When I stopped teaching at Mt. Desert Island High School in 2002, I got cute with my students. Not realizing that any semblance of equality would be on the chopping block in twenty-five years.

“If we run into each other walking down some unknown street in some unknown city thirty years from now, I’ll ask you, “What’s my favorite Constitutional Amendment?”

“It’s the 14th Amendment!” teens holler out, because I’ve never let them forget what my favorite Amendment is.  The 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship and equal rights to ALL people born or naturalized in the United States. It also states that ALL citizens have the right to due process and equal protection under the law. 

EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW!

Who fears the disappearance of this essential Constitutional right? It’s never been absolute but at least as country, we hoped to achieve it.

In this first month of Trump’s second presidential term we are witnessing the results of the monstrous Trump-Musk coup.

I have never been as afraid for the continuance of our fragile democracy. But I am today. I have lived through the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Civil Rights Movement, and Ronald Reagan’s trickle down economy, which fed the wealthiest among us.

Retired folks like me have the right to receive Social Security payments that we have paid into throughout our working lives. Yesterday — on the sacred-to-me third Wednesday of the month — I was afraid that the Treasury Department chaos instigated by Musk’s tech boys might hold back my check. Thank goodness, it arrived in my bank account.

Watching U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) gave me some hope.

Who understands that all the programs/jobs the so-called DOGE has eliminated is only about 5 percent of the U.S. budget? So how much is the cost-cutting saving? Not much. Rep. Crockett talked about this at an oversight committee hearing — see link above.

But the Trump-Musk unjust, scandalous blitzkrieg has already hurt millions of Americans. In one month! Think about that: the families planning to visit now partially closed national parks; seniors worrying about Social Security and Medicare; or the discontinuation of contracts that further academic research and assistance to poverty stricken individuals here and around the world.

Tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent among us? Government exists for ALL people, not for billionaires to gain more power.

These outrageous cuts, so rapidly hailed upon us by the would-be king’s executive orders, are not about cost-cutting. They are about designating Winners and Losers. Everything is a deal to this make-believe president. His actions are not about the real life American government that protects the historical safety net — or the truth — for ALL. Make some noise!