I’m encouraged that Sen. Angus King and former senator/ambassador George Mitchell are endorsing the imperfect Iran deal. I too applaud this effort by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry.

Consider a “What if …?” Maine Public Broadcasting reported recently that more than 60 percent of Iran’s current population (73 million) are under 30 (apparently, not all Iranians are busy building bombs). What if, given the propensity of youth (theirs, ours and the world’s) — to collectively communicate through social media and other outlets — decide that war and bombs might not be the answer to the planet’s problems — specifically, hunger, clean water and (dare I add) climate change. What, for example, has 14-plus years of Middle East conflict solved?

Mitchell noted that many Iranians “hate their current regime,” citing substantial pro-America sentiment in the streets of Tehran. Perhaps as their wacky religious old men and our cranky right-wing old men die off (or are voted out of office), it might be concluded that the cost of striving to “wipe [whoever] off the map” is far too costly, vacuously stupid and futile. King recalled a time (as I do) when Russia vowed to “bury us.”

I recently referred to Bernie Sanders as “socialist”— as opposed to a “democratic socialist” — in the sense that perhaps Franklin Delano Roosevelt was when he created Social Security. Or maybe Lyndon Baines Johnson — when he signed (John Kennedy’s) Medicare bill in 1964. Sanders said recently, “Taking care of veterans is a cost of war. If you spend six trillion dollars sending people to war, you can spend a few billion taking care of them when they come home.” Indeed.

More than a deal, this is an opportunity. And in my view, a courageous and intelligent step in the right direction.

Buddy Doyle

Gardiner