Meanwhile, back here at the department of Life Goes On, where all of us work, it’s no longer business as usual. It must be very confusing to school students who have studied the roles of government. Definitions of words that they have learned, like diplomacy, democracy and conflict of interest apparently are applied differently in the federal government than they are here on the Islands.

As an elected commissioner on the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank, every year I take a test to remind me that I shall not accept or give a gift valued at more than $49 to another official or even to an employee of the town. If we are considering the purchase of a property that could even remotely have any financial benefit to me or family members, I don’t just refrain from voting or discussing it, I get up and leave the room. That’s how we do it here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts anyway.

As insulated and isolated as we are from the shenanigans down in Washington, those days appear to be over. All of us know someone who already or will soon be negatively impacted by the efforts of the bigwigs now in charge. They each swore a solemn oath to uphold the United States Constitution. Apparently, there is a new interpretation of that pledge. I can picture Tom Jefferson sitting alongside John Adams, in lawn chairs just inside the Pearly Gates saying: “Told ya!”