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I have to admit that I do live in an interesting state. How many states are sponsoring a Python Hunt with cash prizes. Yup, there are cash prizes up to 2500 dollars in each category for novice to professional. The Python is an invasive species that is devastating the Everglades. Since 2000 more than 17000 have been captured. It is a serious problem that needs a serious solution. Using it for a political stunt is not a solution, it is just a political stunt. Yes they will rid the State of hundreds of pythons but this is not the solution it is just a news story and DeSantis likes to keep himself in the news. Is there a solution to the python problem? I don’t know but having a python roundup is just a story that will not even put a dent in the problem. It is just politics. Florida has for years ignored it’s most precious thing which is its environment.

Florida is going to have a new license plate. Problem is, it is again someone playing politics. DeSantis has introduced a new “Don’t Tread On Me” license plate for Florida cars if they want to pay a little extra money. There are a number of things that I have a problem with when it comes to these plates. The first one is can’t the State of Florida come up with something original? The “Don’t Tread on Me Flag”, which is actually the Gadsden flag, has been used by just about every liberal and conservative group throughout history. There is even a Gay Pride “Don’t Tread On Me” flag. Each group has used the flag to signify their own message which is most of the time is don’t mess with us. He wanted the license plate to send a clear message to out-of-state cars. That is not, what I would call a very welcoming message to be sending to non-Floridians when tourism is probably your biggest industry. Florida is dependent on people with different license plates to come and spend their money paying that sales tax, drive on our toll roads and our toll bridges so you don’t have to pay a state income tax. To state that you are sending a threatening  message to all those out-of-state license plate is just plain stupid. It is stupid to threaten your cash cow but DeSantis does. He does it for votes, not for what is good for Florida. My other problem is the fact that in a State, which has had the mass shootings that Florida has had, to send any message of violence that appears to be sanctioned by the State, is not a very good idea. The last time I saw that flag flying on TV it was storming our Capitol to try and destroy our Constitution. The flag in my opinion is to promote violence and anarchy. Florida and Texas were two of the States that had the most people rush our Capitol. Could that be because we no longer have a political party and a Governor that believes in the American Constitution?

DeSantis likes to call us the “Free State Of Florida” like we were not free before. Freedom is just a hollow word here in Florida. What is the norm here is not freedom but suppression and oppression. He likes to use symbols like the “Don’t Tread on Me” while in reality he is creating a State Government that does its best to suppress and oppress. Gerrymandering is just another form of voter suppression. Its purpose is just to suppress the other political party. Gerrymandering could also be just another form of racism. What it says is that if we can’t win fairly we will cheat. It means that in the “Free State on Florida” only certain people that think a certain way are free. As long as you are suppressing minorities and women you are not a “Free State of Anything”. You are not some type of freedom fighter unless you are fighting for the freedom for those minorities and for women, all you are is an oppressor. Look at all the things that are suppressed in Florida,  Education, Women, Voting, and Free Speech to name of few.

DeSantis likes to boast that it is his policies that have made it so people are flocking to Florida again. I am sorry but DeSantis policies have had nothing to do about it. I did not come to Florida because of the political climate. I came in spite of the political climate. In Wisconsin I never felt I needed a gun to protect myself but in Florida I do. Why? When I lived in Wisconsin I never felt that violence was being promoted by the State government. Well. at least until they elected Scott Walker Governor. Democrats and Republicans got along pretty well. Well, at least until they elected Scott Walker Governor. I knew no one that kept a loaded gun in their house and even though I am a gun owner I never felt I had to. In Florida I knew that I was moving to a State with a different attitude toward guns and violence. I still do not keep a loaded gun but I have made sure all the clips are ready to go if need be. That is not the way we are suppose to live. That should not be the norm. We come to Florida for the sun and the beaches. The climate is what draws us. No political party created that but DeSantis likes to make people believe he did. Because of the climate and tourism that Florida is famous for even Satan could be successful here. Oh wait, he is Satan.

In the “Free State on Florida” nothing is Free. We have tons of toll roads. Every time a person crosses the bridged to Sanibel you have to pay a fee. The fee is either 2 dollars or 6 dollars depending of the type of transponder that you have. If you have no transponder there is 3 dollar handling fee that will be added when they bill you. At best I can find about 10,000 cars cross that bridge to Sanibel every day 365 days a year. You do the math but that is a pretty big chunk of change. To park at the beach is 5 dollars an hour. In the “Free State on Florida” there is a small fee for that freedom. We may not pay a State Income Tax but things that are included with your taxes in other states you have to pay for here in the “Free State of Florida”. They even tax your food that you buy in the grocery stores here in the “Free state of Florida”. It may be a tax haven for the rich but I think that the money thing is probably a wash for a retiree like myself.

Because Florida suppresses so much talent I think that we are going to have to import that talent from other states and maybe other countries. Teachers do not want to come and teach in Florida because they lack the freedom to be creative and truly educate their students. If we are not producing an educated workforce businesses are not going to hire them. If you devalue our universities people will stop coming to our universities. Suppressing knowledge is not a good thing for the State and the Country. DeSantis can’t suppress education and then expect to have any of our schools to produce a quality product.    

I lived in Wisconsin when Scott Walker started his presidential campaign and it wasn’t good for Wisconsin. He stopped worrying about Wisconsin. We lost jobs because he wanted to look good in Iowa. I can’t help but feel that DeSantis is doing the same thing. I think he is more concerned about his national reputation within the Republican party than the people of Florida. Like Wisconsin the people in Florida will suffer for DeSantis’s ambition.

 

Gadsden flag - Wikipedia

DeSantis: Proposed state license plate features warning to "out-of-state cars" (yahoo.com)

Bridge Statistics for Sanibel, Florida (FL) - Condition, Traffic, Stress, Structural Evaluation, Project Costs (city-data.com)

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 10, 2022 at 8:09 AM

    Poor Florida. Things look pretty grim in Wisconsin as well. Still together or we'll all hang separately. Thanks, David.

    ReplyDelete

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