While at the East Boothbay post office the other day, a pal stopped me and said he liked my last column.

He mentioned he agreed with my point but noticed that several readers of the online version criticized it using some rather snarky comments.

“Doesn’t that bother you?” he said, adding that comments like that would tick him off big time.

I brushed off his concerns with a joke, saying something like this: When you live in a nation that permits freedom of speech, sooner or later, some good citizen or a sorehead will say something you don’t like.

Regular readers of my online column will note several regular readers like to comment on my weekly efforts. Some approve, while others take issue suggesting it is just another liberal socialistic rant that will lead the nation down the road to perdition. Sometimes they ignore the column’s topic and blame the nation’s woes on the flood of refugees invading the southern border or the secrets hidden in the broken laptop that belonged, or did not belong, to the wayward son of the current occupant of the White House.

Many times, the critics of my little column want to comment on national news stories. Thanks to these critics and the one or two fans. Thanks for reading. It shows you are reading the paper and this column. In this age of whatever goes on the internet and in the cyber-meta universe, it is good to know folks still like to read and think.

Some self-proclaimed experts think our nation is just a collection of schlubs who won’t bother to read at all. They believe we all sit on the couch absorbing and believing the pablum coming from well-dressed and always smiling TV pundits with questionable credentials. Or worse, the experts think we believe all the strange stuff brewed and poured from the bowels of our flashing electronic handheld devices.

Second, if you bother to post comments about this topic or that, it shows you give a hoot about our town, our state, the nation, and its policies. Hooray for you.

We all know friends who say they don’t vote or don’t give a rat’s behind about politics, policy, or political leaders. These friends say the pols are just a bunch of corrupt dogs who spend their lives pocketing cash from fat cats in the morning and voting for raises and pay hikes for themselves and their pals in the afternoon.

Over the years, I have rubbed elbows with national, state and local political leaders. Many are charming for a living. Some are not. Others look down their noses at any reporter, like they have detected the perfume from some foul sewer rat. Others eyeball you, looking for a way to slip a curve ball past your common sense.

And there are slick elected leaders who make you want to check your wallet when you walk away from them.

Many of our founding fathers (and mothers) came from a European tradition where kings and princes, priests and popes, had absolute power over their lives. A modern example is a dozen or so Russian big shots thought to oppose the government who defenestrated from their hotel rooms.

Our founders invented a system of government that depends upon us, the voters, to put and keep them in office. They also protected press freedoms trusting both publishers and scribblers to report on the comings and goings of the ordinary and the powerful to help the voters understand their leaders.

Nothing in their documents protects the press from criticism and comment. That is part of the bargain, too.

So dear readers, thanks for reading the paper. Thanks for your comments and criticism. Keep the posts, cards and letters coming.

And now, for another topic.

In case you have not noticed, we are in the middle of the crazy election season. In a few weeks, Americans will go to the polls and vote to see who will represent us in the state house and on capitol hill.

Here in Maine, you must register to vote. You can do that up to Election Day.

Whether you like the candidates or believe they are the spawn of Satan, you have the chance to cast a vote for or against them. Voting is a privilege. Please take advantage of it. If you don’t vote, don’t bother to complain.

Thanks for reading.