What Haley’s Civil War gaffe says about GOP | Letters to the editor
Nikki Haley’s response to the question of what caused the Civil War illustrates the intellectual and moral decline of the Republican Party.
Her claim that the war was about freedom and “what people could or couldn’t do” shows the muddled reality of GOP orthodoxy. Republican governors and state lawmakers have passed laws for years restricting access to voting, banning books in schools, limiting women’s reproductive health choices, denying parents’ decisions to medically treat their transgender children, cutting off health care to poor children, and enabling anybody to buy deadly weapons — to mention only the most prominent policies they espouse.
None of these actions enhances anyone’s “freedom.” All are designed to limit one’s freedom and to conform to someone else’s notion of well-being. Conservative political theory is based on less government intrusion into personal lives, yet Republicans pursue policies that put the hand of government into people’s affairs at every level.
Do Republicans even know anymore what the substantive meaning of freedom truly is? The record does not show convincing evidence that they do — or that they care.
Stephen Wertheimer, Boca Raton
When words reveal beliefs
Nikki Haley tripped over her own beliefs. She said exactly what she believes.
Her answer to the simplest question ever, at a New Hampshire town hall, tells me that she really believes the Civil War was about states’ rights, as she doubled down with her answer. She said people should have the right to anything without government involvement. That would mean that states could determine on their own whether slavery could exist in that state and not in others (but she never mentioned the word slavery).
Haley knows the history, yet she glibly said: “What do you want me to say about slavery?” with a smile. The following day she accused the questioner of being a “plant,” set up by the Democrats. But this was just another nail in her political coffin.
Our first woman president couldn’t possibly be one that rejects Roe v. Wade and agreed with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn it. Her denial of slavery as being the cause of the Civil War is just the tip of the iceberg for Haley’s interpretation of freedom in America. So, beware of charm and good looks. It’s the same as the MAGA group that has overtaken the Republican Party, perhaps forever.
Linda Gefen, Boca Raton
Punishing the homeless
At the Dec. 19 Fort Lauderdale City Commission meeting, Commissioner Steven Glassman played the role of the cold-hearted, nasty miser Ebenezer Scrooge with aplomb.
Diverting attention from the real reason the city found itself in this pickle, and attempting to deny the most downtrodden members of our community their First Amendment rights (see Case 19-13604 in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals), Glassman proposed that the city cut its already meager funding for homeless services by $640,000 to offset the cost of paying the other side’s legal fees after losing a lawsuit in the case of Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs v. Fort Lauderdale.
While more empathic heads prevailed, discussion should have centered around why the city continues to pursue policies and actions that subvert the Constitution. Rather than spend legal resources and privatize public land in a foolhardy attempt to hide the issue of our growing homeless population, the city should actively address the causes of homelessness and take the necessary steps to end this crisis. Rather than berate other Broward cities for their actions on homelessness, we should look to see how cities such as Tampa and Houston are tackling this social phenomenon caused by unchecked greed. Let’s hope that Glassman was visited by Jacob Marley and his spirits over the holidays and emerges in 2024 with an enlightened, more empathetic heart toward dealing with our city’s poorest citizens.
Leann Barber, Fort Lauderdale