A few of us still around recall cherished memories of life during the Great Depression and World War II. Our immigrant parents confronted those extraordinary times, inspired by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s resolve to save American democracy.

After the declaration of war on Japan in December 1941, FDR prepared America’s Greatest Generation. His Civilian Conservation Corps camps and the Works Progress Administration created jobs to refurbish America’s broken infrastructure.

To support the elderly in retirement, FDR created the Social Security Administration. To pay America’s debts, he raised federal income tax for the wealthy. He established the military draft, then mobilized the armed forces.

National defense jobs were plentiful. Women entered the workforce.

After World War II, Democrats dominated American politics, opening the door to the American Dream for the common man for half a century.

Over four decades, Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump parlayed trillions in tax cuts for the rich, contributing to a national debt that now exceeds $30 trillion.

Over four years, 2017 to 2021, Trump guided America’s destiny in what I feel are lawless violations of human rights, while undermining the needs of the people.

In his second term, Trump’s tariff war has brought unprecedented chaos and potential calamity to a world awaiting word on its legality. While stagnant wages haunted American workers in the new century, 10% of Americans captured the majority of the wealth.

After all his bizarre extravagance, Trump was rewarded with a second term.

Gino Mariotti,

Butler