Withholding food is not a political game
Food is a birthright gift, a life-giving necessity for good health. No child, senior or working parent should be used as a pawn in the “game” of politics by withholding SNAP. Millions of people will be impacted. We the people pay taxes and there is a reserve for SNAP. Meanwhile, a $300 million ballroom is being built, a Saudi gift of a plane is being redone at the cost of $1 billion, and one or two Air Force Ones are already under contract for over $1 billion… and there are so many more examples. And a reserve to feed people is not being tapped? Has all decency been lost?
Dave Krepcho Apopka
Dave Krepcho is the retired CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.
Food banks are preparing for a surge as federal food aid could be paused in the government shutdown
Health care is not a human right
Wednesday’s editorial, “Millions of Floridians risk losing access to health care,” bemoans the fact that “The U.S., alone in the developed world, does not accept health care as a fundamental human right.” Just because other “nations have some form of universal health care” does not mean that the U.S. should. If health care is a right, then the same should be true of food. A comment attirbuted to the good Professor Dr. Thomas Sowell says it best: “For society as a whole, nothing comes as a ‘right’ to which we are ‘entitled.’” He goes on to say that “the only way anyone can have a right to something that has to be produced is to force someone else to produce it for him.” As more and more things are provided as rights, the less recipients have to work and the more the rest of society has to bear the burden. History presents us with too many examples of the unpleasant consequences of welfare state policies.
David S. Robinson Mount Dora
Working-class suffering is GOP bargaining chip
Starting Nov. 1, Floridians will lose access to vital benefits like SNAP and WIC due to the government shutdown. Out of hope, I contacted my representatives, only to hear blame for Democrats for refusing to pass the continuing resolution. I asked what their plan was if negotiations stalled.
They had no plan to ensure federal workers get paid, no plan to guarantee families keep their benefits. Instead, they referred me to community resources already struggling from funding cuts, resources that will soon be overwhelmed. When I asked if they could encourage the governor to declare a state of emergency, as other states have done, they had no answer.
I asked if they would support legislation to prevent paychecks and benefits from lapsing during shutdowns. They told me they are backing a bill to stop members of Congress from getting paid instead. What that really says is they’re wealthy enough to forgo a paycheck while using working people’s livelihoods as leverage.
If they truly cared, they’d pass a bill ensuring that no one loses benefits or pay during political standoffs. But they won’t, because the suffering of the working class is their bargaining chip. Our Republican elected officials have become so detached that they hold onto power by squeezing everyday people harder, while protecting tax breaks and contracts for the rich.
It’s up to us to donate funds to food banks and ensure our neighbors are fed despite this gap our representatives have left.
Arianna Davis Sanford
Anti-communist teaching isn’t propaganda
In regards to Tuesday’s front-page article (“Florida’s ‘anti-communism’ curriculum criticized as ‘propaganda’ by experts,” Oct. 28), claiming an anti-communism curriculum is propaganda, let’s share all the facts to students regarding the history of communism. Teaching all the facts is not propaganda. Promoting communism is propaganda. Students are entitled to study all the sides of an issue.
William Pratt Clermont
McCarthy isn’t worth revisiting
In response to Florida’s using high-school curriculum to rehabilitate the disgraced and disgraceful Sen. Joseph McCarthy, I can only say to Gov. Ron DeSantis, “You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?”
John Solow Winter Springs
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