Last week's national headlines focused on James Comey's appearance before Congress and Russian election tampering, while across the Atlantic, Britain's prime minister, Theresa May, made big headlines herself. She had called for a a special election to prove voters still backed her plan to leave the European Union. She was re-elected, but her Conservative party lost and she'll have to either form a coalition government or possibly even resign. Their election rules differ from ours, but the point is she chose to put the will of the people over her own quest for power. After the results, she said "This country needs a period of stability so that we all as one country can go forward together." It all sounds so civil, compared to us. Imagine President Donald Trump putting country before himself.

Our president aspires to be omnipotent, and anyone who resists better get out of the way. He's threatening the healthcare needed by 24 million people—almost twice the population of all the New England states combined. He condemns refugees fleeing unimaginable hardships in war-torn countries. He aims to rip apart a public education system created before our Constitution was even ratified, to serve all Americans, not just the wealthiest. He threatens our national parks with mining and drilling right up to their boundaries and to eliminate almost 30 national monuments, attacking a law enacted by Congress in 1872 to create "public parks or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." He wants to dismantle major laws that prevent polluters from poisoning our country (and the poorest in our country will pay that price first, along with our coastal inhabitants). And he berates 195 other countries that are working to combat a planetary threat that he calls a hoax.

The U.S. Constitution's Preamble begins with the words "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union...." It was written to create a nation that would serve the needs of as many people as possible, and written to unite our country following our victory over Britain's king. Theresa May's win allows her to stay at 10 Downing Street—a modest row house in London that has housed prime ministers since before Churchill, while Mr. Trump escapes the White House mansion almost every week to stay in one of several of his palaces, some with gold gilded interiors.

In 1776 we launched a successful effort to separate ourselves from England's powerful monarchy. As Britain demonstrates democracy at work, too many of us, especially in Congress, say that a monarchy in our country is just fine.

Beverly Roxby lives in Belfast