Greg Steube is no friend of veterans. Sarasota's voters should remember that in November.
Replace Steube with friend of veterans
I went to a meeting Feb. 12 of Florida Veterans for Common Sense. The group hosted a meet-the-candidates forum for Florida's 17th Congressional District.
The three Democratic candidates were present. The Republican incumbent, Greg Steube, was not.
Steube is no friend of veterans. He voted against the PACT Act, which helps veterans who have been exposed to toxins. He has also endorsed former President Donald Trump, a fraudster who was found liable by a jury for sexually abusing a woman nearly 30 years ago.
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District 17 needs a representative with a moral compass and that someone is not Steube.
Do your research and defeat him.
Harold Noonan, Sarasota, U.S. Army veteran
Protect teachers who teach the truth
An article in the Herald-Tribune on Feb. 18 recounts how a teacher resigned because of book banning.
The recent redo of the Herald-Tribune comics section denied readers a brilliant Doonesbury comic strip on a related topic that same day. The strip depicted the plight of Florida teachers facing intimidation over the teaching of Black history.
What’s wrong with democracy education? There has been a breakdown in the teaching of U.S. history and government.
Here's an example: A Manatee high school history teacher I talked with could not distinguish between capital “D” and lowercase “d” when discussing democratic values (liberty, equality and justice, etc.)
Ignorance and fear will grow as Florida social studies teachers face intimidation from state and local officials. But here's what we can do:
At elections, we can vote for officials who support democratic principles.
We can encourage school boards to employ teachers who are qualified to teach their assigned courses.
We can promote civil discussions of controversial public issues.
We can provide training on the meaning of democratic values and how to incorporate those values into lessons.
Above all, we can and must protect teachers who teach the truth about our history and government.As The Washington Post puts it, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Let’s shine a light on democratic values.
Paul F. Dain, Bradenton
Reading explicit bios before it’s too late
I was pleased to learn last week that Sarasota County is set to partner with Longboat Key to help the community build its first public library.
The not-so-good news came via the influx of emails from the Democratic Party, as well as nonpartisan sources, urging my support for libraries fighting Republicans’ moves to ban books they consider “inappropriate” from schools – and even to possibly defund public libraries that are rejecting book bans.
Consider the fact that in 1933, Nazi Germany didn't just ban books − it burned them, including works by Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, to comply with an emphasis on the desired Aryan attributes of “purity, morality and decency.”
Almost a century later I found myself purchasing, enjoying and sharing with other reading-addicted Golden Girls (and boys) “Hemingway in Love” and “Some Unfinished Chaos: The Lives of F. Scott Fitzgerald,” both recent explicit bios of this occasionally naughty duo.
Now that we have a presidential candidate who has expressed his wish to follow in the footsteps of strongman dictators, can banning "Hem" and "Scott" be far behind?
Grace Ann Mosher, Sarasota
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Greg Steube won't stand up for vets. Voters should remember it in 2024.
