Monday's letters: DeSantis ruins state's reputation, capitalism/socialism works best, more

DeSantis’ policies will drive away tourists

I used to laugh when friends pointed out articles where crazy things happened in Florida, saying they would never want to live here.

I figured they were just jealous of the warm weather and the number of tourist attractions at our doorstep.

Not anymore.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis, in his obsession with pandering to the far right-wing MAGA base, has turned Florida into a racist, homophobic, anti-science state that people are not going to want to vacation in, much less live in.

You remember when former President Donald Trump coined the phrase “(expletive) countries,” referring to other nations? Well, Florida is becoming that kind of state.

Were it not for the warm weather, Florida would be Alabama, Mississippi or worse. You get the picture.

Felton Marans, Lakewood Ranch

Students learn best with support, empathy

Frankly, I am tired of reading about the horrors of Social Emotional Learning, as argued by people who don’t know much about it, during School Board meetings. Parents who vociferously argue against SEL need to do credible research and look for SEL examples in practice.

SEL is mostly about teacher practice. For example, think of an algebra teacher responsible for teaching a “gateway” course. Gateway means if students fail algebra, many doors close to them in the future.

Do parents want a curmudgeon teaching algebra or someone empathetic and supportive in developing relationships with students and parents?

Do parents wish to have algebra teachers who encourage their students to seek positive views of themselves as mathematicians, and math as a way to understand the world?

Contrarily, do they want negative and punitive algebra teachers who identify students as failures before teaching them, resulting in high school students who think they can’t do mathematics and view themselves as failures?

In other words, do they want the gate open or shut?

Students tend to succeed with positive, empathetic teachers who identify solutions to problems. Conversely, students don’t achieve their fullest potential in negative and punitive classrooms.

Yet, some parents say no SEL.

Michelle A. Johnston, Sarasota

Blend capitalism, socialism, like Sweden

In his May 2 column, “My concern for today’s youth,” DeVoe Moore seems to believe that America is faced with a stark choice between capitalism and socialism.

He should learn more about the blend of capitalism and socialism developed by Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries. Regulation and taxation make the environment cleaner and provide a social safety net, without stifling capitalism and creativity. (Have you shopped at IKEA?)

Scandinavian workers are among the most productive in the world. Talented young people aren’t lost to the workforce for lack of education, because college education is supported by the government.

An accident or sudden illness doesn’t mean bankruptcy. And Sweden has 45 billionaires.

Jim Eachus, Sarasota

Division, hate threaten our democracy

America is a divided country. In fact, there are only two times in the last 100 years that we were united – after Pearl Harbor and Sept. 11.

Our enemies were not trying to kill hyphenated Americans; they just wanted to kill Americans.

We have a threat to our democracy today. It is us. We have hyphenated and divided ourselves so much that hate has entered our inner beings. It is time to evaluate ourselves by looking at the root cause and healing ourselves.

Hate is the lack of love and love can’t occur until we know one another. We can’t know each other until we understand why others think the way they do.

Why do some believe that abortion is taking a life and others believe that it’s not a life at all?

Why do some believe that climate change is caused by humans and others don’t?

Why do some think that being gay is a sin and others think that God made some of us that way?

No question that we are a divided, hyphenated country. As Abraham Lincoln famously said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Let’s become one America and learn to love one another once again.

Walt Wenk, Sarasota

One-sided view on Middle East

The April 30 letter, “Headline, story show bias against Israel,” could not be further from the truth by refusing to recognize that the cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians is a direct result of Israel’s 50-year oppression of millions of Palestinians.

The mainstream media in the U.S., which includes the Herald-Tribune, is overwhelmingly one-sided and pro-Israel.

Ray Gordon, Venice

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Florida becoming a "s---hole" state, end division and learn to love