'Honest Abe' must be rolling over in his grave by the Republican Party's antics. | Letters

Honest Abe must be rolling in his grave

Republican Nikki Haley says the Civil War was about "how government was going to run, the freedoms and what people could and couldn't do" and didn't admit until later that it was about slavery. When asked about new educational standards for teaching history in Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis says that the enslaved developed skills that "could be applied for their personal benefit." Republican Donald Trump thinks history may have been different, and the Civil War avoided, if only Abraham Lincoln had read The Art of the Deal. “So many mistakes were made. See, there was something I think could have been negotiated." They did try, but the secessionist Confederate States of America fired on Fort Sumpter to begin the Civil War.

Now Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufman says "We are the party of Abraham Lincoln. We have always been the party of Abraham Lincoln." I can't help but wonder if Abraham Lincoln would agree.

Linda Stein, West Palm Beach

More: Nikki Haley scheduled to mine Republican donor money close to Trump's Mar-a-Lago

Decency should be on the ballot, too

During the House Oversight Committee hearing concerning Hunter Biden's having defied a congressional subpoena, Rep. Nancy Mace, R.-S.C. used a slang term referring to Mr. Biden's private parts. During the same hearing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R.-GA displayed a nude picture of the president's son. In both cases one might question their level of intelligence and decency.

Second, can anyone imagine if a male Democrat made an off-handed reference to some female body part or displayed a nude picture of say, Stormy Daniels, during a hearing concerning Mr. Trump? Lastly, how much did this help their re-election fund in that this is a proven Republican money-making tactic?

David Clendining, Loxahatchee

GOP opposes 'takers' getting health care

The question is why ? What is it that would cause elected politicians of the Republican Party callously to deny 2.5 million Floridians of needed health care? There is history within the GOP that helps to explain this cruelty. The New Deal wiped out the existing oligarchies and created a middle class. Blacks and minority communities, however, were excluded. Women remained mostly subordinate. This started to change in the 1950s and 1960s.

Historian Heather Cox Richardson noted that Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan used the same arguments as the plantation owners and western oligarchs to push back. Their argument: There are makers and takers. Takers just want handouts. Giving handouts means taking from those who are self-reliant, thus taking their liberty and destroying democracy. Florida House Speaker, Republican Paul Renner, makes this argument as to why the Republican politicians will not vote for Medicaid expansion in Florida. If the vast number of Floridians want a government of the people, by the people and for the people, fair wages and healthcare, it must vote Republicans out of office.

Richard Sutherland, Lakeland

Iowa caucus vote underwhelming

Very little mention has been made of the fact that only 15% of Republicans in Iowa voted in the presidential caucus. Mathematically 56,000 voted for Trump, 23,100 for DeSantis and 20,900 for Haley. More important is the fact that 85% of Iowan Republicans who could, didn't vote. My guess is that they were just as underwhelmed by their choices as the rest of our country.

Lois Lipton Price, North Palm Beach

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Elections: Republican Party would repulse its founder, Abraham Lincoln