Letters to the editor for Saturday, April 1, 2023

Why believe in Trump?

Regarding his recent indictment, Trump called it the darkest day in America's history. His ego doesn't consider these other events as potentially the darkest day in the U.S. history: at Pearl Harbor thousands of our citizens were killed, the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, JFK, Martin Luther King, the battles of Gettysburg, Antietam, Normandy and so many other tragic events in our U.S. history. To his warped and egotistical thinking the above and so many other USA tragic events where there was a tremendous loss of lives. He thinks his indictment was the worst. What has happened to our country, why are there still people who believe in this corrupt, racist, delusional and habitual liar? His negative and corrupt ways have gone on for decades. Those who are religious are supposed to be against those characteristics yet they vote for him.

Tom Beck, Naples

Reject NRA-backed candidates

Any ban on the AR-15 and various assault weapons will not come about until voters decide to make it a one-issue election. Do not vote for any congressional representative, Republican or Democrat, senator or representative, who has taken as much as a dollar from the NRA or various gun manufacturers. Their re-election campaign is more important than your children. As I recall, Senator Rubio defended his acceptance of NRA money after the Parkland shooting ten years ago.As you can see from the videos of the Nashville murders, not even heavy locked doors can stand up to these assault weapons. It is alleged that the young woman responsible for these murders had some mental health issues, but not to the extent for her to be a known threat. Just think how many people may fall into that category.Remember: NRA or gun money means no vote!

Bob Ford, Fort Myers

Naples Council members evaluated

On March 23 City Council members Ray Christman and Beth Petrunoff met with Naples Better Government Board members to discuss goals set forth in their platform statement and campaign material. Each was subject to 30 minutes of questioning focused on those goals as compared to their achievements and overall performance as council members in the past year. Several attempts were made to schedule Councilman Terry Hutchinson to participate but no response was received.

Christman was recognized as a good listener who does his homework, knows the subject matter, provides concise opinions and is respected by the majority of his council members. He is a full-time councilman who deals with long-term solutions. Using a criteria-based system to evaluate the performance of elected officials as In Progress, Meets Expectations or Exceeds Expectations, Christman was found to fall between Meets Expectations and Exceeds Expectations.

Petrunoff was determined to be knowledgeable, sometimes with a limited viewpoint to certain sectors of the city; however, for a new City Council member, she is learning her way by working with people in the community. Her evaluation by NBG Board members put her between In Progress and Meets Expectations.

Naples Better Government is a state-registered nonpartisan political committee with a mission to promote better government in the City of Naples, Collier County and the State of Florida. Any Collier County resident registered to vote in Collier County is eligible to be a general member of Naples Better Government. Email salltiff@gmail.com for further information.

Sally Tiffany, president, Naples Better Government

Suffering from one party rule

I just changed my party affiliation from Republican to NPA or independent. I join the 66,000 other registered voters who are discouraged by both parties in Collier County. The Republican Party is not the Republican Party I once admired. The Democratic Party is so disheartened that it no longer fields candidates for local elections. In order for my vote to count, I hope there will be a few brave souls who are moderates and will become independent candidates. Our county is suffering from one party rule. Perhaps an independent will attract disillusioned Republicans, discouraged Democrats, and the many unaffiliated voters hungry for real choice in the upcoming elections. My visit to the Board of election booth at the County Center on Orange Blossom Drive was a wonderful experience. The clerk was helpful and informative. I also was reminded to update my request for an absentee or mail in ballot.

Peter Fagan, Naples

Donalds' response astonishes

Recently, I saw a clip of an interview with U.S. Congressman Byron Donalds. His district encompasses much of Southwest Florida. The reporter asked him if he thought weapons of mass destruction, such as the AR-15 assault rifle, should remain legal. To my astonishment, he replied that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to own one just as the reporter has a right to wear a blue suit. That’s right -- he compared an AR-15 to a blue suit!

Admittedly, I’m not aware of all the news, but I would bet nobody has ever gone into a school, house of worship, store, concert venue, or movie theater and massacred numerous people with a blue suit!

Jay Custa, Estero

'Thoughts, prayers' empty words

All of the "thoughts and prayers" that are going out to the families and friends of the three children and three adults murdered this week in Nashville are just empty words.How can we as a country continue to watch families devastated by these horrific acts and nothing can be done? As a parent and grandparent, my heart is broken for these families and so many others who have joined the many others who have lived through this? These are our CHILDREN, going to school! What if these children were those of all the representatives who feel that thoughts and prayers are enough empty words to get by and move on?Enough already of arguing about what kinds of guns are available to purchase! Our children deserve better. They are forever changed, and their lives and mental health will never truly heal.

Barbara Herstig, Naples

Liberal democracy fantasy

I am not surprised that former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has publicly stated that former president Donald Trump now has the opportunity to prove his innocence. I await the next time I am arrested so that I have a chance to prove my innocence. There is no such thing as proving one guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the liberal democracy fantasy world. This is not going to end well for those of you who are standing around the stake waiting for the fire to burn the U.S. Constitution.

Don Rader, Naples

No need for assault rifle

What part do I not understand? One senator said that he would not take away the right to have an assault rifle because some use it for a sport. What sport? Shoot kids and adults in schools, malls, etc. and see how many they can kill before they kill themselves or are killed by police? Congressman Donalds said that it was all political and do not go there about removal and do not let emotions get to you about the killings.

All right, I concede, let them have the fast muzzle loading flintlock rifle that they had when they wrote the Constitution. I'll go a step better and let them have a M1 rifle, after all it killed more than 100,000 men during WW ll.

My son goes hunting with his rifle, bow and arrow or flintlock depending on the season and what you can use to get a deer. He said that is all he needs to put food on the table.

Herbert Taylor, Fort Myers

Affordable housing crisis

A market solution for affordable housing might work if you have lots of time. But in Collier County, we have no more time. We are in a crisis mode at this very moment. Since 2001, the Florida Legislature has stolen, for pet projects, $2 billion which had been set aside for affordable housing. Now they are adopting new legislation which offers only $700 million as a market solution to fix affordable housing. That’s for the whole State of Florida; it is much too little, much too late.

The Collier County commissioners have to step up to the plate and commit to an immediate cure by getting into the business of owning and operating affordable housing. That is the only way to solve the problem quickly, and Collier needs a quick solution.

Sally Lam, Naples

Destroyers of our democracy

Three dangerous men: Donald Trump, the former president; Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Richard Scott. Their positions promote autocracy, not democracy.Trump meets the psychiatric definition of a psychopathic narcissist. He is an excellent mob psychologist. He is an insurrectionist who tried to overturn the U.S. government on January 6th, 2021. Currently he advocates overturning the Constitution and destroying our democracy.Ron DeSantis talks of Florida as a leading state. It is not. It is a disgrace. He has interfered with the voting rights of tens of thousands of potential voter citizens in Florida. Promoting concealing and carrying all kinds of guns and denying women their rights to abortion at 15 or six weeks will result in the death of many women and men. He is “anti-woke,” which means he limits liberal standards of culture and education, childhood development, the teaching of truth in history and the denial of the rights and treatment of LGBTQ citizens. These are the actions of autocrats, not democrats.Rick Scott tells us each week what good he has done. But he opposes increasing the funding for the IRS and increasing the tax on millionaires and billionaires like himself, many of whom evade payment. He leaves out that Trump and the Republicans increased the national debt by trillions of dollars. Our country requires the increased taxes to function as a democratic national and international leader.These three men’s actions could destroy America’s democracy. Autocracy is not democracy.

Howard A. Corwin, M.D., Naples

Trump, DeSantis may split vote

My fear is that if both DeSantis and Trump run, they are going to split the conservative vote. Trump, at the moment, seems to be doing just fine. You may not like him as a person, but one does not vote for charisma, but for policy and getting the job done, and Trump already proved that he could do that.

DeSantis is still young, and has plenty of time ahead of him. Is it possible that they could even make a good duo, with DeSantis VP, then running as a presidential candidate at the end of the term? I think that he and the rest of us should consider this possibility!

DeSantis should not run for president in '24.

Marilyn Doherty, Naples

Plenty of red flags

The transgender person who killed six people in a Nashville Christian school was being treated for an "emotional disorder" and legally purchased at least seven firearms. It seems strange that to legally purchase a firearm, it has to be registered and yet no red flags were waved when an individual buys seven of them. What kind of system do we have that misses something so obvious? It seems there were plenty of red flags that should have caused some action by authorities. I am not in favor of so-called assault weapons, but if an individual can buy seven pistols, for example, I really don't see how eliminating assault weapons would solve the problem.

Ron Wobbeking, Naples

Fault lies with Supreme Court

The fault for the use of automatic weapons lies with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Under Constitutional Originalism, the court should be looking at the grammar used in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution when originally written by its authors.

In English grammar, we have the nominative and accusative absolutes. The nominative and accusative absolutes are akin to the ablative absolute used in Latin. The Latin construction, called the ablative absolute, consisted of the use of present and perfect participles. The ablatives of a participle and a noun were used to form a substitute for a subordinate clause which defined the circumstances in which the main action of the verb occurs. Our forefathers were versed in classical Latin. When they penned the Constitution, our forefathers employed that learnedness in constructing sentences.

The Second Amendment reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The first 13 words of that sentence constitute a nominative absolute. That means that those 13 words “define the circumstances in which the action of the main verb occurs.“ That being the case, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” only exists in the context of a “well regulated Militia.”

There is no absolute right to have guns, only a conditional right when belonging to a well regulated militia. The original intent, the words and the grammar of our Constitution should prevail. Outside of a well regulated militia, arms can be controlled absolutely under the Second Amendment. Our founding fathers understood grammar; our Supreme Court justices come up short. Read the Constitution as it was originally written.

Joe Haack, Naples

Sick and tired of this

She was only 14, she was a dancer. She used to sing and make her family proud. He used to fool around and make his parents and classmates laugh. They don’t laugh anymore without feeling the tears. After a while, all the family has is helpless rage.I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of Florida’s lawmakers forgetting that ensuring public safety is their job.Tired that their interpretation of public safety is allowing every Tom, Dick and Mary to arm themselves with AR-15s without licensing that weapon of war or requiring basic gun safety certification as a requirement for purchase.Tired that they can’t even pass laws requiring locked gun safe storage so a young child and a sibling can’t play shoot ‘em up with Dad’s gun. Sick that without a law requiring trigger safety guards, a teen feeling afraid and enraged at his helplessness can make their cry for help with an AR-15 from home.Why is every parent wondering about their child’s social anxiety? Stranger Danger has morphed into Run, Hide, Attack. We are training our children to be afraid of being killed at any moment. Why not suicide at 15? It’s not getting any better.How is that a good quality of life? How is that making life better for our children, the next generation? But at least they didn’t die feeling bad about themselves for causing Rosa Parks to lose her seat on the bus.Beth Mattheus, Naples

Dependent on government

Why work? Biden’s welfare windfalls keep Americans dependent on government forever. Economists say it pays not to work in Biden’s America. In New Jersey a family of four can receive benefits equal to an annual income of $108,000 tax free with no one working; in Vermont it is over $60,000. Loudon County rental assistance for a one bedroom is $25,000 a year. Some Democrats now want to provide a guaranteed income for not working. With our labor participation rate at an all-time low, there are over 10 million job openings that remain unfilled. Generous welfare benefits trap workers to stay on the “dole.”

A Heritage Foundation study showed government programs have taken root in our country: 66 million citizens receive welfare benefits and 92 million are enrolled in the Medicaid program. Total spending for Medicaid ($834B) and Welfare ($1.3T) continues to expand every year. A fair guestimate shows 33 percent of our population receive welfare, Medicaid or both entitlements. Will those recipients vote to reduce these benefits? Most pay no income taxes. Shrinking the government and reducing benefits is a non-starter for any political candidate seeking their vote.Working taxpayers need to elect conservative candidates who will restore worker self-esteem. Requiring recipients to work for benefits is a great first step. Measuring success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added, is a necessary goal. Welfare should not be a career choice. We are doomed to fail with the status quo.

Frank M. Mazur, Fort Myers

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Saturday, April 1, 2023