Dear Editor:

The Republican smear campaign against Graham Platner is in full swing. It is a great American and time honored tradition to hang the opposition’s dirty laundry out to dry. Most of the time it is fairly effective. This may be one of those times that it is not.

If we are to believe the campaign ads, Platner has said and done some things that are questionable if not unsavory.

The miscalculation the campaign planners have made is that voters have grown a tolerance to dubious behavior. After all, we have elected a suspected pedophile and rapist, convicted felon, in a president who is openly corrupt and regularly flouts the law. Even the evangelical community has embraced him as another King Cyrus.

But the thing about Platner is that, unlike Trump, he is not only passionate in his sincerity, he has demonstrated an ability to change his thinking and ideas. The ability to change one’s mind is rooted in intellectual humility, growth, and adaptability. It is a certain earned wisdom.

On the other hand, the GOP has for the past few decades has not changed its mind very much at all. Their contempt for “liberals,” undocumented immigrants, the disadvantaged and unemployed, military veterans, and minorities is well known. And God forbid that anyone should suggest that there is systematic injustice at work, then the full loathing erupts with accusations of “communist” or “socialist.” (I don’t think they know the difference.)

But we must give credit where credit is due. They are the authors of a tax code that enriches the wealthy and burdens wage earners. They have removed the guardrails of regulation exposing workers and consumers to the worst economic depredation by the wealthy elite all the while telling us prosperity is just around the corner. Prosperity did come, but it was not shared.

This staggering hypocrisy on the part of the GOP is not unusual. What is unusual is that voters are seeing through it and looking for someone who has walked a mile in their shoes.

Fred W. Nehring

Boothbay