New College: DeSantis plays with ants; homestead tax breaks; Biden bust | Letters, Feb. 22

New College alum: DeSantis playing with fire ants

Ron DeSantis has declared war on Sarasota's tiny New College of Florida, packing the school's board of trustees with loyalists who will march in lockstep with the governor's ideological agenda.

In their first exercise of power, they fired New College's president without even a pretense of cause. (This move appeared to have been planned in advance by the new board members, despite Florida's Sunshine Law.)

Why is DeSantis targeting New College? It's all part of his crusade against "wokeness." What does this buzzword mean? When put on the spot, one of his lawyers defined it as "the belief that there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them." Scary stuff!

New College has been supported by generations of Florida politicians (including conservative Republicans such as state Sen. Bob Johnson), who didn't let the school's alternative culture distract them from its record of educational excellence and innovation.

For me, as a home-schooled student who grew up in Vero Beach and took dual-enrollment classes at Indian River State College, New College offered the ideal continuation of my educational journey. The experience I had there launched me on a successful career, but more importantly, it made me a better person ― more compassionate, more engaged, more aware of the world. Isn't that what college should do?

The idea that New College is some kind of left-wing indoctrination camp is laughable. Having been involved in higher education for close to 20 years since I graduated, I have never seen an institution whose members (students and faculty) were more genuinely free-thinking ― and this, I suspect, is precisely what DeSantis fears.

Bob Johnson used to say that New College was a fire ant: small but tenacious. DeSantis and his cabal may yet discover that these fire ants can ruin their picnic.

Thomas Patteson, a native of Vero Beach, lives in Philadelphia.

Tax breaks for homesteaders make rentals less affordable

Regarding affordable housing, I just paid my property taxes for the year. I am a landlord and the taxes on my rental house are over four times the taxes on my homesteaded house. I have to include that cost in the rental price for my tenants.

As I understood it, the homestead exemption was set up so seniors living on fixed incomes who were being taxed out of their "homesteads" would get a break. That way, retirees were not forced to sell the family homes that had been in the families for at least a generation and were now worth several times what was originally paid for them. This helped mainly widows who could keep the houses where their children had grown up.

It has become a method of giving all homeowners a huge tax break tax. Since most homeowners are wealthier than those who rent, it is now another benefit to people who need it the least.

To me, portability of homestead has exacerbated the problem. Now someone can downsize and sell the homestead and still get the tax break. Why give a tax break to someone who doesn't need it and make those least able to afford it pick up the slack?

Joan Clark, Vero Beach

Why not call God 'Mother'?

Recently a woman confided in me she has trouble with the idea of calling God “Mother.” The occasion was a recent lecture and prayer service in Stuart about St. Edith Stein presented by the Celebrations Group.

I pointed out there is nothing wrong theologically with calling God “Mother.” Pope Francis has said: “God is father and also mother.” Pope John Paul I said: “God is our father, but even more is God our mother.”

Edith Stein is quoted as saying: “You guide me like a mother’s hand … Holy Spirit, Eternal love!”

The Celebrations Group recognizes God as both mother and father and much, much more. However, we highlight the feminine aspects of God because we are endeavoring to open ourselves and others to a wider and deeper understanding of and love for God.

In a world where many do not believe in God, is it not a good thing to have faith and to celebrate the immensity and unconditional love of God?

Louise Cunha, Stuart

DeSantis must show he's governor for all Floridians

I‘ve had enough; I can keep silent no longer. As a gay, Black, non-native Floridian, Gov. Ron DeSantis has made it crystal clear to me he’s the governor only for white heterosexuals.

Black Americans were diminished by his rejection of an advanced placement course on African-American studies because it mentions gay Black people. Is he not aware that gay people come in all colors? Why single out Black people? Nor do I think it’s a coincidence that most of the people arrested for committing voter fraud in Florida under his no-tolerance policy are Black.

As for the LGBTQ Community, his reaction to the Orlando Philharmonic Drag Christmas concert and his hissy fit about Disney expressing an opinion against his approach on the subject in the K–12 school system show he has no concern for these Floridians, either. Some more famous drag impersonations shown to children in my lifetime include: Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Popeye, Bluto, Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Harvey Korman, Tom Hanks, Peter Scolari, Herman Munster, John Lithgow, Flip Wilson, Dame Edna, RuPaul and Milton Berle.

I have two suggestions for the governor:

1. MAKE A COMMITMENT TO REALITY: He ran to be, and won the chance to be governor of Florida; then govern ALL Floridians, not just the ones who look and think like he does. If he can’t /won’t do that, then resign and let someone else do the job.

2. ABANDON ALL HOPE FOR A BETTER YESTERDAY: Things have been done that can’t be undone. White people overran this country, decimated the native population, then abducted Africans from their homes to become slaves in a far off land. After a long fight to win their freedom, Blacks are now demonized as being the source of many social ills.

Brian E. Cowan, Port St. Lucie

Legislature could have spent $10 million on needy Floridians, but ...

While there are several pieces of legislation passed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature during their recent special session with which I disagree, the most difficult one to swallow is their decision to spend $10 million in state taxpayer money “ … to pull undocumented migrants from anywhere in the U.S. and direct them to what Republicans call ‘sanctuary’ cities and states …” (Press Journal, Feb. 12).

One can only speculate how these funds could have helped Florida citizens cope with rising costs, outrageous property insurance and power rate hikes and a housing crisis (among others). Instead, the governor chooses to use our hard-earned funds to burnish his conservative credentials and carry on his culture wars so he can stay in the national spotlight until his inevitable announcement to run for president in 2024.

To quote a former president: “Sad!”

Wil Cunningham, Vero Beach

DeSantis' actions show he wants to control Floridians

Our governor has revealed himself as none other than a power-hungry authoritarian!

Under the classic guise of "freedom," he wants to eliminate the "woke" movement and books of subjects that disturb his (and others of his kind) mindsets. He seems to have a goal to create division and breed hatred, with the intent of  destroying our democracy and replacing it with a different form of government: authoritarianism!

Read about the horrors of past efforts at authoritarianism before it is too late and such books are banned.

Norman Payne, Port St. Lucie

Cowardly actions lead to incursions into Americas

I think Joe Biden is a coward.

The current perils facing our country because of the incursion into our air space by foreign entities is no laughing matter. Whichever country is responsible for this danger (China, Russia, North Korea?) must be confronted. I fear this will become a military problem, because the current resident of the Oval Office is not fit for the job.

I believe our cowardly exit from Afghanistan was all our enemies needed to begin their bully methods against America and other countries in this hemisphere. Facts show that not only our intelligence, but our surveillance, has been invaded by the enemy.

How could Chinese spy balloons not have been discovered for weeks while they meandered across America? Why didn't Biden order them shot down immediately? There were two more shot down days after the first, with another over Montana with that state's air space being closed for hours.

Canada experienced an incursion into the Yukon Territory and gave permission for our planes from NORAD to shoot it down. Even though it will be difficult to find all the evidence in the snow, it will be easier than diving into the Atlantic Ocean, as ordered by Biden.

Election time can't come soon enough for me. We must get this person and the Democrats out of office if we are to save America.

Nancy Celano, Sebastian

Administration a bust over CCP balloon

We all read the fiasco of the CCP balloon as it floated unimpeded from coast to coast. And I wondered at the administration's lame excuse for not shooting it down.

Add then the leaked deflection that Donald Trump also had balloons in the sky and did nothing about it, even though he didn't even know. So there! But then, the outcry became unbearable.

The administration finally decided to "safely" blow the first balloon out of the sky with one of those big military fighter jets, and a million-dollar missile, for all the world to watch on CNN.

That'll show that nasty CCP. We can shoot down big, bad balloons whenever we want. We got the stuff!

But, who decided to blow it to smithereens resulting in bits splashing into the ocean causing a difficult retrieval from the debris field? The alternative could have been to shoot it down, with bullets presumably to float down to Earth. Every kid knows: If you put a hole in your balloon, it loses air. Did no one else know?

I wonder also, do those Democrats and such, who must follow the party line, ever get lumps in their throats and want to gag or go full out and throw up at these and other pronouncements by the administration?

I also await the CCP to give us the bill for their balloon and demand we return its balloon.

Jim Grant, Jensen Beach

Times much simpler way back when

Several decades ago when I was kid, teen and young adult, I lived in a community in the Northeast with a population of more than 150,000. We had one locally owned newspaper and three TV channels owned by companies within 40 miles of home.

Most of the people I knew lived in two families, worked in plants locally, had cars and never locked their doors. I am sure there are many readers that can relate to that.

To work in the plants, you had to be a warm body that could be trained to run a machine, and you made enough money to support your family comfortably. You didn't need a high school education to have a good life. At that time, I knew only two people out of the hundreds of friends I had that even smoked grass, but along the way Vietnam happened.

Then came the corporate zeal for cutting costs, enlarging profits and importing goods. The plants disappeared, mostly to foreign countries. Along with this, the local paper and TV stations were purchased by corporate conglomerates; then the internet appeared.

The world of drugs exploded after Vietnam. Unemployment skyrocketed in people without a high school education, with many of these people turned to selling the very drug they use for income because they can't find jobs.

The paper and TV stations became more selective in what they thought might influence the readers toward the opinion of the corporate owners who had never even been in the city. The internet then became the news media for the young, and everyone then knew somebody got shot in Los Angeles, someone else got fired in Chicago, etc.

Paid advocates became the norm, and here we are in this disaster.

Edward Marasi, Port St. Lucie

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: DeSantis controversies; Florida tax breaks weak; Biden bust | Letter