Love Sarasota and Florida – or leave them

Since we are now officially in the holiday season, it would certainly be nice if more people found something positive to write about for the rest of 2024 instead of constantly complaining about our governor, our president-elect, and the snowbirds , traffic and so many other problems.

I am a third generation Florida and Sarasota County native and love it here.

If I didn’t, I would already be making plans to live somewhere else.

Florida isn’t for everyone and many of us know and accept that. But those who don’t seem to particularly like the Sunshine State might consider moving.

That would be better for everyone than trying to make our state more like New York, New Jersey or Massachusetts. We don’t want to be such states. Look around you and be grateful for more things.

Many of you place far too much emphasis on national elections, when in reality local politicians may have a greater influence on your daily life.

Live your life and examine your own attitudes and actions, because they will really affect your quality of life much more than those who just elected politicians.

Joe Dunn, Sarasota

Proud to belong to a cult that is aware of racism

Bill Cotterell’s recent column praising a new course at New College of Florida was an opinion straight out of Project 2025.

Challenging those who are aware of social injustice, inequality, racism and discrimination as a “cult” means that Jesus and the current Pope were and are part of that cult and would not be welcome in the classroom.

I am very happy to be part of the same group.

Cotterell’s praise for a new indoctrination course at New College aims to ignore the facts – and to ignore any values ​​of kindness, compassion and tolerance of those who may differ from the white, so-called Christian demographic that Gov. Ron DeSantis is targeting attend school or teach there.

Stuart Sinai, Longboat Key

Cabinet must defend the constitution

We elected Donald Trump again. There is a lot of speculation about what this will lead to in the next few years. We’ve heard about big changes in a number of critical areas.

Trump claims the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 has not influenced those plans, but both emphasize loyalty in filling key positions. His previous decisions in the cabinet confirm this.

Their oath of office makes no mention of the president, but it requires defending the Constitution against all enemies everywhere. It’s hard to believe that the requirement won’t come into conflict with loyalty to him at some point.

This was clearly evident on January 6, 2021.

From the moment of the first strike, these actions fell outside the constitutional wall that protects our country. On that day and time, rioters were enemies of the Constitution and the country, seeking to achieve by force what Trump could not achieve in court.

As president, Trump watched for hours before fulfilling his duty to defend the ongoing constitutional process and count the states’ electoral votes to certify the election results.

I doubt we will see any different behavior after Trump returns to office in January.

Kyle Quattlebaum, Sarasota

I voted against Trump but will support him

What do you think is the greatest gift your education has given you?

Some time ago my answer to this question was: “Learn how to write well.” Today my answer is to learn to accept different opinions – not necessarily to agree with them, but to listen to them respectfully.

And even if we disagree, we must support the majority opinion, the consensus opinion. For me that means I have to support our newly elected president.

I don’t have to agree with all of his opinions or policies, but I do have to support his right to advance and advocate for them.

Everything I just wrote is much easier to say in the abstract than to replicate in real life.

In school we learn that what makes America great is its democratic rule of law.

I remain confident that our Republican House and Senate, now in a majority, will have the backbone to lead and steer this country in the right direction.

And while the right direction is often a matter of partisan interpretation, we are still a democracy and will not soon or ever become a Donald Trump-led monarchy.

I honestly think so.

Bill Matthews, Venice

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Stop Complaining About Sarasota and Florida During the Holidays | letters