To the Editor:

In response to Mr. Tolmie’s letter to the editor, published in the June 26, 2025 Enterprise, I offer this response regarding the need for protest in the face of ongoing threats to our democratic values and freedoms. 

I protest against the Trump administration’s budget cuts to vital Medicaid, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act programs, which leading public-health and economy experts at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale indicate will result in at least 42,500 deaths yearly. 

I protest for the 52.8 million individuals, children, and adults in low-income families who already face food scarcity, who will go hungry with real threats to their health stemming from cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

I speak out against government invasion into health privacy decisions regarding women’s access to reproductive health treatment, including abortions, advocating to respect personal autonomy and to avoid preventable deaths.

I cannot sit by while federal funding for life-saving or prolonging clinical trials is being discontinued while we are at the brink of major breakthroughs in treatment of ALS, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and many fatal pediatric diseases.

I resist the authoritarian attack on due process rights and denial of pre-deportation fair hearings for immigrants.

I stand against the administration’s ongoing effort to create insurmountable obstacles or to close the courthouse doors to individuals seeking protection of their basic civil rights and access to services and coverage provided by federal statutes.

I resent the administration’s ongoing efforts to chill academic freedom and silence anti-discrimination efforts at our universities. I protest out of commitment to a rule of law which respects precedent and checks or holds leaders responsible when they claim authority above the law.  

I owe it to my own children and our planet’s future to call out short-sighted repeals of pollution protections affecting us all, with a disparate impact on communities of color. I have good reason to be concerned about the spread of heat islands around the United States and the global impact of new drilling in once protected areas.  

In the end, I protest against leadership that seeks to divide through language and policies marked by vitriol rather than unite us as a community which can be stronger because of our commitment to advancing both shared freedoms and mutual concern for each other. 

Joseph Connors

Altamont