Regarding opinion columnist Steve Collins’ “Like it or not, Susan Collins and Jared Golden have Mainers’ respect” (May 30), more can be said about the respect due these representatives.

For example, Golden and Collins could earn more Mainers’ respect, I believe, if they were to say, unequivocally, that it is cruel to separate immigrant families and to essentially imprison immigrant children with little chance of seeing their parents again. They could also say, unequivocally, that it is cruel and unconstitutional to sweep documented and undocumented immigrants off the street and deport them or imprison them without due process.

Golden and Collins could raise their voices in protest against Trump’s attempts to dehumanize LGBTQ Americans, thus subjecting them to persecution and discrimination without any legal recourse.

They could also decry the war President Trump is waging against our judiciary and universities. They could openly disagree with Trump when he claims judges who deliver verdicts unfavorable to him are corrupt. They could remind us, rightly, that an independent judiciary is essential to a just society.

Our representatives could also remind all Mainers that our universities exist to foster free inquiry and dissent, and that in order to seize all power for themselves, dictators must destroy the institutions that most support and advance these bedrock principles of democracy.

When Golden and Collins summon their better instincts and denounce Trump’s cruelty and un-American, authoritarian behavior, I shall gladly offer them more respect. Until then, not so much.

LeRoy Mottla
Peaks Island