JFK warned of a divided America
The late president John F. Kennedy has been gone for so long that we forget the wisdom he imparted.
As an undergraduate student he wrote that, “Unless democracy can produce able leaders, its chances of survival are slight.”
He warned us to beware of cynicism in politics, and that democracy depends on an informed and active citizenry who are capable of reasoned discourse and accepting of other viewpoints.
He emphasized the importance of empathy and maintaining a civility that helps us to see political opponents as adversaries and not enemies.
Yet today, our nation seems divided and troubled by this incivility he warned us about.
This tribalism is further enhanced by slanted 24-hour news feeds and social media.
Our education system has failed in some instances to provide an informed and rational citizenry capable of making sense out of all of the information that we are bombarded with from all sides of the political spectrum.
Perhaps its because we no longer have leaders like JFK that we find ourselves so at odds with each other, and the survival of our democracy may indeed be threatened as he warned. – Charles Michael Sitero,
Ormond Beach
ELECTION CHALLENGE
Leaving aside the lasting harm this latest Trump gambit will cause democracy, the attorneys general who filed and signed on to Texas’ failed legal brief to the Supreme Court should be ashamed of themselves for violating their oaths of office.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody swore “to support, protect and defend the Constitution and government of the United States.”
A first-year law student would know that the lawsuit violated the constitutional principles of federalism. Her involvement demonstrates that she has no respect for her oath of office.
The University of Florida Law School, her alma mater, should issue a condemnation of her actions.
After all, they are teaching prospective lawyers and they should be taught that violating one’s oath has consequences.
– Leon Kellner, Coral Gables
RIGHT ON TIME
The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg got her Hanukkah gift Friday night. Her peers on the Supreme Court performed just as she would have by dismissing the delusional claims Of President Trump’s groupies. – Harlyn Vinas Kaplan,
Miami
NO LAUGHING MATTER
A letter writer last week (“Face Facts,” Dec. 8) used the words “comical, hilarious and laughable” in a space of a couple of paragraphs in referring to “antiTrumpsters.”
I’m glad the writer has kept his sense of humor. For most of us, the past four years have been one of the saddest periods we’ve endured in our lifetimes. We’ve seen the near-destruction of our democracy, been subjected to a constant stream of lies and witnessed an incredible ineptitude that hascaused more than 15 million Americans to become ill and almost 300,000 to die of COVID-19.
There’s still little to smile about over a president who doesn’t accept defeat with any sense of dignity and keeps showing the same appalling lack of understanding of our laws that he displayed over the “hilarious” years of his tenure.
– Silvia Lopez, Miami
BLAMING TRUMP
After President Trump is gone and President Biden is in office, Miami Herald columnists such as Leonard Pitts Jr. and Fabiola Santiago won’t be at a loss for material, because for the next four years and beyond, everything bad that happens under Biden’s administration, they can blame on Trump.
Even after Biden is gone, they can and will blame everything on Trump.
– Ira Jacobson, Coral Gables
LESSON IN COMMUNISM
Regarding Victor Rodriguez’s letter about columnist Fabiola Santiago defending socialism, he is an example of a citizen misusing the term socialism for communism. Rodriguez, Santiago and my husband all fled Cuba because of communism, not socialism.
A Communism strips away personal property from its citizens and ostensibly has no economic-class levels. The government owns all enterprises and makes all leadership decisions. China, Cuba and North Korea are communist countries.
A Socialism enables citizens to own and grow their
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businesses. It encourages its citizens to be politically active and elect their representatives.
However, it has social programs for all citizens, such as healthcare and education, which are supported by high taxes. Norway, Sweden and Denmark aresocialist countries.
A Democracy is government by the people who elect their representatives. The United States has a democratic government that sponsors several “socialist” programs for the benefit of our citizens, for example Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public schools, public health and police services.
These comparisons are very basic but, hopefully, will help Rodriguez, and many others, recognize that it is communism, and not socialism, that they despise. – Marjory Hendel,
Coral Gables
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE A CHILD’S ABILITY TO GRASP WHAT’S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. I’VE DISCUSSED THE PANDEMIC AND SOCIAL
DISTANCING WITH MY 4-YEAR-OLD, AND SHE’S DECIDED TO SPEAK 3 INCHES FROM MY FACE INSTEAD OF THE NORMAL 1 INCH.