To the editor:<\/p>\n
House Speaker Mike Johnson lists\u00a07 Core Principles of Conservatism which he says Republicans claim to fight for:<\/p>\n
1) Individual Freedom, yet the GOP definition of freedom is:<\/p>\n
\t1. Restricting the Citizens\u2019 Initiative Petition process<\/p>\n
\t2. Limiting family reproductive\u00a0healthcare\u00a0options<\/p>\n
\t3. Limiting grade-level and teacher-recommended books in schools.\u00a0\u00a0Florida leads the country in book bans<\/p>\n
\t4. Reduction in Home Rule and states\u2019 rights<\/p>\n
\t5. Voter Suppression (mid-census redistricting of Congressional districts, no other districts, by the way).<\/p>\n
\t6. Rights Abuses by ICE<\/p>\n
\t7. Reducing citizens\u2019 rights to petition their government<\/p>\n
2) Limited Government, yet their definition equates to:<\/p>\n
1. Increased bureaucracy around women\u2019s healthcare<\/p>\n
\t2. Increased state revenue where federal funds should be used (detention centers, ICE)<\/p>\n
\t3. Measles outbreaks on the rise<\/p>\n
3) Rule of Law, yet, their practice is:<\/p>\n
\t1. Elimination of due process for migrants<\/p>\n
\t2. Mid-decade redistricting against the FL constitution<\/p>\n
\t3. Defying court rulings to release the Epstein Files, to hang the Jan 6th plaque in Congress, and to SNAP restoration<\/p>\n
\t4. Trump 34-count felon<\/p>\n
\t5. Jan 6 insurrectionists pardoned\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t6. Disregard for the balance of powers and the Constitution<\/p>\n
\t7. Hide the Epstein Files<\/p>\n
4) Peace Through Strength, yet we see:<\/p>\n
\t1. Significant Federal Resources shifted from investigating white collar crime and political corruption to immigration and ICE enforcement (70% don\u2019t have criminal convictions)<\/p>\n
\t2. Destabilizing the world and government order<\/p>\n
\t3. U.S. citizens detained by ICE<\/p>\n
\t4. A War in Iran without end, bankrupting the USA<\/p>\n
5) Fiscal Responsibilities, yet we have:<\/p>\n
\t1. School Voucher Abuse<\/p>\n
\t2. $10 M Hope Charity Scandal<\/p>\n
\t3. DOGE<\/p>\n
\t4. State left to deal with lost revenue from Fed cuts.<\/p>\n
\t5. Exorbitant\u00a0Salaries for Politically Connected GOP Allies<\/p>\n
\t6. ICE consumes the largest part of the federal budget<\/p>\n
\t7. Building monuments and a ballroom at a time when citizens struggle<\/p>\n
\t8. Escalating wars<\/p>\n
\t9. Pushing name changes (Airports, roads, Charlie\u00a0Kirk Blvd, Gulf of America, Florida, the Freedom State) at taxpayers\u2019 expense<\/p>\n
\t10. Health Insurance cost rises 46% to 100% more<\/p>\n
\t11. 20 billion to Argentina<\/p>\n
\t12. $184 higher family cost (Jan \u201925 to \u201926 and more since January)<\/p>\n
\t13. Spending more money for environmental cleanup than pollution prevention<\/p>\n
6) Free Markets, but they practice:<\/p>\n
\t1. Government bailouts for business, but not for those with policy-induced healthcare, homeowner insurance, or school debt.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t2. Insurance Co. sweetheart legislation allowing profits to be hidden from rate regulators. Home Insurance up 40% (since 2022)<\/p>\n
\t3. Ignores the requirement to grant 5% of federal loans to small businesses<\/p>\n
\t4. Open oil drilling\u00a0off Florida\u2019s Gulf coast, 165,000 clean energy jobs lost<\/p>\n
\t5. Tariffs cost Americans $1,100 each (2025)<\/p>\n
7) Human\u00a0Dignity, yet we see:<\/p>\n
\t1. Denied Medicare Expansion<\/p>\n
\t2. Worst job numbers since 2009, and Florida has the shortest unemployment program in the nation<\/p>\n
\t3. Florida teacher salaries lowest in the nation<\/p>\n
\t4. 36+ ICE detainees dead<\/p>\n
\t5. Military personnel deaths and injuries wiped\u00a0from the records<\/p>\n
Karyn Edison<\/p>\n
Fort Myers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To the editor: House Speaker Mike Johnson lists\u00a07 Core Principles of Conservatism which he says Republicans claim to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-390247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}