Tales from Florida

Have you seen some of the news about legislation coming out from the Florida elected officials in the statehouse recently? No one is claiming that the body of lawmakers thought up these horrific measures on their own; they are all the creation of the team around the current Governor, Ron DeSantis. DeSantis recently threw his hat into the increasingly crowded Republican Primary race.

DeSantis likes to feel that he is the former ‘pres.’ without the January 6^th or secret document baggage. He tries to wear the MAGA hat and adopt a swagger and bluster, but somehow, it doesn’t ring true. He can posture and strut on a stage, but to many, this appears to be a role he is playing, with an ever-changing script.

He appears to have a list and is checking off the boxes as shown by these examples:

A. The 15-week abortion ban, not strict enough? Make it six weeks and sign the bill in the dark of night…Check!

B. Don’t say gay, not strict enough? Create a moratorium on mentioning the subject of gays in school in any grade…and punish educators who oppose this…oh, and add legislation against trans folks also…Check!

C. Opposing vaccinations didn’t quite work? Appoint a State Surgeon General who doesn’t support vaccinations or masks and doesn’t believe COVID was handled properly. I am uncertain if he didn’t believe in COVID as a pandemic either. …Check!

D. Don’t like history books that report truths you don’t appreciate? Well, disallow books that teach truthfully about the slave era and the civil rights movements….. Check!

E. Believe some books can harm young minds and act on it. Publicize a list of banned books and threaten schools that do not remove them. (Even though many are well acclaimed and are even National prize winners)…. Check!

F. Don’t like a progressive college with many alternative learners and LGBTQIA members as students? Throw out the current leadership and bring in leadership that promises to turn the college into a Christian College…. Check!

G. Don’t like the facts of our diverse nation with multiple religious groups?

Brandish your ideas for creating a patriotic white Christian nation, starting with your Florida experiences. Christian Nationalism for everyone!…. Check!

H. Don’t like the fact that immigrants can come to America and seek asylum? Get the state to pay for importing immigrants and shipping them to northern states while you laugh at your wily moves. (Disregarding this playing with real people and their lives.) Or doesn’t he believe “these people” have rights?.… Check!

I. Don’t believe in the freedom of the press? Fine, restrict press access to your schedule and to members of your administration….Check!

J. Don’t like protests about your policies? Just ban public gatherings of more than a few people and ban protests. (Forget that pesky right of assembly clause.)…Check!

K. Don’t like it when the largest employer in your state speaks out against your ‘don’t say gay’ policy?

Of course, threaten the business, and regulations pertaining to it, using a straw board of cronies to run it…. Check!

L. Don’t like it when the voters of your state approve voting rights for felons? Right, make new laws to arrest voters who were enrolled legally and overturn the will of the people. …Check!

DeSantis has promoted all the above measures. He is well on his way to creating an authoritarian state in the United States. Since being elected with an overwhelming vote, he has assumed that whatever he does, along with his compliant legislators, is legal. He may soon find out that there is a United States Constitution and Bill of Rights that stand in his way. Most people might know about a few of these, but I doubt everyone is aware of all the anti-freedom measures he has taken.

It seems to me and many others that he is trying to change America to resemble the authoritarian regime now found in Hungary. Some others feel his actions are promoting fascist philosophies. Americans cannot stand by and allow the enhancement of such leaders.

Heather Cox Richardson had a great column about some of these matters this week. She said in part in her column on May 29^th, 2023:

(Quoting from a brochure written by the War Department and given to the US troops during World War II.)

“It is “vitally important” to learn to spot native fascists, the government said, “even though they adopt names and slogans with popular appeal, drape themselves with the American flag, and attempt to carry out their program in the name of the democracy they are trying to destroy.”

The only way to stop the rise of fascism in the United States, the document said, “is by making our democracy work and by actively cooperating to preserve world peace and security.” In the midst of the insecurity of the modern world, the hatred at the root of fascism “fulfills a triple mission.” By dividing people, it weakens democracy. “By getting men to hate rather than to think,” it prevents them “from seeking the real cause and a democratic solution to the problem.” By falsely promising prosperity, it lures people to embrace its security.

“Fascism thrives on indifference and ignorance,” it warned. Freedom requires “being alert and on guard against the infringement not only of our own freedom but the freedom of every American. If we permit discrimination, prejudice, or hate to rob anyone of his democratic rights, our own freedom, and all democracy is threatened.” And if “we want to make certain that fascism does not come to America, we must make certain that it does not thrive anywhere in the world.”

I am sure, if my readers stop and think for a while, they will, like me, see the dangers in promoting a man such as Ron DeSantis for any office, let alone the presidency of this great nation. I hope the Republicans who are trying to find an alternative to the indicted candidate currently leading in the polls do not choose DeSantis. With luck, his disastrous Twitter-based kick-off and so-so appearances on the stump will downgrade his standing in the polls. One can certainly hope.

In other monumental news this week, President Biden signed a bipartisan bill that raises the debt ceiling until January 2025. As reported by PBS, the Bill passed in both Houses of Congress with a majority of Democratic votes in each Chamber. Republicans did not back their Speaker in great numbers as 71 Republicans voted against the Bill to raise the debt ceiling, as did 36 Democrats. The final tally was 314 for and 117 against. The threshold to pass was 219. The Senate vote was 63-36 for passage. Five Democrats voted against the Bill, and 17 Republican Senators voted for it, along with 46 Democrats, so it was a bipartisan effort. So, it seems, that earlier reports of the right-wing so-called Freedom caucuses that caused such a problem in Speaker McCarthys’ nomination were not a factor in this vote. Most of them opposed it, but with the Democratic help, in the House, it passed easily. There was little talk at the end of a vote to replace the Speaker. In his address to the nation on Friday evening, President Biden spoke kindly of the responsible negotiations with the Speaker; McCarthy also gave compliments for the President from their one-on-one sessions. This belied the Republican line that the president is a doddering fool who cannot speak a coherent sentence. Of course, the President, after giving a sound speech at the USAF Academy Graduation, and shaking the hand of each graduate, gave the haters on right-wing media some fodder when he tripped over a sandbag on stage. That he got right up and carried on meant little to them, it seems.

News reports in the Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair indicate that the Special Prosecutor in the Mar-a-Lago and January 6^th insurrection cases involving the former president is moving forward and might be close to releasing news of indictments. They further note that his lawyers have told him to expect criminal indictments soon. The former President recently told Republicans to let the country default on the debt ceiling if they didn’t get all of their demands. Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed, although I, and I think most Democrats, are still angry at the hostage-taking attempts on this issue, which should have been routinely resolved.

That’s enough for today, from me!

“Til next week-Peace!