G. K. Chesterton wrote: "The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly;  the rich have always objected to being governed at all."

 We are living out the truth of Chesterton's observation in the era of Donald Trump.  The row of techno-billionaires at Trump's inauguration was an early signal that his administration would favor the interests of the ultra-rich.

This bias is evident in the "Big Beautiful Bill" recently passed by the House of Representatives which embodies Trump's policy priorities. It makes deep cuts in Medicaid, Medicare, and Food Stamps programs while extending the tax cuts from Trump's first term.  The result if passed into law would be enormous benefits to the richest Americans. The poorest citizens would lose $1,000 a year while the top O.1 % of incomes would gain nearly $390,000. The richer you are the more you gain.

Experts have agreed that the outcome would be the largest transfer of resources from the poor to the rich in U.S. history.

 Meanwhile Elon Musk and his DOGE team are dismantling the U.S. government to further benefit the ultra rich. They
ended many programs that monitor misconduct by wealthy persons and corporations and have minimized the "guard rails"
around Presidential conduct. At the same time they have weakened or ended programs that protect the well-being of ordinary citizens.  Staff cuts in the Social Security program threaten a failure to deliver monthly checks thus setting up potential privatization of the system; i.e. let the oligarchs run it. Deep cuts in I.R.S. staff reduce monitoring for tax evasion in the returns of the rich resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Trump's policy to protect the wealthy has led to punishing cuts to necessary supports for the rest of us. Rural hospitals will close. Local farmers cannot provide healthy food for school lunches. Head Start and AmeriCorps will disappear. A sick relative may lose Federal support. Public TV and radio stations will be defunded. A poor student will not be able to attend college. The damaging impacts of climate change will go unchecked. Accurate weather forecasts and hurricane warnings may not be available.

The list is endless and appalling. Citizens must respond with renewed efforts to counter and reverse the current
malign policies and to vote out the politicians who enable them.

James Matlack lives in Camden