Congress and the White House are now under Republican control and Republicans control 68 percent of the state legislatures.

Here are just a few of the Democratic goals and programs that are already under attack: Social Security; Medicare; the Affordable Care Act; a woman’s right to birth control and abortion; equality for all regardless of race, religion and gender; Medicaid; SNAP (food stamps); school lunches; early education; decisions based on science; free college tuition; improved minimum wages; civil rights; easy access to voting; consumer protections; pollution control; clean energy expansion; stricter Wall Street regulations; support for public education; a narrowing chance to fight climate change; freedom of the press and citizens to criticize the government; and good relations with most other countries.

If people do not want those Democratic programs to be weakened or destroyed, people should pay attention to the news, speak out, and contact legislators on a regular basis. “Block grants to the states” and “privatization” sound good but really mean cutting programs.

The public should not fall for “alternate facts,” and if something sounds wrong, people need to check it out using reliable sources.

Republicans can now officially stop blaming everything on Democrats. They are now fully responsible for the direction this country takes.

Ellen Field, New Gloucester

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