Friday's letters: No one parents in a vacuum. It takes a community

All should care about education of children

In her April 30 column, USA Today’s Ingrid Jacques wrote that President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party want to supersede parents in raising their children. This is utter nonsense designed to alarm and frighten people.

Jacques used Biden’s recent comment, “Our nation’s children are all our children,” and cited Hillary Clinton’s book title, “It Takes a Village,” to justify her claim. The president was speaking last month at an event honoring teachers.

Reasonable people understand a much different message: We should all care about the education and well-being of America’s children.

Strong communities create healthy, safe and effective places for parents to raise families. No one parents in a vacuum.

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Jacques cited a Moms for Liberty tweet, “We do not co-parent with the government,” a message designed to demonize the word “government” and simply not true.

The “government” is us, our community and our public education system. In that sense we do all co-parent, and it is not a bad thing.

The goal of groups like Moms for Liberty is not improving education for all children or ensuring that the voices of all parents are heard. They seek to dismantle public education, to privatize one more part of our society for profit.

Jacques’ conclusion that school choice is the solution plays into their plan.

Gayle Timmerman, Sarasota

End of destructive legislative session

As Florida’s 2023 legislative session ends May 5, it is hard to imagine a more active and destructive year in Florida politics. Elected officials have worked quickly to accomplish Gov. Ron DeSantis’ priorities.

In the process, they have defunded public schools, eliminated gun control measures, banned most abortions and supported the hostile takeover of New College, Florida’s nationally recognized public honors college.

And let’s not forget changing the law so that DeSantis could continue as governor while running for president.

Republicans have emerged as rubber-stampers of the governor’s agenda, something I find very sad.  What happened to the party of Lincoln?

I wonder if those who voted for the current elected officials expected this course of action when legislators could have focused on affordable housing, skyrocketing insurance rates and health care initiatives.

If you are dismayed by what emerged from this session, remember that elections have consequences.

If you didn’t vote in the last elections (I am writing to the Democrats and NPAs who sat this one out), recognize that inaction also has consequences.

Felice Schulaner, Sarasota

Sticks, no carrots in GOP Works Act

I don’t know what lords said to their serfs or what slaveholders said to their slaves, but I do know what capitalist oligarchs say to their workers. Exactly what Montana conservative Rep. Ryan Zinke wrote in the Herald-Tribune on April 30: “There’s dignity and honor in work.”

Problem is that Zinke wasn’t writing about work at all. Rather, he was lamenting that too many Americans had revolted against signing up for low-paying, dead-end jobs and that the Republicans had a plan to force people back into the job market.

No carrots here. It’s a plan of sticks, ranging from hunger to shame.

Nothing in the Republican plan, called the America Works Act, requires capitalists to pay a living wage or grants job seekers the power of their collective voice or demands that the oligarchs pay their fair share to make sure that all Americans enjoy a life of dignity and honor.

In fact, even though the plan is about forcing people to take jobs, no matter how lousy, not once does Zinke ever use the word itself.

Patrick Bidelman, Nokomis

An incomplete guide to financial planning

An article in the Herald-Tribune on March 2, “Looking for Money Advice,” was incomplete since it referenced only investment advice. Financial planning is a more comprehensive version of money advice covering budgeting, insurance, retirement and estate planning as well as investing.

Members of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors best serve this broader need for money advice.

There is also the Association for Financial Counseling & Planning Education to help those striving to improve their financial literacy, as well as the National Foundation for Credit Counseling to help those heavily indebted and seeking a bankruptcy alternative.

The members of all these reputable organizations can guide your readers to prudent money advice if their needs are more than just investments. Financial advisors work in all these aspects of prudent money management.

Marge Schiller, University Park

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: No one parents in a vacuum; legislative session ends badly