Thursday's letters: Calling on Rep. Vern Buchanan to save us from debt default

Buchanan can save us from debt default

According to a recent estimate, the United States may default on its debt in as little as seven weeks. This would have devastating consequences for our nation and our economy.

There is no telling what effect this would have on world markets. The possibilities are unimaginable. Sadly, we lack the leadership to deal with the problem.

That is why I am encouraging U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan to immediately form a coalition of other smart and sensible leaders in Congress to pass a bill to immediately increase the debt limit. This may require crossing party lines, but everything we know about Buchanan tells me that he has the strength of character, wisdom and courage to do what is best for America.

More: How to send a letter to the editor

If it is any encouragement, a scene from the 1977 television movie “Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown” has Peppermint Patty encouraging Charlie Brown to lead a rafting group in a river race against long odds, obstacles and a group of bullies. It is a wonderfully inspiring story.

To paraphrase a key line, I encourage Buchanan to lead us in this dire time.

“You’re our leader, Vern. Lead, Vern, lead!”

Michael Fingerle, Sarasota

Giving up democracy, freedom for safety

Wow!

Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to outdo Donald Trump with his own definition of what makes “America Great Again.”

DeSantis would like to be the only sheriff in a Wild West America where everyone carries a pistol so they can protect themselves when the shootouts start at the O.K. Corral.

We’re not quite there yet, but "Sheriff" DeSantis' view of safety and social order is not democracy but tribal autocracy: “I’ll tell you what to say, how to say it and what not to say – or I’ll send you to the hoosegow.”

In the lawless West, the sheriff was the creator and final enforcer because he wrote the laws.

Is that the “Great America” to which Florida and America will return? It’s not the America I want to go back to.

Stephen G. Prichard, Venice

Read about family, transgender child

I would like to respond to the letter published April 18 about how a child of 6 or 8 years old could be in a position to make a transgender decision. (“Children can’t make transgender decisions”).

I recommend to the writer and others the excellent book, “Becoming Nicole,” by Amy Ellis Nutt, an educational journey of a loving, highly educated family dealing with their son’s journey to becoming Nicole.

More: School Board chair defends social media post critics call transphobic

It’s easy to hypothesize based on our own views but reading a book such as this provides a true education in the challenges and issues facing the families of transgender children. Yes, a child announced at 2 years old that he was a girl.Susan Newmark, Longboat Key

Encourage students to expand their brains

Reviewing what and how our schools teach is a good thing, but a school board doing so with a specific agenda already formed is dangerous. It means conclusions, far-reaching conclusions, have already been drawn.

Yes, America, Florida and Sarasota can be considered to be great, but only if we continue to fully educate our younger selves. Teaching cursive, a foreign language and all the facts about familiar and forgotten events expand a brain’s ability to learn.

Channeling a child’s focus onto only one set of facts is teaching by rote. It is the method used in the schools and madrassas that fact deniers say they don’t want to emulate – yet that's exactly what they will do.

Children should not have their brains developed in a “my size fits all” container. They should be allowed, encouraged and helped to expand their brains.

Rodger Skidmore, Sarasota

Wise thoughts in Opinion section

I am writing to applaud your entire Opinion section, including Letters to the Editor, on Sunday, April 16. Every piece struck me as wise and urgently needed.

Carrie Seidman's column – titled “An open appeal to the Sarasota County School Board” – was especially incisive and served as a detailed indictment of Sarasota County School Board Chair Bridget Ziegler.

Peter Klappert, Palmetto

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Buchanan can save us from default, book about transgender child