To the editor,

Up until a month ago, give or take a day or two, Americans have enjoyed a measure of security domestically and nationally virtually unequaled in the rest of human history. Our democratic governmental structures, built over two and half centuries, have formed a kind of protective armor shielding us from many potential disasters. It is not a perfect work, but still a worthy one and until just lately an in-progress one.

Suddenly this all changed. Convicted felon President Trump and his unelected co-leader Elon Musk have lost no time in attacking and weakening the protections that have allowed the majority of Americans to live economically stable lives free of ruinous catastrophes.

Among the many departments and agencies of our government being assaulted, weakened, or dismantled by the Trump-Musk wrecking crew are:

—The National Institute of Health (NIH), which works to protect us from disease and other health threats.

—The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which assists areas hit by increasingly frequent weather disasters hastened by climate change.

—The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which monitors weather patterns and helps us prepare for extreme weather events.

—The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which works to minimize the effects of pollution and other environmental hazards on public health.

—The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which saved Americans billions by identifying and exposing unfair financial practice. 

—Alliances and organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and U.S. Aid for International Development (USAID), which use military and food aid to support peace and democracy and keep Americans safe from the threat of international conflict.  

These are just a few of the many fronts on which the Trump/Musk administration are speedily reducing the protective shield that has made our largely peaceful lives in the U.S. possible. As the Feb. 24 Time Magazine puts it: “This is our new normal: insecurity all the time.”

We need to understand that our government is now controlled by super-rich manipulators who have no idea how ordinary people survive and no concern for their well-being. I fear that these assaults on our protection will soon come home to roost in rising mortality rates, declining life expectancy, and general degradation of public health. And God help us in the event of another pandemic. 

We don’t have to go down that road. There is still power in speaking up. We must let our elected officials know that we will not tolerate cowardice or inaction when the fundamental well-being of our country, as well as the planet, is at stake. Our health is too high a price to pay for tax cuts for the already obscenely wealthy.

Thomas R. Smith

River Falls