The driving force behind the takeover of this country is instilling fear, not only in its citizens but also in the international community. All the acts of the current administration are facilitated by the use of fear.

They include:

• The confirmation of incompetent cabinet members.

• The random and illegal firings of thousands of people who have kept the functioning of government on solid ground.

• The attack on Social Security and Medicaid.

• The attacks on our allies.

• The threatening of immigrants.

• The loss of funding for programs critical to our country and the rest of the world.

• The sharing of confidential information by irresponsible and dangerous governmental officials using unsecured apps.

• The president’s disregard of the rule of law.

Fear is a powerful tool, and it has been working to the administration’s advantage.

When newspapers and other media are cowed into censoring their reporting, when the legal community submits to the will of a government that would otherwise shut them down, when judges are both threatened and ignored by the executive branch of our government, fear is behind it.

This is not the way the United States has functioned in my 72 years on the planet. This is the way an authoritarian government works. If that is not the kind of leadership we like, it’s critically important to let our representatives know. It is also critically important to add our voices to those who are demanding a halt to this abuse of power.

Dana Williams
Belfast