Party over country indeed
To the editor:
Having read the Breeze regularly for more than 20 years, as a snowbird, I have observed there is no shortage of conservative letter writers. Sadly, as they have gotten increasingly aggressive, they also have become less anchored to “reality.” Many ignore available information and spout “alternative facts” (as created by the first Trump administration). These letter-writers appear not to know how to fact-check the information they receive from obviously biased sources, such as FOX, influencers, podcasters, which are the original Fake News. The current crop of MAGA contributors does not engage in discourse among equals who happen to hold different opinions; they seem to believe that Democrats are “Left Wing Lunatics,” having “Low IQ” or are treasonous agents of the “Deep State.”
I would like to address information in a letter written by John Benedict and published Feb. 21, which complains about USAID, ignoring the efforts to feed the starving and stem the AIDS epidemic in Africa. The letter repeats the debunked $50M condom story but meanwhile ignores the excess crops bought from American farmers which are rotting due to the thoughtless impulsive behavior of Musk and Trump.
FACT: $350K, not $2M, was provided to Guatemala for a range of human sexuality services, including counseling and suicide prevention, not sex change operations.
FACT: $25K, not $47K, was a grant to Colombia by the State Department, not USAID, to produce a biographical opera by a respected American artist who happens to be transgender.
Regarding issues around human sexuality and the perhaps not surprising reaction of Floridians who are part of older generations:
In the 1960s homosexuality was still considered a psychiatric illness by most of the mental health profession. Today that has completely changed. The same will happen with the Transgender population in time as they become more common and less feared. Gender Dysphoria is real and painful for children and their parents; it is not a fad and it can be treated.
Eventually the letter gets to the subject of the U.S. Department of Education, claiming it, and the teachers union, are responsible for the delays in student achievement. It appears the writer has neither taught students nor worked in an oversight agency. Using Florida as a model, low teacher pay, banning books, whitewashing the curriculum, and an adversarial system will not yield high student achievement.
Mr. Benedict was right about one thing: Those who put party over country are not patriots. He just was wrong about which party.
Sam Herman
New York