It now appears our country is hurtling toward an oligarchy, “a government of the billionaire, by the billionaire and for the billionaire.”

To achieve tax cuts for corporations, and the very wealthy, the Trump administration has set its sights on looting Social Security. Just a reminder: Social Security is funded by dedicated taxes that are paid for by employers and employees. It is not a “Ponzi scheme,” Elon. Social Security has a surplus of $2.5 trillion. Unfortunately, Congress has “borrowed” trillions from Social Security to pay for government spending. When Republicans say we need to cut Social Security to balance the federal budget, here is what they really mean: “We’ve taken trillions from Social Security to pay for tax cuts for the rich and for corporate subsidies. We need to cut your benefits, so we don’t have to pay you back.”

We owe the existence of Social Security to a woman with local Maine roots. Frances Perkins spent summers on the family farm in Newcastle. She was a prominent labor activist with a strong commitment to social justice and workers’ rights. In in her 1935 national radio broadcast, Frances Perkins famously reminded us, “We have come to learn that the large majority of our citizens must have protection against the loss of income due to unemployment, old age, death of the breadwinner, or disability, accident and illness, not only on humanitarian grounds, but in the interest of national welfare.” What an amazing woman!

An authoritarian leader typically flanked by oligarchs (in 2025 America, read “tech bros”) gains power by persistent lies, intimidation and the suppression of the truth. This is not a new concept. In 1950, a little known Republican senator from Wisconsin named Joseph McCarthy was propelled to power by his fabricated “Red Scare.”

McCarthy falsely accused hundreds of liberal politicians, academics, scientists, entertainers and labor activists of being communist infiltrators. The false allegations and unjust Senate “investigations” ruined thousands of lives for simple, ill-gotten political gain. Sadly, most other Republican senators were cowered by McCarthy’s vicious lies, and failed to denounce his hateful campaign.

An unlikely hero from Skowhegan, Maine, did step forward to reveal the truth. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith bravely delivered her “Declaration of Conscience” on the Senate floor. She asked her fellow Republican senators not to ride to political victory on the “four horsemen of calumny — fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear,” but to speak the truth for the good of the country.

There is no question that naked autocracy is now replacing the rule of law and democratic accountability. Who now among our leaders will stand up? Hopefully, the Republican senator from Maine will replace her legacy of “I am concerned” with “You are not a king.” The time for resistance is now.