When I first walked into the Hartland Diner, Bernie Sanders stood in the entryway, Anthony Fauci leaned casually against a wall, and Barack Obama lurked in a corner — all in the form of cardboard cutouts. The presence of these liberal icons won't surprise anybody who has made a pre-visit stop at the diner's Facebook page, where owner Nicole Bartner — a law school grad and self-proclaimed theater nerd — shares some of her beliefs. "It's not politics," she told Seven Days. "What I'm messaging are progressive values; they're human rights." One line of her online mission statement for the diner, which she opened in 2013, calls for "Dignity and Respect for ALL humans" — and that extends to folks with whom she disagrees. "I don't care if you want to wear a dumb [red] hat," she explained. She hopes those customers will benefit from being exposed to other views, she said: "If you're here, you're marinating in these messages, you're present with it, and you bought a meal." On the day I visited, the crowd was indeed eclectic — a sign that folks will put aside their differences for classic diner fare. A New Hampshire woodsman, perched at the edge of his turquoise barstool, was keen on sharing literal war stories. An older couple, ensconced in a comfy booth, ate quietly at their squiggle-patterned Formica table. At the three-sided central bar, energetic children enjoyed the diner's ample assemblage of plastic dinosaurs. The nine-page menu may be even more intimidating than the resident T. rex. It features all the trademarks of a diner: loaded hash browns ($15), build-your-own scrambles (prices vary), a corned-beef-hash plate ($25) and slices of freshly baked pie ($10). Meatless offerings include veggie hash browns (from $8), a tofu scram (from $6) and multiple types of vegan breakfast tacos ($12). In many cases, the laminated menu's neon-yellow, handwritten pages spell out extra details and elucidate sustainably minded twists. "Hartland Diner Corned Beef Hash is a labor of Love & pure Yankee stubbornness," it reads. "It takes us DAYS to make this." Why so long? The brisket is local, brined and slow-cooked for a full day before being mixed with hand-cut potatoes, onions and bell peppers. Pancakes (from $15) are made from "Blood, Sweat & Gluten," the menu proclaims. Although the flavors are legion, there are no bodily fluids among them. Instead, the list includes more…