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OPINION
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gainesvilletimes.com
Thursday, November 22, 2018
Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | scasas@gainesvilletimes.com
Submit a letter: letters@gainesvilletimes.com
The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right
of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
LITERS
Maybe readers
can help keep
The Times at
7 days a week
I read your article about a five-day only print
edition of our paper.
I didn’t like it then, and I like it less now.
I understand I can read it online, but that’s not
the same.
I have stood in the dark, freezing rain, wait
ing for my paper when the carrier was late. The
paper is a big part of my morning. With paper
and coffee I start my day, I’m not looking for
ward to Monday and Tuesday without my paper,
and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Why not survey other readers and see how
they feel? I understand why you are doing this,
I just don’t understand why you haven’t asked
us what we want and what we could do to help.
I would be willing to pay more to keep Monday
and Tuesday in print.
Lets ask all the readers and advertisers what
they think and see if we can keep Monday and
Tuesday in print. If readers agree with me,
please contact The Times and let them know.
Terry Gabriel
Dawson vi lie
Different perspective on 10
issues of disagreement
In his latest letter to the editor, Dick Biggs
laments the ability of our government to com
promise in a bipartisan manner. I appreciate his
frankness in pointing out issues of disagreement,
but Mr. Biggs immediately strikes a belligerent
tone. He speaks of each issue as if it is a black-
and-white affair. Surely Mr. Biggs is aware that
nothing in life is that simple. I hope that I can, in
the spirit of compromise, sound more concilia
tory. While I will not have time to address all of
his issues, I will try to at least give the reader
something to think about.
Instead of trying to defend legal abortion, and
thereby be framed as “pro-death” by Mr. Biggs,
I would like to offer an area on which I am sure
that we can agree. Everyone would like to see
less abortions. Research has shown that the best
way to achieve this is through better sexual edu
cation and birth control. Let’s all put our money
where our mouths are and make this happen.
Same-sex marriage: As a liberal, and a decent
human being, I’m for love and equality. Sue me.
It does bother me that the will of God is continu
ously brought up by the opponents of marriage
equality, when it seems like the Old Testament
God had as much to say about the fabric we use
in our clothing.
The argument against open borders is often
based on “law and order.” In 1951 some 145
countries ratified the Refugee Convention. Asy
lum seekers are breaking no law.
States rights: Is this still a thing? We in the
South have many reminders of a lost war and
many lessons of how each individual state
should not be able to do whatever it wishes.
Despite Mr. Biggs giving great praise to
Trump for slashing our tax burden, tax cuts have
been the norm since 1953. Cutting taxes is one of
the few areas on which both parties can agree.
Patriotism has been the rallying cry of the
GOP since the early ’90s. Sadly, Trump has
taken it to a whole new level. A leader who
proudly proclaims that he is a nationalist while
leading chants that his opponent should be
locked up and that the media is the enemy of the
people is not without precedent. If patriotism
means never questioning the supreme leader,
count me out.
Gun control: No matter how much Fox News
ranted, I never had a representative of Obama’s
administration come to my door and demand
my guns. With gun sales skyrocketing over the
last decade, I don’t think we have anything to
worry about.
I would echo Mr. Biggs’s wish that this country
have the wisdom to choose the right path, but we
should remember that wisdom is not innate. It is
not a gift from heaven. Wisdom must be earned
through study. We must educate ourselves and
learn the facts of each area of disagreement.
Only then can we come together for the good of
all.
Jeff Casper
Gainesville
Your government officials
Gainesville city government
City Council, 300 Henry Ward Way, Suite
303 P.O. Box 2496, Gainesville 30501,
770-535-6860, www.gainesville.org,
citycouncil@gainesville.org. Mayor Danny
Dunagan, 770-718-7877. Council members
Barbara B. Brooks, 678-858-0305; Ruth
Bruner,770-532-7207; Sam Couvillon, 678-
SI 6-9711; Zack Thompson, 770-534-0041;
George Wangemann, 770-534-5861
City Manager, Bryan Lackey, 770-535-6865
Police Department, Chief Carol Martin, 701
Queen City Parkway, Gainesville, 770-
534-5252, police@gainesville.org, www.
gainesville.org/police-department
Fire Department, Chief Jerome Yarbrough, 725
Pine St., Gainesville, 770-534-3612, www.
gainesville.org/fire-department
Public Utilities, Director Kelly Randall, 770-
538-2400, krandall@gainesville.org
Public Works, Director Chris Rotalsky, P.O. Box
2496, Gainesville, 770-535-6882, crotalsky@
gainesville.org
Lesson in racial politics from Florida
Now that, finally, the
elections in Florida have
reached a conclusion, there
are lessons worth learn
ing. One is on the subject of
race.
There was a fateful
anomaly in racial voting
in the governor’s race
between Democrat Andrew
Gillum and Republican
Rick DeSantis, now Flori
da’s governor-elect.
Given that Gillum, formerly mayor
of Tallahassee, was running to become
the first black governor of Florida, we
might have expected black enthusiasm
for his candidacy on the order of the
waves of black enthusiasm for the presi
dential candidacy of Barak Obama.
But it didn’t happen.
Gillum received a lower percentage
of the black vote than did Democrat
Sen. Bill Nelson, who lost to Rick Scott
in the senate race.
White Democrat Nelson got 90 per
cent of the black vote and Republican
Scott got 10 percent.
In the governor’s race, black Demo
crat Gillum got 86 percent of the black
vote, four percentage points less than
Nelson, against Republican DeSantis’ 14
percent.
Given the razor-thin margins, that dif
ference in black support meant a lot.
When Gillum finally conceded the
election, he was behind by 33,683
votes. Each 1 percent of the black vote
equated to about 10,000 votes. So if
Gillum had received 90 percent of the
black vote, as did Bill Nelson, rather
than 86 percent, he could well have had
another 40,000 votes, which would have
been his margin of victory.
Forty thousand votes is about 35 per
cent of the 112,911 votes by
which Donald Trump won
Florida in 2016. It’s 55 per
cent of the 73,189 votes by
which Barack Obama won
Florida in 2012.
So understanding why
Gillum received 4 percent
age points less of the black
vote than Nelson, and why
DeSantis received 4 per
centage points more of the
black vote than Scott could
make all the difference in what presi
dential candidate wins Florida in 2020.
Adding to the puzzle is the fact that
racial politics played a
high profile and nasty
role in the Gillum-
DeSantis contest.
Gillum was aggres
sive in his allegations of
racism against DeSantis.
“Now, I’m not calling
Mr. DeSantis a rac
ist, I’m simply saying
the racists believe he
is racist,” he said. He
accused DeSantis of get
ting financial support
from white supremacist
groups and speaking at
their events.
DeSantis, a conserva
tive former Republican congressman,
made his support of Trump a center-
piece of his campaign, and President
Trump campaigned for him in Florida.
So how does this all compute?
One convincing line of speculation
is that DeSantis campaigned aggres
sively on parental choice in education
and keeping in place and expanding the
tax-credit scholarship program enacted
under Gov. Jeb Bush. Gillum cam
paigned on closing down the program,
which empowers parents to use these
funds to send their children to charter
and private schools.
Polls consistently show that blacks
support parental choice in education.
And for good reason. Black children
are disproportionately trapped in fail
ing, violent public schools. Black par
ents want alternatives for their kids.
Gillum took the left-wing party line
on education choice, against the senti
ments of black constituents. This could
have made all the difference.
The lesson here is that blacks care
about issues more than they care about
skin color.
It’s an important les
son for Republicans
going forward. They
need to tune in to black
concerns, which often
are not the same as
those of whites, and
explain how the best
solutions for those con
cerns are the conserva
tive solutions.
In addition to edu
cation, this means
addressing issues such
as housing, urban
violence and prison
reform.
The governor’s race in Florida gives
us good reason to believe that a more
aggressive, targeted effort by Republi
cans in reaching out to minority com
munities could make all the difference
in the outcome of the presidential elec
tion in 2020.
Star Parker is an author and president
of the Center for Urban Renewal and
Education and a columnist for Creators.
STAR PARKER
www.urbancure.org
Republicans need
to tune in to black
concerns ... and
explain how the
best solutions for
those concerns are
the conservative
solutions.
"I don't recall inviting "Some peddler. Calls
that guy. Who is he?" himself Black Friday."
JIM POWELL I For The Times
ANDY MARLETTE I Creators Syndicate
She (Times
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