We can do better for Puerto Rico
After Hurricane Maria in 2017, I was involved in helping create the “I-4 for Puerto Rico” relief effort, working alongside then-Gov. Rick Scott’s team and hundreds of local volunteers. With the help of World Empowerment Mission, we air-shipped over 2 million pounds of aid to Puerto Rico.
That effort mattered. And I’m proud of the work we did together. Yet, I just assumed our government would do the right thing and rebuild the island. But what I learned afterward was eye-opening and disheartening.
Basic infrastructure, like the electrical grid and water treatment facilities, was outdated and fragile, requiring billions to fix. Even more troubling was the corruption. Too often, officials wanted to control who received help, putting politics ahead of people.
Through conversations with Puerto Ricans here at home, I learned these problems weren’t new. Time and again, money sent to the island, an American territory, was squandered by failed leadership.
So when I watched the Super Bowl halftime show and saw the symbolism around power lines and infrastructure, it hit close to home. Nearly a decade later, Puerto Rico is still struggling. The federal government should have taken a stronger, more accountable role in fixing both leadership and infrastructure.
Puerto Rico is part of the United States. No matter the language. No matter the scenery.
As we debate national issues, we can’t ignore that part of our own country still looks and feels left behind. Puerto Ricans deserve better and we should demand real accountability to make sure infrastructure dollars are actually spent on infrastructure.
I really didn’t care for the halftime show, but I did process parts differently than I would have had I not been part of our relief effort in 2017. We can do better.
— Randy Ross, Orlando
Both parties are rudderless
From the beginning, it was clear that the Venn diagram of what was important to Donald Trump and what’s important to big chunks of the conservative (not necessarily “MAGA”) base only overlapped so far. It has been a peculiar experience seeing him do many good things that I feel the nation needs but has not gotten for 20 years (such as serious enforcement of immigration law, getting NATO to pay its fair share of its own defense, etc.). and, at the same, time, resort to what I see as petty cruelties (too numerous to mention) and gentle corruption (ditto).
At the same time, Democrats seem to have lost their bearings entirely, in my opinion. Many of them “stand for” people here illegally, even criminals, even felons; they “stand for” Palestinians (but not Iranians). Many believe “trans women are women” and “we should defund the police” and “we don’t tax the rich enough” and that American CO2 will kill the planet.
We live in interesting times. The hand that defends the very ideas of the American Revolution is unsteady, and the ones who prefer something other than a constitutional republic are crazy.
— Ron Berti, Orlando
Get your story straight on tariffs
In your guest commentary “Why Trump’s tariffs work” (Feb. 9), Steve Cortes, president of the League of American Workers, stated “tariffs did work” and also “They generated substantial revenue, largely paid by foreign producers seeking access to the U.S. market.”
Tariffs are paid by the importer of goods, not the exporter, and mostly passed on to the U.S. consumer. Our president doesn’t know this and continues what I see as the lie that tariffs are paid by the exporter.
— Henry W. Link Jr., Eustis
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