transcend what separates us.

As we gather to celebrate the long Fourth of July weekend, our reporters asked Mainers what patriotism and freedom mean to them – and what they think the future might hold.

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Timothy True, 71 • Rachel Ohm/Staff Writer

Timothy True, 71, Saco, psychotherapist

How optimistic do you feel about the future of America?
I actually am very optimistic because we’ve always figured out, even in the darkest of times, how to pull out of that and move forward.

How do you feel about the current political climate?
I think we’re on shaky ground. I’m hoping that the (presidential) election goes how I would like it to go. I would like President Biden to get a second term because I’m scared to death of Donald Trump. Everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie. He can’t be trusted, and he’s already made statements that he basically wants to be a dictator.

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Bennett Meister, 18, Carmel, small-business owner and member of the military

How optimistic do you feel about the future of America?
Optimistic that a future generation will be able to turn things back around.

What do patriotism and freedom mean to you?
Absolutely everything and the most important thing. It’s why I serve my country.

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Amy Myatt, 48 • Rachel Ohm/Staff Writer

Amy Myatt, 48, Saco, stay-at-home mom

What does patriotism or freedom mean to you?
The core values, I think, of freedom, independence and the ability to have the freedom to make choices on how we want to live. That means a lot to me. I don’t agree with everything but … I think people respecting the fact that we can have choices is what I love about this country.

How do you feel about the current political climate?
I think the current political climate feels a little overwhelming. I try not to get too involved or too political or too one way or another, and just hope the best candidate wins and the best thing for the country happens.

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Barry Jackman, 65 • Rachel Ohm/Staff Writer

Barry Jackman, 65, Saco, project manager for interpretation and translation services company

How optimistic do you feel about the future of America?
Very. We are a patriotic people who can get through the good times and the bad times. This country is built of strong people, and it was built by strong people. I think that hard times give you good times. So I feel good about it.

What does patriotism or freedom mean to you?
I think it’s important. We’re an independent, democratic society, and for us to have the right to vote, I think it’s important for us to understand that we are a country that has freedoms. I work with people all around the world, and what I see what some of them have, we are very fortunate – at least I think we are.

How do you feel about the current political climate?
I’m skeptical, but we have five months (before the presidential election), and a lot of things can change. I’m skeptical but optimistic.

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Shayna Morgan, 33 • Rachel Ohm/Staff Writer

Shayna Morgan, 33, Old Orchard Beach, nurse

What does patriotism or freedom mean to you?
Equality. I’m a Democrat myself, so it would be nice to have more of a democracy, and that would equal freedom for me. I feel like some of our rights are going away, and it doesn’t feel like the America it used to be.

How do you feel about the current political climate?
It makes me kind of nervous. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I feel like there’s more hatred in the world too, so I don’t feel very optimistic about it. I’d like to be, because I have young kids and I want the political climate to be better for them.

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Fred Thompson, 54, Manchester, truck driver 

What do patriotism and freedom mean to you?
Standing up for our rights and our country. Standing behind our veterans, who defend our country.

How do you feel about the current political climate?
It is a sad state of affairs.

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Cathy Larkin, 80 • Rachel Ohm/Staff Writer

Cathy Larkin, 80, Ocean Park, retired social worker

How optimistic do you feel about the future of America?
We’ve been very fortunate, but all of the stuff going on with the presidency and people running for office, the ramifications of that, the Supreme Court – it’s scary. But I appreciate when I’m reminded by the media that we’ve been through things like this before. We’ve been through tough times. In my own lifetime, I think back to the ’60s and early ’70s, that was a really scary time. It was a different scary time. … We got through it.

How do you feel about the current political climate?
It’s tough. I know how I’m going to vote. I’ll support Biden. I think he’s done a great job as president, and I feel like what’s going on with him about his age is a form of ageism. … If Trump’s elected, we’ll get through it. I do have faith in the way our country is set up and the people, people like you and me. No matter who you vote for, I support your right to do that.

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Nancy Hanson, 70 • Nikki Harris/Staff Writer

Nancy Hanson 70, Paris, retired

How optimistic do you feel about the future of the country?
That’s a complicated question because of the political issues happening today. There’s so much division in our country. I hate that, but I think in the end it will all settle out, no matter who gets in as president. … And we’ll survive, whoever you choose. We’ll survive.

What does patriotism or freedom mean to you?
It means loving our country, loving its beginnings and being willing to make sacrifices to keep it free – even being willing to go and sacrifice yourself, if you have to, for the freedom of our people and our country and what we stand for.

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Kevin Douglas, 48, Fairfield

How optimistic do you feel about the future of America?
Good, as long as everybody else comes back together. We are all American, and it is OK that we are different.

What does patriotism or freedom mean to you?
Patriotism means we celebrate our nation and honor the men and women that fight for us. Freedom means to be who we are and do what we want.

How do you feel about the current political climate?
I don’t deal with it. Politics breed hate and discontent. It is all about separation and pushing the sides away from each other to be divided.

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Genesis Rodriguez, 24 • Nikki Harris/Staff Writer

Genesis Rodriguez, 24, Yarmouth, cook

How optimistic do you feel about the future of the country?
I think our country is gonna go to (expletive), most likely, because we have two very disappointing options for the presidency. And the debate was just them throwing jabs at each other and talking about golf and prostitution when we should be worried about unemployment and housing prices. They should do better, but they’re not, so I guess this is what we have. 

What does patriotism or freedom mean to you?
Freedom is like women’s rights – free abortions and planned parenthood but also cancer screenings and everything like that. It means freedom of speech, Black Lives Matter. … And I feel like with how it’s going, we’re not having any of that. It’s always just a constant fight for everything, and it shouldn’t have to be. … I love where I’m from – that just doesn’t mean I cannot be disappointed in parts of it. 

How do you feel about the current political climate?
I’m disappointed, but I do have optimism – you have to have optimism. I have a little girl, and I want to see the country do better, so I’m gonna hold out for all this optimism for her, for our kids. 

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Steve Burger, 35 • Emma Meserve photo

Steve Burger, 35, works at Rainbow Bicycle 

What does freedom mean to you?
Freedom would mean not being restricted in the actions of my life by the government or by people in power.

How do you feel about America these days?
I feel pretty grim. I think that there’s a good chance that our democracy is facing serious threats from within. There is a serious fascist bent in our politics right now. I look at the current scenario in the election with the options provided to us, and I feel very grim.

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Jim Alberty, 68 • Nikki Harris/Staff Writer

Jim Alberty, 68, Windham, technology teacher

How optimistic do you feel about the future of the country?
I want to say endlessly optimistic, but there’s a corruption at the Supreme Court level … that I lay at the feet of the Republican Party, especially Mitch McConnell, for cheating President Obama out of the Supreme Court pick. … Up until this week’s Supreme Court decision (to grant the president immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts), I’d have felt optimistic. Now, it’s going to have to be fought.

What does patriotism or freedom mean to you?
I will not pledge allegiance to the flag because that flag was there when one-fifth of my (Cherokee) tribe died in the cold in the Trail of Tears. I will not salute the flag, but my family will be the first to volunteer to fight or to give, to assume a responsibility that we all have to each other as Americans. That’s what being an American is – you’re responsible to everybody else for how you behave. But that doesn’t mean that I have to respect what happened to my people.

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Michael Smith, 57, Portland, carpenter

What does patriotism or freedom mean to you?
Patriotism, to me, means having a unified support of our country and the freedoms that we have. But within that, we have to have compromise. And we have to understand that when it comes to the Second Amendment, for example, that was written 200 years ago, we have to take the concept of the Second Amendment and then apply it to where it fits today. … So patriotism is looking at these freedoms and applying them in the best way for the most people – to provide the most benefit for everybody living within the borders. 

How do you feel about the current political climate?
I think we have a lot of extremism. When we look at other countries and other extremism that’s going on, you say that’s really bad. But we don’t really look at our country and look at the extremism that we have here, which is dangerous. 

Press Herald Staff Writers Rachel Ohm and Nikki Harris, Sun Journal Staff Writer Lena LaPierre, and Morning Sentinel Staff Writers Jake Freudberg and Cayley Bowman contributed to this report.