Friday's letters: Don't attend any circus that still makes animals perform
Don’t attend circus with performing animals
At a time when some circuses, like Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, have dropped animal acts, Loomis Bros. Circus – which is coming to Sarasota next month – is still forcing animals to perform.
And it will be dragging the poor animals around in the unbearable Florida summer heat, no less.
Colorful pageantry disguises the fact that animals used in circuses are captives who are forced – under the threat of punishment – to perform confusing, uncomfortable, repetitious and often painful acts.
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I hope people will reconsider attending this circus, which suggests to their children that animal abuse is entertaining.
Karen Ankerstar, Sarasota
With Ranked Choice Voting, majority rules
When are we going to stop worrying about third-party candidates ruining the election?
We should adopt Ranked Choice Voting, which allows voters to more fully express their preference and rewards candidates who build coalitions, not those who rely on a narrow base of voters.
It’s already happening in Maine and Alaska and some cities like Salt Lake City and Seattle, to name a few.
Imagine an election where negative campaigning is eliminated. An election that rewards candidates who build a consensus. An election where the winner is actually the one who received the majority vote. An election where you no longer must worry about your vote being siphoned off.
Instead of choosing only one candidate, RCV allows voters to rank their order of preference, first, second, third, etc. In races with more than two people on the ballot, this creates an instant runoff: The lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated and, for voters who selected that candidate, their second-choice votes are counted instead.
The winner is ultimately declared when a candidate receives over 50% of vote.
Majority rule. Done!
Let’s stop fretting over something that’s easily solvable and turn our attention to the real issues with candidates who were chosen by the true majority.
Joe Martinez, Bradenton
Slippery slope: Warning against book ban
On July 16, the Herald-Tribune ran a USA TODAY article listing a few of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ prohibited books. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry (“New book challenge law spurs caution”).
To be consistent, we must hope that the Holy Bible is included as a prohibited book. A child might read the story of David or Hosea and become corrupted.
Any history of Greece, Louis XIV or England’s Charles II could contain Republican-prohibited conduct.
Any American history book must deal with the issue of slavery, and the fact that early Virginia patriots were slave owners. In today’s world, slavery is a subject not easy to explain or ignore.
Where do we go from here? Some years ago, another country tried public book burning. Shall we travel that path?
Ronald F. Cota, Sarasota
Look to past, elect leaders like Humphrey
July 14 was the 75th anniversary of one of the more famous speeches in American political history, Hubert Humphrey’s address to the 1948 Democratic National Convention.
As spokesperson for the Platform Committee, Humphrey was urging the adoption of a civil rights plank that was ultimately passed by the full convention.
A popular excerpt from the speech: “The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states’ rights and to walk forthrightly in the bright sunshine of human rights.”
For Humphrey it was the beginning of a long career as the progressive star of the Democratic Party. Through 2½ terms as U.S. senator, until his death in 1978, he focused on the passage of major civil and voting rights acts as well as fair housing and fair employment legislation.
He was able to develop relationships across party lines and ideologies, and always with irresistible charm, which inspired colleagues and the press to nickname him “The Happy Warrior.”
Perhaps we should heed Shakespeare’s words and act on his advice that “The past is prologue,” and elect and support only responsive and caring leaders like Humphrey rather than the irresponsible, factually false and mean-spirited unhappy warriors dominating our politics today.
Grace Ann Mosher, Sarasota
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Don't support touring circus that still features performing animals
