As the election season heats up, and the letters to the editor are becoming more numerous and combative, it's obvious the divide between the liberals and conservatives is growing deeper by the day, and it leaves me wondering, is there room for anyone somewhere in between the two sides?

Most people would characterize me as a liberal progressive, as among my many liberal beliefs, I'm 100 percent pro-choice, I believe systemic racism runs rampant in this country, and I abhor and detest Donald Trump.

And while I agree with the liberal progressive agenda on the majority of political and social issues, there are some instances where my views differ sharply with my liberal progressive friends. For instance, I feel capital punishment is appropriate in certain circumstances, I have loudly and publicly differed with Gov. Gina Raimondo on her some of her executive orders and policies, and I strongly support the law enforcement community.

As a matter of fact, I feel instead of defunding the police, much more should be budgeted for law enforcement, especially in the town of Bristol, where the extremely low salaries paid to our police officers is nothing short of disgraceful. In our current political and social climate, police officers have the toughest job in the country, and their salaries should reflect that.

While those on the liberal progressive side move further to the left and those on the conservative side move further to the right, I would like to believe that it's acceptable for a liberal progressive such as myself to have conservative views on certain issues, and that conservatives can have liberal views on certain issues.

We as a town, a state, and a country are becoming more and more polarized every day, and unless the conservative and liberal sides can find at least a small sliver of common ground, we as a society are doomed to failure.

Mike Proto
Bristol