Letters to the editor for Saturday, June 22, 2024

Alfie Oakes at fault

Was Alfie Oakes the victim of a corrupt government official who refused to accept his improper and then late documents so as to qualify for the Republican State Committeeman ballot? Or was he the victim of his own incompetence? According to Florida law and the documents he submitted, the latter is true. This paper should publish the documents he submitted and the relevant sections of the Florida statute, Section 99.061, so the public can decide whether it is Alfie Oakes or Melissa Blazier, Collier County Supervisor of Elections, who is corrupt.

Let Alfie Oakes explain the reason he waited less than one hour from the deadline to submit the improper qualifying form, that omitted the office he was seeking, and after being told of his mistakes, he then failed to timely file the proper form by the deadline set by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by the governor. Had he personally appeared when at the Elections Office when the first improper shoddy documents were submitted, he could have corrected his mistakes.

Instead of showing some integrity and accepting responsibility, he accuses Ms. Blazier of being corrupt for doing her job, obeying the oath of office she took and complying with Florida law. He raises the standard MAGA whining response for his failure. Blame Ms. Blazier, accuse her of being corrupt, raise election fraud, etc. The Republican Party should be grateful not to have somebody like this on their committee.

Donald Switzer, Naples

Is this a stunt?

So, because Alfie Oakes failed to file the proper forms by the deadline set in state law, he accuses Melissa Blazier, the Collier County supervisor of elections, of being corrupt? Statute 99.061(1,9) states "each person seeking to qualify for nomination or election to a federal, state, or multicounty district office" must file "not later than noon of the 67th day prior to the date of the primary election, for persons seeking to qualify for nomination or election to a state or multicounty district office, other than the office of the state attorney or the public defender."

Make no mistake, Mr. Oakes had a very long time in which to be sure his paperwork was filed correctly and timely. He chose to wait until the last minute and then filed it incorrectly. He currently holds the position for which he now did not qualify to run, so he cannot claim ignorance. Which makes one wonder, was this perhaps intentional on his part? What better way for a died-in-the wool election denier to stoke the election fraud fires than to pull a stunt like this?

Think critically about who benefits the most from this. Melissa Blazier with all the negative press whe will receive as she is running to retain her position? Or Alfie Oakes who now claims yet another example of election fraud to grandstand on?

I am an election poll worker and have seen the excellent way Collier County elections are conducted. Melissa does a great job.

Jacqueline Pursley, Naples

Sincerity or hypocrisy?

"Sacredness of Human Life" is what I hear touted by powerful people who are forcing others to give birth. Can we believe that this is their true motive?  If it were, wouldn't they first remove pollution?  Wouldn't they make sure that all babies would have clean air, water, healthy food and a safe place to live before they are born?

Oceans are rising, land is shrinking.  Shall we keep pouring more people into less space?  Environmentalists, scientists trying to protect the Earth, the people helping immigrants are the ones who truly believe human life is sacred.  Let's elect them to public office.

Sylvia Richey, Fort Myers

Matter of life and death

Ladies, think about this. One person and one party want to take away your bodily autonomy and the other doesn't. Of all the issues before us in this election, this seems to me to be the most important, certainly for my fellow sisters. Very few women want to see themselves, their daughters or their granddaughters refused medical care based on a decision made by politicians instead of doctors. If your position is pro-life, and you find yourself, your daughter or your granddaughter in a situation where medical care is refused even at the expense of the life of the mother, you too will be affected by these draconian decisions. If you think this will not become federal law if Donald Trump is elected, you are wrong. The laws are changing rapidly state by state and Florida is no exception. Several Republican legislatures have already decided there are no exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother. And others have made it impossible for doctors to provide the necessary medical care for a woman whose pregnancy is not viable, for fear of a jail sentence just for living up to their Hippocratic Oath. Tell your husband or partner whatever you want; no one has to know how you voted. This is a matter of life and death.

Kathleen Byrnes, Naples

Value of good parenting

It is outrageous that every human embryo must be born because Trump and the Religious Right crazies say so.  Nature and wildlife realize that not every conception must survive due to particular circumstances of birth, environment and abilities.  It's madness to try to save every life instead of recognizing that life should maybe not take place at all.

I speak of unwanted children.  A brief accident of passion is a bad foundation for the ensuing life probably created.  With no forward-looking plan the new baby soon senses it is not wanted.  Here it is!  Now what?

As an art teacher I dealt with many emotionally handicapped and special needs kids,  Their behavior was mostly terrible and scary.  Never having had the dedicated love of a parent, yes that means shown discipline, as to the way to succeed in life.  I had to use 95% of my time trying to keep order and teach the rest of the class at the same time.  I often needed two different lessons and learned which kids should never be given “black ink”!  Some of these kids' I.Q. tested as brilliant.  They could have been terrific in many fields of endeavor, but no way can this happen without good parenting.  As we all know these kids usually turn to crime as they grow up.  How wrong and what a waste.

As an aside: this is why so many Florida teachers are leaving their jobs, doubling up classes AND for the reason of being the second lowest salary paid in the nation!

Pamela Cannon, Naples

Democracy not for sale

Hypocrisy is alive and well in the Republican ranks.How could anyone one of sound mind respect politicians like Rubio, Vance, Cruz and others who recognized a scoundrel and let it be known, but then in self-interest and self-interest only suddenly flip flop and embrace that scoundrel.Many politicians lie, but not too many stoop that kind of low. Thankfully we still have some Republicans standing tall with integrity and would never allow themselves to fall to that kind of nadir.When it comes time to vote once more think things through before you check that box.How can we trust someone who would sell their soul to the devil for the sake of power? Goethe’sFaust sold his soul to the devil for rekindling his youth but even he would not have sold it for power.The soul of democracy is not for sale.

Fred Jodice, North Fort Myers

Path to being legal

If you have entered this country illegally and have been here at least 10 years and have avoided criminal activity, I favor a path to being legal. However, you will never be a citizen and you will never vote. Yes, it is taxation without representation, but it is the price to be paid for illegal entry. In no way should we grant amnesty.

Jim (Mac) Machlay, Naples

Whose Ten Commandments?

Louisiana just passed a law requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school. The LA governor says they are the source of the American legal system in addition to having religious meanings and are thus appropriate in public education. I'd like to ask him: Whose Ten Commandments will be displayed?

When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, God chose Moses to receive the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, and henceforth Jews were called "The Chosen People". (It does not imply any kind of superiority compared to others; all it means is that Jews were chosen by God as the first people to organize their society based on these ten rules.) Christianity and Islam also incorporate these rules into their guiding moral principles. However, not all of the Abrahamic religions follow the same Ten Commandments.

As Louisiana has a significant Catholic population, will their Ten Commandments drop the Second Commandment (about graven images) entirely and add a Ninth to not covet thy neighbor's wife in addition to banning adultery, as stated in the Catholic commandments? Will two sets of commandments need to be posted to reflect the non-Catholic order (Protestants and Muslims follow the original Jewish commandments and order)? Or will the state ignore Catholics entirely and post only the original Jewish version? Will children be taught that Judaism was the founding society that observed these rules? And is it at all possible to teach the Ten Commandments as only a legal concept and totally ignore their religious importance?

Questions, questions.

Elizabeth Rosenberg, Cape Coral

Last refuge of a scoundrel

Samuel Johnson had it right when he said that the last refuge of a scoundrel is patriotism.He must have had people like the convicted ex-president in mind at that time.Embracing our sacred flag while at the same time trying to destroy what it stands for.Nazis wore their symbol on their sleeves to show off their patriotism while steering their country into its doom.Don’t be fooled by a false idol as he smirks while hugging the flag in pretense of love for his country or we will all end up in the trash bin of history.A patriot doesn’t need to show off and brag about his devotion to his country, he serves it well without expecting any rewards except freedom and equality for all regardless their politics and he lets the flag fly free in the wind.

June O'Neill, Portsmouth, NH and Fort Myers

Exceptionalism an illusion

To the utter shame of Donald Trump and his MAGA minions, they have succeeded in disabusing me of my schoolboy fantasy that America and its people are special, i.e. "exceptional."  I now know:

1. that half of the American electorate will enthusiastically vote for president, a convicted felon and women abuser, who denigrates our judicial system while promoting conspiracy theories.  Crime does pay.

2. that for MAGA voters, the reprobate character of a presidential candidate is totally acceptable, as long as the candidate promises to get them what they want. Thus, to succeed in life, American school children should ignore character building.

3, that the majority of the politicians in the party of Lincoln and Reagan, in order to keep their jobs, will support the election of a demagogue they once condemned for fomenting an insurrection. The label, Republican statesman, is now an oxymoron.

4. that the attribution, "American exceptionalism," which I believed as a schoolboy, was just an illusion.

And even at age 87, disillusionment still hurts.

Ed O'Keefe, Bonita Springs

Teach The Golden Rule

I would first like to thank the editors of The News-Press, for continually challenging Truth to Power. Also, I would suggest to all your readers to read Sunday's column Your Turn, written by Frank A. Fear, a senior associate dean and professor emeritus at Michigan State University.

Mr. Fear calls out Governor DeSantis for politically charged language for his characterizing universities for being ideological indoctrination sites, referencing "leftist and woke ideology" that can be traced back to the corruption of universities and academia.

DeSantis, who has claimed that students are being groomed in sexual and gender identity, has demanded that all Florida colleges and universities disband all teaching of diversity, equity and inclusion, which will result in the grooming of nice little conservatives, without any compassion for those that are different from them, creating a future of bigots and racists. They would be better served by teaching them the meaning of The Golden Rule.

Roger W. Quagliano, Estero

Classified information

It is against the law for anyone to possess classified information outside a SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility).

Former President Trump has classified documents at his residence. Period, end, no defense. President Biden has classified documents at his residence. Period, end, no defense. Hillary Clinton had classified documents on her unsecure server that included a SAP (special access program). Period, end, no defense. Am I missing something?

E.N. Knez, Bokeelia

Making America hate again

For a long time, I voted Republican, believing that they supported the values I had. But I also tried to see the point of view of Democrats. Many of my friends were Democrats, and I knew they were not evil. Often if they approached something with a different conclusion, it wasn’t because they were evil. They just had a different idea on what was best for the country. It took me a long time to realize that the Democrats more embody the values my parents gave me more than Republicans. The last stint was when I saw that the economy in general does better under Democrats than Republicans. Republicans are just better at PR.Then Donald Trump ran in 2016 using the undercurrent of hatred against “the Libs.” I was always more for the idea of “compassionate conservatism” first put forth as an idea by George W. Bush.Trump figured out that the path to the presidency was paved with a bigoted nativist, demagogue voice. His first act was to question the birthplace of the first African American President Barack Obama. He did this knowing he was lying. He also knew there was a significant portion of the American people who wanted to believe this lie. Others were too stupid to know the difference. That was only the beginning. Trump would go on to denigrate Mexicans, women, immigrants, the media, the justice system, our troops, you name it. Trump didn't make American great again. He made America hate again.The problem with this new brand of Republican politics is that you now have an ineffective government. You have a Congress that passed less than 30 bills in year compared to the hundreds of the usual output. You have a Congress put together a bipartisan bill, praising it to the skies, but then killing it as it might look good for the other side.There’s no compromise or working together. Donald Trump is killing the Republican Party by pushing it further to some extreme form that I wouldn’t even call traditional conservatism. Republicans, falling in line, are forced into cognitive dissonance by supporting Trump against their own proclaimed values. The Republicans no longer govern. The grown-ups who were in the room have left and replaced by children.

Steve Wolfson, Fort Myers

Stable economic policy

Donald Trump’s tariff comment will never turn into policy. I’m an oddball millennial. I like to buy good quality shoes that can be re-soled and shined. I like furniture that isn’t made out of pressboard. I count my success by how few pieces of IKEA furniture I own. I like things that last. But I am an outlier. Go buy furniture, buy shoes, buy anything. Fast fashion and throw-away products are a major component of our economy and are popular among people my age.Last year the United States imported just over $3 trillion in goods while bringing in just under $4.5 trillion in tax revenue and had a deficit of nearly $1.7 trillion. To maintain the deficit with a broad tariff the United States would need a 150% tax on imported goods − this will not apply evenly. A pair of socks from China that cost pennies will not be impacted as much as a $40,000 car. Reducing imports will create a goods shortage and require an increased labor force. The increased labor force will push the U.S. further up the Philips curve, raise low-income wages drastically, and set off systemwide inflation that has never been seen before. Economies are like rabbits. Any fast and drastic movements and they’ll run away. For stability, economic policies need to be implemented slowly. Nobody in Congress will pass this because every donor will dump money into their opponent.

Anthony Rainone, Cape Coral

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Saturday, June 22, 2024