Letter to the editor: Disruption strategy has many risks

In response to letters to Pennsylvania’s Republican senator about cabinet nominees, I received the following: “President Trump has nominated a team of disrupters to deliver on his promise of change.” Sen. Dave McCormick was a Connecticut-based venture capitalist before running for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat. Venture capitalism’s guiding principle is to disrupt the system by taking risks, moving fast and breaking things. Critics of this strategy warn that, if not carefully managed, it can lead to unethical practices, disregard for private data and other negative societal impacts.

This appears to me to be what is happening. DOGE has compromised U.S. citizens’ confidential information. Federal employees with institutional knowledge have been fired without regard to the needs of the people they serve. Farmers are hurt by tariffs and other administration policies, while consumer prices and inflation are rising at troubling rates.

As a substitute teacher, the thought of the Department of Education going away sends chills down my spine, as does contemplating the possibility of another pandemic with a self-serving lawyer at the helm of Health and Human Services randomly firing scientists and doctors. Need I mention an arguably unqualified and unprincipled Defense secretary who is throwing Ukraine under the bus in the hope of appeasing Russia’s expansionist dictator? Doesn’t anyone remember Chamberlain’s failed policies?

I thought that the Republican Party represented family-friendly conservatism. What I see is soulless, technocratic anarchism that is dividing, demoralizing and impoverishing the American people.

Kathleen Acklin

Highland Park