Les Roberts, of Cincinnatus, is a professor emeritus at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Three extraordinary events have unfolded recently that should be causing Americans to contemplate the trajectory of our government. On Saturday, America’s public health luminary, William Foege, died at the age of 89. A second disturbing public health development arose last week when the U.S. officially withdrew from participation in the World Health Organization. We have won a lot of goodwill with our representatives and tools of public health, our CDC that helped with international outbreaks, our scientists who developed vaccines and therapeutic foods for the malnourished.