Where has the Democrat Party gone? Sure, there’s still a party with that name, but it’s a shell of its former “classic liberal” roots.

I’m 62 years old and remember when the Democrat Party stood for the working man. As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in his speech last month, “The Democrats stood against authoritarianism, against censorship, against colonialism, imperialism and unjust wars. We were the party of labor, of the working class.”

I left the party and became an independent because, like Kennedy, “it had departed so dramatically from the core values that I grew up with.” The Democrat Party has teamed up with the neoconservatives to bring us endless wars. It has embraced censoring speech and debate and has elicited the help of social media companies to carry that out. This was evident not only from the Twitter Files, but from Facebook CEO’s Mark Zuckerberg’s recent letter to the House Judiciary Committee outlining his regret for not pushing back on the government’s request to block certain content.

The Democrat Party has abandoned the middle class and has allowed millions of immigrants to illegally cross the border. This has created chaos in our communities and the illicit trafficking of illegal drugs, notably fentanyl, which contributes to over 100,000 overdose deaths annually. Why the change? In 2008, President Obama campaigned on tougher border security.

Being politically homeless gives me greater insight to use my agency and think for myself instead of following a tribe.

Seeking the truth should matter.

Kevin Landry, Lewiston