Dear Editor,

“p1″>So, let’s see if I have this right (please, correct me if I’m wrong): only three days after this election the Republicans are already talking about 1) slashing funding for Medicaid; 2) privatizing Medicare; and 3) dismantling Social Security. This is paired up, of course, with their plan to cut federal taxes in such a way as to primarily benefit the top 1% (i.e., at least half of those benefits going to those earning $700,000 per year), which will inevitably result in state and local governments needing to either cut services or raise taxes, and most likely a ballooning of the national debt. I’m guessing at some point they will claim they have a “mandate” to do so, even though they actually lost the popular vote and won only by the unfathomable twists and turns of the electoral  college.

And how exactly would such proposed changes benefit our nation, our families and loved ones, our friends, our hard-working neighbors, and so many other of our fellow Americans struggling to make ends meet?

Indeed, elections do have consequences. If this is a sign of what’s to come (on top of all the disturbing things that were said, promised, and done during the campaign), then the possible repercussions of this particular election are truly terrifying.

Regardless of party affiliation, it now falls on all of us to work together to hold this new administration fully accountable for their decisions, policies, and treatment of all of this nation’s citizens. We as a nation elected them to represent and work for us, to do everything in their power to make our lives and the lives of our children better, to cultivate a society were all citizens have the freedom and opportunities to thrive, and to humbly serve as good and responsible stewards of this already-great nation and its people. This is their sacred duty — and it is our to hold them to it.

Dale E. Buonocore,

Warren