LETTER: Elect leaders who truly believe in freedom

Editor:

It is time to reject radical Republican one-party rule. The recent Jacksonville results give hope that Florida might resist blatant fascism.

Governor DeSantis and his legislators are telling us that Florida is free. Free to do what? Under DeSantis, there is freedom for big insurance to exploit average citizens who are left with no legal recourse. There is freedom to snatch away local control. There is freedom to exploit labor through abusive laws weakening unions. There is the freedom to use the government to investigate, humiliate, and punish those with differing political views.

There is freedom for the government to deny our reproductive privacy and our identities. There is freedom to censor educators and ban books without the due process necessary to protect freedom of speech and information access. There is the freedom to intimidate by carrying guns wherever you please, turning the right to self-defense into the right to threaten and harm. There is freedom to suppress voting.

Those are twisted freedoms, leading to autocracy and fear. Our government is not a team sport where we must blindly follow the players no matter how dirty they play. It's time to elect individuals who really believe in freedom.

Kay Blue

Punta Gorda