Letters to the Editor

+ Common mistake
Dear Editor:
I read your Jan. 2 column on "Revelation" with interest. I agree with your concerns.
I was surprised, however, that you used "i.e." when you should have used "e.g." That is a common mistake, but I don't expect it from an editor.
Nelson Patterson

Sarasota

+ A sinking ship
Dear Editor:
Regarding your editorial on the word for 2014, you may be the only newspaper editor in North America to recognize the disaster that took place Nov. 7, 1932.

Unfortunately, it isn't going to take another 250 years for the USS Titanic to finish "going down by the bow."

The election of Barack Obama in 2008 was just the culmination of what FDR started in March of 1933. Amity Shlaes, in her book "The Forgotten Man," describes in detail the factual events of the Great Depression and the recovery that took place as the result of our involvement in World War II.

Albert Jay Nock, a name unknown to today's voters, correctly predicted the condition that this country is in, and the unlikely prospect of any corrective action. Why put on a life jacket when the captain and crew say, "I can swim, even if you can't? We will be the first ones into the lifeboats."

The mantra that it wasn't an iceberg and we are unsinkable will produce the same results as those experienced by the passengers on the RMS Titanic.

Thanks for your column and the painful truth.

John W. Minton Jr.
Bradenton

+ Hope springs eternal
Dear Editor:
Regarding your word for the year, “Revelation,” the basic factor in the decline and deterioration of a society is the politicians.

Every society, including Rome, was depleted by politicians pursuing power, influence and personal advantage. The term “bread and circus” was coined in Rome as the bribing system to enhance political advantage.

Politicians believe that the “masses are asses,” and they are on the whole, correct. The civic IQ and interest of the average U.S. citizen is deplorable, a disgrace.

This dysfunctional, inefficient, incompetent government at all levels, especially the federal level, did not happen overnight.

Since the Wilson administration, gradually the unique American success and system has been compromised. World War II galvanized traditional American values until the early 1960s, then were compromised with the advent of the Vietnam War.

Along with the political establishment, academia has also been a major deteriorating subversive influence, assisted by the maturing of TV.

The post-World War II “greatest generation” inadvertently provided the foundation for the baby boomer ’60s generation to create the current dysfunction.

That aged ’60s generation is now reaping the convoluted, distorted, value-bankrupt, no-character society they created.

Elected government, meanwhile, is a reflection of its citizens. Government bureaucrats are a covert cancerous byproduct of corrupt government.

Currently, we have the most corrupt administration in presidential history and an impotent political, corrupt Congress.

Revelation? A noble idea and concept. Unfortunately, it will take more than one generation to restore traditional American values and national character.

That is assuming that restoration is possible, from a very depleted condition. Then again, “Hope springs eternal!”

Vic Cameron
Sarasota

+ An open letter to City Commissioners:
In response to the newly implemented Employee Parking Permit Program, we are writing on behalf of our concerns for the service industry workers of downtown.

Offsetting a $25 fine, the city is asking downtown workers, many of whom work below poverty level, to pay $120 a year for the privilege of parking within blocks of their place of employment. Although marketed as “very affordable,” charging low wage earners to park during daytime hours takes advantage of a significant population of Sarasota’s working poor.

While employers have the option to purchase permits on behalf of their employees, the “plate specific” detail of the program puts an unfair burden on small businesses to provide a single permit for each member of their staff.

Furthermore, the program is not only burdensome to both workers and small businesses, but also ill-conceived in basic structure. For instance, if an employee or employer were willing to make the purchase, the city has already run out of permits in specific lots for the month, thus penalizing the worker the $25 a day for reasonable parking.

What steps can we take to have this program returned to the city agenda and open to community input?

Susan McCormick and Kaylee Shockley ,
employees of State Street Eating House