Dear Editor:

With Memorial Day only recently past, I find myself reflecting on the war that brought that sacred day into being, and Maine's sacrifices in that war. The state’s records show that over 70,000 Mainers served in the Civil War — over 58 percent of the male population between the ages of 18 to 45. Of those, nearly 50,000 served 3-year enlistment terms in combat units. Over 9,000 of these men died in combat, from wounds suffered in combat, or disease. In other words, over 18 percent, nearly one in five of those Mainers who served never came home.

If you read the publications of the times, and the many surviving letters of these soldiers, you will realize that their cause really was to put an end to that most evil of all forms of discrimination — slavery. Now how is it that the Republican Party, the party that for years has proudly declared itself "The Party of Lincoln," can bring itself to support a presidential candidate who has the publicly stated endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan?

Donald Trump, from the very beginning of his campaign has catered to nearly every group engaged in some form of supremacist activity known. We can't write Mr. Trump's words off as mere rhetoric — it amounts to his declaration of policy and has to be taken seriously. And should you somehow feel immune from the likes of the KKK simply because you are not a "person of color?" No! The KKK has historically been anti-Semitic and anti-Roman Catholic as well. There is no end to the hate cultivated by Mr. Trump.

The only glimmer of hope that I have seen in the past several months has been the Maine Republican party's rank and file rejecting Donald Trump in their primaries, despite the best efforts of the governor and others.

When voting day comes, are you prepared to tell your children that you voted for such a person as Donald Trump and stood shoulder to shoulder with the KKK?

And, are you prepared as an American to break faith with the thousands who gave their lives to eradicate discrimination from the country that declares "Liberty and justice for all?"

Earl Leavitt Jr.

East Boothbay