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Dr. Peter J. Stein of Sandy River Plantation is a 67-year-old scientist and engineer and the founder and current president of Scientific Solutions. He was elected as a Franklin County delegate to Saturday’s Democratic nominating convention for U.S. Senate.

During the 1985 “We Are the World” recording session, producer Quincy Jones famously hung a sign that read: “Check your egos at the door.” It was a blunt reminder to a roomful of global superstars that their collective mission was greater than any individual ego.

As we go into this weekend’s state Democratic convention, and then in the campaign season beyond, right through Election Day on Nov. 3 , I ask everyone on all sides here in Maine to please heed that same advice.

Our current crisis is the culmination of a 50-year-plus experiment with trickle-down economics, hyper-globalization and corporate deregulation. This economic framework has consolidated power in the hands of oligarchs, generated staggering wealth inequality and fueled the MAGA movement.

The resulting societal strain is impossible to ignore, manifesting itself as widespread stress and mental illness, drug addiction, homelessness and escalating gun violence. If you do not see these fractures in our society, you are likely insulated by a bubble of financial privilege.

Historically, such profound inequality triggers a period of deep restructuring. Yet, historical progress is rarely bloodless; it routinely requires massive upheaval and human suffering. When the Gilded Age of the late 1800s fractured the nation, it took the reforms of the Progressive Era and the sweeping social programs of the New Deal to rescue the American middle class. It also took the suffering of World War I, the Great Depression and World War II.

Now, decades later, we have squandered these hard-won advancements through systemic greed, corruption and short-sighted policies. The working or middle class has once again been left behind.

This is the reality facing Maine and our country. We are at a critical tipping point. We will either forge a new Progressive Era or plunge further into global conflict. A peaceful political revolution is necessary to reclaim governance and prevent widespread suffering.

These truths are the core message of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing. The “Our Revolution” movement continues to take hold because, eventually, the truth prevails. For the sake of humanity, we the people must take back our country.

Rebuilding a social system that serves everyone requires a Democratic Party firmly rooted in the working class, not the ruling elite. To achieve this, Democrats must flip the Senate, which makes defeating incumbent Sen. Susan Collins a moral imperative.

The Maine Democratic Party has done an amazing job coming together to rapidly create a whole new transparent process for electing a new candidate. One that was unquestionably democratic. Troy Jackson has prevailed, for very good reasons, and the quicker we unite around him, the better our odds of defeating Sen. Collins.

If one person is right and the other is wrong and not yielding to the truth, it is almost always ego and denial that is getting in the way of agreement and real progress. As we finalize nominating our candidate for Senate with a well-run convention, as we discuss the issues among Mainers from York to Aroostook County, in town halls and around the dinner tables, I ask everyone to check their egos at the door.

I urge everyone to consider joining the Troy Jackson campaign. This working-class movement is not about red or blue, and it is not from the left nor the right. It is from the bottom, it is rising, and it is pointing true north.