Tuesday's letters: DeSantis' shoddy stunt, life over suicide, Biden's 'hateful words'

How low will DeSantis go to win votes?

Last week’s headlines were filled with more horrifying news about Gov. Ron DeSantis.

We learned that he is claiming credit for several accomplishments that were paid for through President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act, which the governor has publicly criticized.

Then DeSantis spent more than $600,000 of Floridians' tax money to fly immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, an act of borderline human trafficking at best and child endangerment at worst. (The migrants were later sent to Cape Cod.)

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Yet a presumably educated letter writer – he addressed himself as doctor – calls DeSantis a “nanny-state liberal” for his gratuitous campaign ad featuring people thanking the governor (“DeSantis seeks gratitude for doing his job,” Sept. 15).

This doctor says he’ll vote for DeSantis anyway because he sides with his policies. Really? I have difficulty understanding why anyone would support DeSantis.

Cynthia Hebert, Sarasota

Get help and choose life, not suicide

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. I knew that, but it wasn’t “personal.” On Aug. 31, 2022, that changed.

On that date the father of my two children took his own life.

Suicide ends more than just a life. It ends a lot of things for those left behind.

My son had planned to move out of state only days after his father’s death. His dad had told him he was looking forward to hearing all about his future successes, conversations that are now lost.

My daughter wonders who will walk her down the aisle one day. And she will always miss “Tuesday lunch with Dad.”

What is the message of this month? It is that, regardless of what you are going through, choose life. Your family loves you. They need you in their lives. Period.

Your friends will support you no matter what. None of our lives is perfect. Don’t be afraid to share that yours isn’t either.

And if you can’t talk to anyone in your life, reach out to one of the many resources available locally, by phone or online.

Finally, don’t wait to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. Family and friends are everything.

To Wayne, we’ll miss you forever.

Cynthia Augsburger, Sarasota

Biden’s hateful words harm presidency

The sanctity of the office of the president has been severely damaged as never before in history. The current occupant has defiled half the electorate by using extremely hateful words.

No previous president has ever addressed the electorate with such flagrant language.

Where has civility in our country gone? The rest of the world is paying attention.

God help us.

Ronald Haigh, Sarasota

No reason to oppose responsible investing

Gov. Ron DeSantis touts solutions for problems that don’t exist. He doesn’t like our state pension fund, which has been extremely successful, returning more than 9% a year since 2011.

He states that he is opposed to ESG investing, but the fund is not even based on that.

Why on earth would DeSantis be opposed to ESG investing? One would have to assume that he is opposed to what ESG stands for. Let’s look at each component of this investing style to see what he is opposed to.

The “E” stands for a company’s environmental performance: pollution, resource conservation, energy use, animal treatment, etc.

The “S” stands for social criteria: treatment of employees, donations to the local community, workplace conditions, etc.

The “G” stands for governance standards. Does the company have a diverse leadership, engage in any illegal conduct or use political contributions to obtain preferential treatment?

One has to assume that DeSantis is against companies being environmentally and socially responsible and engaging in good governance. Really?

ESG investing is a trend for a reason: More and more people want their investments to reflect their values. A well-selected ESG portfolio should perform as well or better than a conventional one.

Peter Burkard, Sarasota

Abortion immoral, regardless of legality

I would like to offer a critique of the “My body, my choice” argument for abortion rights. Choice is a powerful concept, and there are issues where choice is a very good thing. Abortion is not one of them.

I love my own mother, but she never had the moral right to kill me inside or outside of her body. She may have had the legal right, but once upon a time she could have had the right to own a slave. Human laws change; morality doesn’t.

On another issue, school choice, I am all on board. As a matter of equality, parents of means have long had the option of smaller private schools for their children. Parents like myself would not have that option because I raise a family on an educator’s salary.

It seems right that there are subsidies available to make choice of schools affordable for all Florida parents.

Tim Shipe, Sarasota

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Letters: No bar too low for DeSantis to win votes; Biden's 'hateful words'