GOP wants to defund the police
Have Republican policies in Tallahassee gone off the rails again? Now they want to defund the police (“Unions oppose property tax rollback,” July 27). According to the Fraternal Order of Police, Amendment 3 “creates far too much uncertainty about how local governments would continue to fund law enforcement … and other critical public safety functions.” Scoff, and then vote no on the Amendment 3 ballot initiative in November.
— Marian Price, Orlando
Making progress on water safety
Thank you for your July 28 guest commentary about Florida’s child drowning crisis (“Focus on water safety for World Drowning Prevention Day,” July 25). As heartbreaking as these tragedies are, they are also preventable — and Florida has begun taking meaningful steps to address them.
In the last legislative session, Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith sponsored two important bills that passed: one requiring hospitals and birthing centers to provide water‑safety education to new parents, and another expanding free swim‑lesson vouchers for children. A third bill, which would require safety measures for pools in rental properties, did not pass — but Smith plans to reintroduce it next year. I urge readers to contact their state legislators and ask them to support this vital measure.
Here in Central Florida, we also have a model worth following. Osceola County leaders have taken bold action to combat this crisis. Last spring, the Osceola Department of Health partnered with the school district to provide free swim lessons for all kindergartners, while tourism leaders launched water‑safety awareness campaigns. These practical, laudable steps save lives and should be emulated across Florida.
In Orange County, the City of Orlando partnered with the Orlando Police Department to offer free swimming lessons for children on Saturdays this summer. The Howard Phillips Center for Children and Families also sponsored free swim lessons for 120 children in the tri‑county area. If Florida’s other counties adopt similar strategies, we can make real progress in preventing these senseless tragedies.
— Marie Martinez, Orlando
Why we must fight socialism
Throughout history, great nations have fallen because they abandoned the very principles and institutions upon which they were founded. It was not just corruption, decadence, debauchery, nepotism and the like — though those were contributing factors.
In the U.S., we are witnessing the call by communist, fascist and socialist Democrats to abandon our principles and institutions and to abandon our Founding Fathers, Constitution, Supreme Court, Electoral College, national monuments, freedoms of speech and religion, faith in God and the right to bear arms.
If we seek to retain all of the above and to keep our nation undivided, prosperous and strong, we must show communist, fascist and socialist Democrats the exit. It’s time for the silent majority to lend its voice to that of the vocal Democratic minority.
— Erik H. Schot, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
Weighing economic tradeoffs
President Trump is placing tariffs on goods manufactured in countries that he claims use forced labor, ostensibly to encourage more manufacturing in the U.S.
Third-world countries have few laws favoring workers. Their economies apparently justify wages and conditions not allowed here. Our federal minimum wage is $7.25, but many states, including Florida, have higher minimum wages, and unionized employees can seek even better wages.
As a voter supporting livable wages and generous benefits for American labor, I admit to a conflict.
Living standards here are far superior to those where much of our clothing and other goods are made. Consumers can buy goods that cost less to make. Goods made here by well-paid union workers might cost 50% more than those imported from nations with depressed conditions.
I have a question for which I have no answer. As consumers, do we like our clothing priced at a much-reduced cost from what the same items would cost if made in the U.S.? Is the tradeoff of more Americans having good-paying jobs worth the greater cost of goods sold to us?
— Sheldon I. Saitlin, Boca Raton
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