Redistricting is supposed to occur every 10 years, after a national census is taken.
New census data reflects population shifts, which results in states with more or fewer representatives in Congress and different district boundaries. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican supermajority in the state Legislature are clearly afraid of voters and the outcome of next year’s elections.
They know their policies are not popular, but they are determined to stay in power. Their solution is gerrymandering, or the manipulation of district boundaries to favor one political party over another.
Proposing new districts without a new census is a blatant power grab. Purposely distorting the will of the voters is what dictators do. This is not how democracy is supposed to work. Make your voices heard!
Contact your legislators at flhouse.gov/FindYourRepresentative or flsenate.gov/senators/find.
Diane Johnson, Boca Raton
(Editor’s Note: The House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting meets at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 4 in Tallahassee. The committee has 11 members, with none from either Broward or Palm Beach counties and two from Miami-Dade. The members were chosen by Rep. Daniel Perez, R-Miami, the House speaker.)
Don’t diminish nursing
The U.S. Department of Education’s decision to reclassify nursing as not a profession is wrong and harmful.
It ignores the reality of modern health care and disrespects millions of nurses and advanced practice nurses who form its backbone. Nursing is built on rigorous education, clinical expertise and ethical responsibility. Advanced practice nurses diagnose, treat, prescribe, lead teams and shape policy. These are the hallmarks of the medical profession.
This decision misclassifies other essential disciplines — social work, physician assistants, occupational therapy, physical therapy and mental health.
To diminish their status is to diminish patient care. Words matter. This could impact funding, public perception and policy. As health care faces unprecedented challenges, we cannot afford to devalue those who keep it functioning.
The South Florida Council of Advanced Practice Nurses calls on the Department of Education to immediately re-evaluate and correct this classification. Nurses and allied health professionals are leaders in care, advocacy and innovation. We stand with them, and we will fight for the recognition they deserve.
Nursing is a profession. Nurses and nurse practitioners are professionals. Any other ruling is unacceptable.
Dr. Vicky Stone-Gale, DNP, APRN, Davie
The writer is president of the South Florida Council of Advanced Practice Nurses.
Concern for caregivers
Families live with fear and uncertainty as cruel immigration policies terrify the caregivers who hold our communities together. From child care providers to home health aides, immigrant caregivers play an essential role.
Yet instead of investing in care and stability, Republican members of Congress are cutting health care, nutrition and child care and funneling billions of tax dollars to fund separating families and terrorizing immigrant caregivers.
Caregivers allow parents to work, for children to learn and grow, and for older adults to live with dignity.
When trusted workers are torn from their jobs and families, the ripple effects are devastating. Children lose beloved teachers, patients lose consistent care, and families lose the stability that keeps them afloat.
Our nation needs a safe, orderly immigration process that balances compassion and security and ensures that our immigrant caregivers are treated with dignity and respect — not cuts to programs, and not cruelty.
Patrick MacVittie, Oakland Park
The prophet Woody Guthrie
It was 77 years ago that Woody Guthrie sang the protest song “Deportee.”
The lyrics included:
You won’t have your names when you ride the big airplane.
All they will call you will be deportees.
You won’t have your name. You won’t be a mother or a child or a brother, just a deportee. One of “them.”
Whether it was the innocents at My Lai or brutalized American Indians or interned Japanese-Americans, those who were massacred at Rosewood or today’s immigrants, the first step toward the horror of persecution is the collective dehumanization of “the other.” Then, anything can be justified.
It’s past time for us all to choose sides, acknowledge our national moral failing, and adhere to what we so piously worship: God’s children are not nameless numbers.
They are more than just deportees.
Jeff Kleiman, Boynton Beach
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