“We’re stridently noisily pro-choice creatures,” conservative writer Nancy Smith says. “You know why? Because we remember what it was like to grow up in towns and cities without Roe V. Wade. We were there, eyes wide open.”
nancy smith
A Gun Registry In Florida Is a Bad Idea. Just Ask Canada.
A panel of Florida economists weighed the burden of a proposed constitutional amendment that aims to ban assault weapons but grandfather in guns already circulating, as long as their owners register them with the state. Bad idea, says Nancy Smith.
Immigration, the Democrats’ 2020 Waterloo
In this Democratic Party, argues Nancy Smith, moderates have been purged, conservative Democrats are nonexistent, and the party’s leaders seem intent on turning it into a party of hard socialism as quickly as possible.
Denying Voting Rights to Felons Should Be Beneath Us
Who gets to vote should be driven by citizenship, the spirit of the United States Constitution and all America stands for, not by blowhardism and dirty tricks, argues Nancy Smith.
The Florida Compact on Immigration: Recognizing Immigrants’ Value Without Demonizing Them
The compact is a set of key principles outlining the need for smart immigration policies at the state and federal levels to drive Florida’s economy forward, including a path forward for undocumented immigrants.
Party Split or Not, Republicans Using George Soros to Smear Other Republicans Is Offensive
The GOP primary that has degraded into absurd name-calling pits tea-party-backed Scott Sturgill against conservative Mike Miller in the Edgewood, Orlando, and Winter Park area.
Beyond Donation of 25 FHP Used Cars to Puerto Rico, an Island’s Policing in Crisis
Puerto Rico right now is all about a cattle pen of system failures — but one of the most important is its broken and bleeding law enforcement structure.
White Supremacist Teacher Dayanna Volitich Mustn’t Be Returned to the Classroom
Try to imagine you’re a non-white student in Volitich’s social studies class. What do you do with this new information about your teacher’s “white superiority”?
Democrats, ‘Party of Intellectuals,’ Have a Second-Amendment Blind Spot
Americans possesses an unalienable and inherent right of self-defense, a lawfully armed citizenry is a free citizenry, and no government has merited the total trust of its people.
Campus ‘Free Speech’ Bill Is A Litigation Nightmare in the Making
The inappropriately named “Campus Free Expression Act,” approved Tuesday by a 7-4 vote of the Florida Senate Education Committee, would offer students about as much freedom as a prison yard.
Address Florida’s Deadly Rail Crossings Now, During 2018 Session
Between 2011 and 2017, there were a total of 105 deaths on more than 350 miles of Florida East Coast Railway tracks, which also run through Bunnell. A rail safety bill needs legislative support.
Florida’s Cold Shoulder to Trump
The first holiday weekend Donald Trump brought his presidency home to Mar-A-Lago was a true come-to-Jesus lesson in business loss and lifestyle chaos for locals.
Stop Playing The National Anthem At Sports Events
The anthem is being used to make statements that reflect anger and divisiveness instead of pride, but primarily so because it’s being performed where it shouldn’t be, argues Nancy Smith.
Making Democrats Great Again: It’s Going To Take A While
No wonder Republican leaders think they can get away with almost anything. They do because they can, argues Nancy Smith, and because Democrats’ absent strategy lets them.
Senate President Joe Negron’s Shabby Response to Repeat Offender Frank Artiles
Even now Artiles doesn’t get it, and seemingly neither does Negron–they don’t understand how ugly racially charged language is to all people of good will, but especially when it comes from a state senator.
On the Sad Prospect of CFO Jeff Atwater, Rare Government Royalty, Leaving Tallahassee
It’s going to feel strange without Jeff Atwater’s steady hand and keen mind in the Florida Capitol, writes Nancy Smith of a the state’s Chief Financial Officer, who is resigning to take a post at Florida Atlantic University.
Early Voting: A Dissent
Early voting gives political parties and special interests a chance to manipulate, to lock up blocs of votes in advance of Election Day and to keep opposition parties and candidates from offering another viewpoint, argues Nancy Smith.
If Trump Ever Had My Vote, He Just Lost It
If Trump secretly conducted business in communist Cuba while Fidel Castro was its president, the Republican presidential nominee should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, not elected to the highest office in the land.
Trump-Bashing’s Indictment as Americans’ Trust in Mainstream Media Sinks to a New Low
Covering Trump’s contradictory and rash statements is one thing. That’s the media’s job. But there isn’t a commentator or an anchor on CNN who doesn’t wear a Clinton heart on his or her sleeve. With 53 days to go before the election, they’ve even stopped trying to hide it.
Who’s Afraid of Gary Johnson? Let Him Join the Debates
The Libertarian Party is on the ballot in all 50 states. For that reason, Gary Johnson should be on that debate stage because he is an alternative available to the entire nation, argues Nancy Smith.
‘Iransom’: Sorry, Mr. President, It’s a Hard Story to Let Go
Nancy Smith says she’s thought about what she calls “the ransom scandal” every day since a report on how President Obama secured the release of four Americans held hostage by the Iranians by flying in $400 million in cash “to buy them back.”
When Bernie Sanders Mirrors Donald Trump
The same Democratic candidate who decried Donald Trump for condoning violence in North Carolina in March turned right around and did the same thing in Nevada when his rally devolved into chaos. He condoned it.
Homeschooling: Not So Eccentric Anymore
The number of American K–12 children educated at home increased from 1.09 million in 2003 to 1.77 million in 2012. That means they make up 3.4 percent of the nation’s school population.
Legislature Tells Florida’s Horse Farmers to Find a New Business
Florida horsemen are screwed, argues Nancy Smith: Only a miracle can save the $1.2 billion Florida horse racing industry they represent. Their bane: the Florida Legislature.
Florida Gibberish: Subbing Computer Coding For Foreign Languages Is Idea of a Yahoo
The bill in the Florida Legislature by an ex-Yahoo executive wanting to push computer science at the expense of foreign languages would worsen education, not improve it.
Should Government Censor Offensive Speech? 40% of Millennials Say Yes. That’s a Problem.
Surprisingly, the Pew survey finds nearly twice as many Democrats as Republicans saying government should be able to stop speech against minorities. Independents are in the middle.
Conservatives Should Be Leading the Charge to Accept Syrian Refugees. We Have No Choice.
Doesn’t American exceptionalism demand that we lead where others have neither the will nor the courage? We have no choice. America gives sanctuary to those fleeing persecution, argues Nancy Smith. This is what we do and who we are. We’re the good guys.
Charlie Crist and His Convertible Wedding Dress: Perfect Fits for Washington
Based on all he’s done in the past, having gone from Chain Gang Charlie to Populist Charlie the freshman congressman is going to be a go-to guy for all the blues on the Hill, writes Nancy Smith.
Federal Bureaucracy Is the Monster Killing the Florida Everglades
Federal regulations keep water from flowing south into Everglades National Park, where it could save a freshwater-dependent ecosystem dying of thirst, argues Nancy Smith.
Florida’s New Drone Law, Restricting “Surveillance,” Is a Gift to Personal Injury Lawyers
Like medical marijuana, there’s an entrepreneurial rush to get in on the drone business, but states like Florida have been stumbling their way to legislation., argues Nancy Smith.
Reporter Kicked Out: When Public Officials Abuse Florida’s Sunshine Law, With Lawmakers’ Blessing
A “health district” run by public officials closes a public meeting under a bogus exemption to the Sunshine law, and gets a blank check to secretly talk about whatever it wishes, though it affects public policy.
Memo to GOP Candidates: Why Conservatives Should Embrace Gay Marriage Decision
As a conservative who has always supported gay marriage, it’s difficult for Nancy Smith to understand why so many people of her generation — the ones who grew up witnessing some of the worst discrimination of the 20th century — could consistently rage against it.
In Donald Trump, Democrats Have a “Very Useful Idiot”
Republicans have an image problem. And it gets worse when somebody like Trump exacerbates the problem when he called Mexicans rapists.
Florida’s Nature Conservancy Gets It:
It’s About Land Management
Most Florida environmental groups this special session made a lot of noise and spent a lot of money, but came away empty-handed and unhappy. Not The Nature Conservancy.
The War on Women, Cont’d: Enough with Mandatory Vaginal Exams, Florida
It’s not enough that in 2011 our Legislature passed a draconian law forcing women to schedule, pay for, and look at an ultrasound of their fetus if they choose to exercise their right to an abortion.
Fifteen Years For Sex on the Beach? Seriously?
Federal prisons are full of white collar criminals who won’t serve a day over five years, criminals who destroyed companies and bilked citizens out of their life savings. Yet Elissa Alvarez and Jose Caballero face 15 years for “lewd and lascivious” sex on the beach, a ridiculous excess, argues Nancy Smith.
In Tallahassee, Lawmakers’ Power-Tripped Rudeness Toward the Public Is a Daily Cringe
Committee chairmen having to assert their authority ad nauseum, forbidding members of the public from overstaying their welcome at the podium: it’s offensive to people who drive sometimes hundreds of miles to be heard for two or three minutes, writes Nancy Smith.
A Strip-Club Sin Tax That Also Takes Names? This Conservative Says No And No.
Florida lawmakers are considering a measure that would charge a $10 surtax on sex-club patrons and require the business to keep a database of customers. Nancy Smith says no.
Why Florida Should Embrace Common Core: A Conservative Perspective
“I believe in Common Core State Standards, believed in them decades before they existed, and desperately want them for my grandchildren, their children and the future of this great nation,” writes Nancy Smith, the conservative editor of Sunshine State News. “If I’d been an educator, I might have invented them.”