Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Five things you can do to help save America
TALLAHASSEE — There’s a gnawing sense of hopelessness out there, a feeling that no one person makes a difference anymore. I see it in the daily file of letters to the editor. (By the way, we greatly value your opinions. Keep them coming — honest opinions from the heart and straight to the point, not partisan screeds from either side.)
Everyone understands your sense of despair, but I will set the record straight. There are lots of things you can do that will help save this state and this country, and none of it will cost you a dime. But it really is up to you.
◼ Value your vote. Don’t vote for anyone, ever, unless they prove they support common-sense gun regulation, such as stronger “red flag” laws and a minimum age of 21 to buy a gun, as we have in Florida. Add the ridiculously overdue need for nationwide background checks, a ban on high-capacity magazines, and a renewed ban on assault weapons. Start with Sen. Marco Rubio, who slavishly earned his A-plus rating from the NRA and has received $3.3 million of NRA campaign money, according to The New York Times. This career politician wants another six years in Washington but has an impressive opponent in U.S. Rep. Val Demings, who supports the gun reforms Rubio opposes. Rubio had the gall to trash the Miami Heat on Twitter after the NBA team urged its cheering fans Wednesday to contact senators and demand “commonsense gun laws” and “make change at the ballot box.” That sounds good to us. To the Heat, and Heat fans: We’re proud of you. To paraphrase former President Donald Trump, Marco never looked so little.
◼ Show up. You can start by going to Saturday’s community vigil for the mass shooting victims in Uvalde and Buffalo, at 10 a.m. at the Sunrise Amphitheater at 10610 W. Oakland Park Blvd. in Sunrise, sponsored by Moms Demand Action, Ruth’s List and other organizations. Do your small but significant part to send a very strong message to state and national political leaders that enough is enough, people are fed up, and it’s time to change gun laws — immediately. Flyers for the event have scratched out the shopworn “thoughts and prayers” and replaced it with “policy and change.” Now that’s the spirit.
◼ Sign petitions. Sign the petition to Ban Assault Weapons Now in Florida. Spend a couple of minutes on the group’s website and look to see if your state senator and representative co-sponsored a bill in Tallahassee in 2022 to ban assault weapons. If his or her name is not on there, demand to know why. Who’s not on that list? Among local legislators, the missing include Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point; Rep. Tom Fabricio, R-Miramar; and Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Delray Beach.
◼ Fine, go ahead. The poster boy for pro-gun Republicans in Florida is Rep. Randy Fine, a Brevard County lawmaker who bullies opponents with invective laced with bigotry. The attention-starved Fine doesn’t have nearly enough Twitter followers, so indulge him, but only to study the depth of his contempt for anyone who disagrees with him, and let everyone know that this passes for normal behavior in the state Capitol, such as his thinly veiled threat on Twitter this week against President Joe Biden. Fine’s fellow Republicans may roll their eyes about him behind his back, but they don’t dare denounce him publicly because, after all, his House seat has to remain Republican at all costs.
◼ Love a kid. Love a child or a grandchild like you’ve never loved them before. We can never bring back those precious little kids at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, who in the very last seconds of life had to face an AR-15. They will never turn 12, graduate from high school, drive a car or get married. But we can always cherish the children we know and love and who are still here. In so many small but priceless ways, that will definitely make the world a better place.