I’ve been fortunate enough to have lived most of my 72 years knowing that our three branches of government provided us with protection against any single party or person assuming complete control over us. Along with that, our Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation were about the rule of law — not the rule of political overreach. I never appreciated those benefits. They were just our way of life. Now that we have been overtaken by political influence, corruption and obscene wealth by a very few people, I do.

We used to have a Supreme Court, not a “Trump Court.” Our FBI became the “Federal Bureau of Trump,” and our DOJ is now the “Department of Trump.” Our Congress has become a frightened, misguided and untrustworthy majority of corrupt politicians. Those are, of course, just the tips of the iceberg. The list is long, and it’s getting longer every day.  It takes very little effort to confirm all of this.  

The leaders in our country have abdicated their responsibility to protect the rule of law and the Constitution that sustains our democracy. We have abdicated our own responsibility to demand that those “representing” us do the job they made an oath to fulfill. To reassert ourselves is a responsibility we have to our children and grandchildren to protect the democracy that we have benefited from. It has never been perfect, but it has given us the freedom to strive to be the best that we can be.

Dana Williams
Belfast