Letter: Thinking of the current moment in the U.S., the Soviet Union comes to mind

So much of what is happening in our country reminds me of the old Soviet Union. For instance, our allies now do what we want them to do through coercion rather than friendship. It is economic rather than military, but it is coercion all the same.

There is also the issue of science and data. In the Soviet Union, science had to follow the party line. Plant genetics was dismissed, which made a devastating famine worse and left the Soviet Union hopelessly behind when DNA was discovered. Thousands of scientists were imprisoned or dismissed for not going along with “official” doctrine .

So now in the U.S., Robert Kennedy has dismissed the Center for Disease Control’s Panel on Immunization Practices, replacing them with people lacking expertise in vaccines . And President Trump has fired th