Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is Feb. 12. The party of Lincoln has styled itself as a guardian of the rule of law, the Constitution and stability. It has, in fact, become the party of chaos. Donald Trump and his henchmen have trampled on the rule of law and ignored the Constitution. The First Amendment? The press needs to “keep its mouth shut.” Ethics? A quaint vestige of an earlier time. The “emoluments clause”? Never heard of it.

Republican leaders are doing little to stop this assault on the republic, either cravenly grasping their own power at the heels of their new master, or wringing their hands as they say one thing but vote another.

As a moderate Republican, Sen. Susan Collins finds herself in a position of enormous influence. She must use it boldly. This is no time for temporizing. One is either for the rule of law or against it. One is either for the Constitution or against it.

As Abraham Lincoln said to Congress in 1862, at a time unsettlingly similar to the present: “We cannot escape history. We of this Congress … will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. … We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. … We can nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of Earth.”

I ask both Sen. Susan Collins and Rep. Bruce Poliquin to heed what should be the conscience of their party.

James Richter, Lewiston