To the Journal editor:

If you voted for Donald Trump, did you want a billionaire with no government experience to push aside Congress who the Constitution designated as the entity controlling the federal purse strings to take control of the federal budget?

If you voted for Kamala Harris, did you want our Representatives and Senators to abandon their oath of office to protect out Country and the Constitution?

If you didn’t vote at all and relied on the rest of us to choose for you, did you want our democracy to crash like a house of cards? The balance of power the framers of the Constitution intended has been overturned by Executive over-reach.

Did we want thousands of government workers who devoted their lives to public service fired without due process or an eye to how they protected us?

These workers, many of whom were veterans assured the air we breathe , the water we drink, the food we eat were safe. They alerted us to weather disasters, kept our air travel safe, protected our health, saved us from scourges like Ebola. Their scientific research saved millions of lives.

If your vote was centered on whether the candidate was “right to life “or pro-choice, did you want cuts to USAID or Medicaid???

Did any of us want to cast side our allegiance to NATO and Ukraine who protect democracy and now align ourselves with the dictator Vladamir Putin, the aggressor, the perpetrator of war crimes?

Did we want seasoned military leaders fired for their allegiance to the Constitution and country?

We are watching the undermining of civil rights, the dismantling of federal agencies without Congressional oversight. If you value democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution which have served us for almost 250 years, we all must demand our representatives and senators defend the Constitution and rein in the Executive branch overreach.

Our safety as a country is in jeopardy. We are in grave danger of losing our democracy. Congress needs to do its job and restore the balance of power. We did not elect Elion Musk. We elected Representative Jack Bergman and. Senator Elissa Slotkin and Senator Gary Peters.

What is happening now is frighteningly close to the rise of the Nazis in Germany. We need courageous leaders to save our democracy. Call every U.S. representative and Senator. They took an oath of office.: “I do solemnly swear ( or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic : that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same , that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

Now is the time for all of us to act. Call U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman 202-225-4735, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters 202-224-6221 , U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin 202 224 4822.

Urge them to resist this power grab by Elion Musk and Donald Trump. Stand in the power given by the Constitution. and stand up for the Constitution, their constituents and democracy.

KARLYN RAPPORT

Marquette