LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Ed. note: We intend to publish every letter we have received regarding the events of Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington D.C., provided the letter meets our 150-word length requirement, was sent exclusively to us, is coherent, is free from obscenity and is from someone who did not already send a letter on this subject. Through Jan. 18, we will publish all letters received Jan. 6-10 on this subject in the order in which they were received.

On Wednesday, students across South Florida watched supporters of the outgoing president attempt a coup. Still on winter break from Cornell, and having stayed at home in the fall due to a pandemic that said president failed to control, I watched every lesson I had learned in college courses about good governance thrown out of broken windows in the Capitol. My friends still at Cypress Bay told me their lessons in AP Government were interrupted to livestream the seeming collapse of our government. The Confederate flag, which every student learns in history is the flag of a defeated, racist cause, was waved in our Capitol for the first time. Make no mistake: The next generation of leaders was watching. What we learned is that the democratic theory taught in school is fragile. We must ensure that history classes for the generation after us will teach that democracy survived this, too. Joseph Mullen, Weston It should now be more than obvious that the line between anarchy and democracy is a very thin one!

Clearly, any demagogue, let alone a sitting president, can incite gullible, ill-informed people to do serious harm to a country.

Let all that contributed to this shameful atrocity committed on our country and Constitution be held fully accountable and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Hope Shuster, Boynton Beach Remember Sen. Rick Scott voted to support efforts to undermine the Constitution and challenge free and fair elections and peaceful transfer of power. It is disappointing that he could not break away from the Trump cult to propagate the lies that led to the insurrection at the Capitol.

While Scott violated the principles of the Constitution this week, he had no difficulty hiding behind it when he reportedly invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times when deposed as CEO of Columbia/HCA, which paid a $1.7 billion fine for defrauding Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs, the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history at that time.

Back then, he used the Constitution to avoid self-incrimination, but now, when asked to follow the principles of our Constitution, he shows no shame supporting what has been described in the NY Times as a “coup plotter” or enabler. Let’s remember this when he is up for re-election. Barry Freeman, Parkland Just as in the Charlottesville violent protest, the police at the D.C. Capitol allowed the debacle to continue. In Washington, they didn’t even show up.

What can Palm Beach County expect when Trump relocates to Mar-a-Lago?

His so-called “good people” will need to be controlled better than their compatriots at the Capitol. Are the Palm Beach Police Department and the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office prepared so that there is not another lethal riot? Sheila Jaffe, Boca Raton I would not be surprised if President Trump urges his minions to identify many of the people who stormed the Capitol, so he, Trump, can pardon them.

Donald Kogan,