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Shakespeare’s often repeated — and mostly misunderstood — line in Henry VI, Part II is particularly relevant today. Forty years ago, former Justice John Paul Stevens explained that “Shakespeare insightfully realized that disposing of lawyers is a step in the direction of a totalitarian form of government.” President Trump apparently agrees. In the first month of his presidency, he has fired nearly all Inspectors General, fired and replaced key lawyers in the Department of Justice and has now fired the key Judge Advocates General in the military branches. He has also fired most of the top generals in the military. In short, he has purged all those in the government who would stand in his way.

Hooray for Janet Mills, the governor of Maine. In her response to President Trump’s rebuke on Feb. 21, 2025, she upheld the much honored tradition of Margaret Chase Smith, who spent 30 years in Congress as a representative and senator. Margaret Chase Smith is famous for standing up to Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who with the help of his lawyer Roy Cohn and feckless fellow senators, conducted a cruel and destructive witch hunt against anyone in the U.S. suspected of having Communist leanings. Many lives and careers were destroyed and an atmosphere of hate and suspicion permeated the country. In a famous address to Congress in 1950, Smith warned senators not to embrace the Four Horsemen of Calumny — fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear. In a recent speech, Illinois Governor Jay Pritzker said “tyranny requires your fear, and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires courage.” Show your courage now!

On several occasions President Trump has reminded us that he survived this past year’s assassination attempt as the result of divine intervention. “It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” he’s said. At the inauguration, he told us “I was saved by God to make America great.”

James Mayotte’s Monitor letter asks a series of questions, but there’s only room to respond to a few. Two related questions he poses are: “Why do Democrats protest DOGE?” and “Why are we negative about Elon Musk?” DOGE is performing surgery with an ax instead of a scalpel. DOGE’s process is not transparent. What are DOGE’s metrics for performance? How can DOGE measure complicated government processes in only weeks?

The Department of Government Efficiency is headed by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. What a joke. If President Trump wants to get rid of “government fraud, waste and unnecessary spending,” he should put poor people in charge of the program. They know how to spend money carefully.

Are you concerned our elected leaders don’t seem to represent the majority of voters? Many multi-seat elections are won with less than 50% of votes because first-past-the-post often results in winners who only represent the margins of political ideologies rather than the largest group of voters. A ranked choice voting method mathematically ensures that winners have the broadest support of the electorate. RCV also reduces polarization and eliminates split voting.

Last week, we joined with engineers across the country to celebrate Engineers Week, and I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the essential role engineers play in the lives and communities of every Granite Stater. The critical work of engineers makes virtually everything we do in our daily lives possible. Access to clean water, safe roads and bridges, environmentally responsible waste solutions and improved infrastructure are not only critical parts of our communities but they also keep our economy moving. The work that engineers do, in both the private and public sectors, helps keep New Hampshire the best state to live, work and play in, and we need more of them! The focus of Engineers Week 2025 was on designing the future. Not only was it a chance to spotlight the important work of engineers of all disciplines, it also offered us an opportunity to point young people toward a rewarding and empowering career in the field. We need more problem-solvers, thinkers and creators who want to design and build the future for generations to come. If you have a student in your life, discuss engineering as an impactful, rewarding career. Help us inspire and encourage the next generation of innovators, and we’ll design the future together.

Melody Towle wrote “I can’t figure this out. If President Trump won the election, then why is Elon Musk cleaning out all the federal agencies while Trump just sits there? Who did we all elect to the presidency?” Well, “we all” did not vote for him. Some of us saw a totally irresponsible and destructive person and voted for Kamala Harris. The American people missed the opportunity to have someone who would work “for the people.”

As a member of the Northwood Budget Committee, I paid close attention to our School Board’s presentation on its proposed operating budget, especially to the money allocated to be paid into the retirement system. $744,688 was budgeted out of the $15,070,878 total. This represents 4.9% of the budget.

Matthew St. Onge’s recent letter suggesting that Concord residents should be able to prioritize major spending projects via Ranked Choice Voting is a good idea, since it would give residents more say in which projects are most important to them. New Hampshire towns and cities could also benefit from using RCV for their local elections.

My dad was a World War II veteran in Europe, serving more that four years to ensure that fascist Germany would not succeed in overtaking much of the continent with its White Nationalist values. He knew that two wars had already happened on the same soil, and that it was time for a mechanism to prevent a third war from happening in Europe. NATO was formed and has resulted in 80 years of peace on the continent. He would be appalled to think the U.S. would turn its back on Europe after so much American blood was lost. This is not a game. President Trump is playing with lives we have always considered allies.

Two state Senate bills address how we regulate educational content. SB 208 offers a collaborative solution while SB 33 invites overreach and censorship. Of course, we parents want age-appropriate materials in schools. But SB 33’s vague wording goes beyond protecting kids and opens the door to unnecessary restrictions. It requires school boards to define “approved” materials and creates procedures for complaints about content deemed “harmful” or “offensive.” That means that, upon the bill’s passage, my school board would have to create a process so simple that, if I complained loudly enough about The Little Engine That Could promoting toxic positivity and hustle culture, the principal could ban it. C’mon.

We should all be students of world history — especially if you are the president of the U.S. — in order to prevent repeating previous atrocities. Ukraine is a sovereign nation. Ukraine is a rich, fertile land with a beautiful culture, heritage, language, religions, diversity and history. Ukraine has suffered under the hand of oppression, primarily Russian, for far too long.

I’ve never been to a protest before. As an introvert and a working mom, the idea of marching in the streets felt overwhelming and scary. Where would I park? How many hand warmers would I need? What would my sign say? But on Feb. 17, I showed up. Because I realized something: No one is coming to save us. Watching the news these past few weeks pushed me over the edge. The government’s sweeping overreach and attacks on democracy are alarming. So, I pulled out my craft supplies and made a sign out of corrugated cardboard. I didn’t want it to be about party lines, but I wanted to call out the dangerous rhetoric justifying unchecked power. Inspired by President Trump’s Feb. 15 post, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” I wrote: “Nothing is legal just because Trump says so.” I dug my car out of 18 inches of snow and drove to the state capitol to stand up for fundamental freedoms. I found people from different backgrounds who love this country enough to defend it. It felt right to be there. If I can do it, so can you. This isn’t about left or right. It’s about standing up when democracy is at risk. The checks and balances our nation was founded on are in danger, and silence is compliance. Things change if we show up together. Not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans.

As a student, parent and educator, I am not in favor of publicly-funded vouchers. By continuing the voucher program, we are continuing to erode the effectiveness of our public education system. If we have a bipartisan committee reviewing publicly-funded curriculum standards, our public education should suffice for all of our children. That is, with the exception of parents who choose to home-school to protect their student from bullying or harassment. Those protections should be resolved separately from the issue of school funding.

Adhesive-based traps, also known as glue traps, are outdated, inhumane and should be banned in New Hampshire. These traps are small pads covered in sticky glue that are used to trap small animals like rodents. When the animal gets caught in the glue, it doesn’t die right away. Instead, their fur gets ripped off, they dehydrate, suffocate and try to get free for many days. These glue traps are inhumane! Another reason why they should be banned is because the glue used is toxic and can hurt pets, like cats and dogs. There are more humane methods to catch unwanted animals like catch-and-release or instant-kill traps. Let’s move in the right direction and not make animals suffer no matter their size! Please support HB152!

As a nurse, I’m no stranger to the ups and downs of life. Aging wear and tear and illnesses happen despite our best efforts to stay healthy. When they do, New Hampshire seniors deserve to know they have easy access to reliable healthcare options that meet their distinct needs.

The Current Occupant recently replaced artists with loyalists on the Kennedy Center for the Arts governing board and installed himself as chairman. This tracks: Suppression of the arts is a standard anti-democracy move. Lenin and Mao scrubbed “bourgeois” art from public spaces and imprisoned artists. Putin has done the same. Art shows us others’ perspectives and connects us by illuminating our shared human experience. Authoritarians like us uninformed and divided.

To the Department of Education: Diversity is the practice of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds, genders, sexual orientations, etc. In three decades of teaching, I’ve not had a class where all my students were the same. Differentiated instruction is necessary in education. I must teach all my students, regardless of their myriad differences. I would not be able to do my job as an educator without honoring diversity.