“Be careful what you wish for” is a time-worn adage that warns about unintended consequences. Today we are about to begin a chapter in our lives about the unintended consequences of what many voters wished for last November.

They wished for a better life that has been denied them for decades by a slowly disappearing government of, by and for the people. Wealth in our country has insidiously percolated up to the top 1 percent, by design. The new president, a billionaire, has surrounded himself with a cabinet of the super-wealthy 1 percent. Having lost our government by the people, the power to adversely affect the people is increasingly in the hands of the super-wealthy, who by nature are not altruistic or concerned about those of lesser means. Now that the 1 percent is in charge of our government, we can expect more serious adversity to further impact those that had hoped for a better life.

The most recent alarming adverse effect of money power is the making of a lifetime appointment for Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, a handmaiden of the super-wealthy. Our own Sen. Susan Collins aided and abetted in this by voting for the “nuclear option.” That made possible the appointment and now guarantees the worst unintended consequences we could possibly imagine; a right-leaning Supreme Court assures a lifetime of right-wing decisions in favor of the wealthy.

More right-wing court appointments will be made by this president. We must not forget that we the people have power in numbers. Let’s make use of that power by outlawing the gerrymandering of voting districts. Both political parties do it. But it has allowed the minority Republican Party to take power from the people at the grassroots level.

Jim Chiddix

Waterville