Sometime I sit back and review my political thoughts on where I live. I pride myself in being an Independent. Of course if you have been reading me you know that I live in Florida. Florida right now is almost Grand Central Station to the huge political divide that grips our nation. I live in a State of extremes from the poorest to the richest people in the world and that is not going to change very soon. We have great beauty but also huge environmental problems. The State is dependent on outsiders coming and spending their money to keep their low taxes but then hate those outsiders for coming here and trying to change Florida. It is a State that talks about freedom then turns around and takes freedom away from certain groups such as women. It is a very diverse state that hates diversity.  

One of the biggest people that divided Florida is of course our Governor Ron DeSantis. He is the great great grandson of immigrants but of course he hates immigrants, especially if the color of their skin is different than his. This is a man that flew asylum seekers that were from Venezuela from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard to try and make political points. He literally imported immigrants so he could harass the people of Massachusetts. Not only is that immoral but it is also probably illegal. He is a man that may talk law and order, yet, I believe the chaos of the White Supremacy movement is more his style. He is a man that has a “Don’t Say Gay” movement in the State that had one the most violent attacks on gays in the country with the Orlando Night Club shooting. We have also had one of the worse schools shootings in the country but has not come up with a single idea on how to keep our children safer. I really do not think the safety of children is a very high priority to DeSantis.

Florida is not a state that embraces its rich history as many of the northern States, in my opinion. When they became a State about half of the population were enslaved African Americans. I do not see anywhere in this State about the role that Blacks played in the development of Florida. I would be willing to bet that there is a lot of Black history that is swept under the carpet. Black history seems to be a very taboo subject here like much of the South. DeSantis has come out very strongly against Critical Race Theory not really defining what Critical Race Theory is. People are afraid to even talk about Black history. If I was a teacher and I stated that one of the by-products of the 2^nd amendment was so the States could form slave patrols I would probably be fired even though that was the truth and slave patrols really existed. The massacre at Rosewood is not mentioned at all even though many innocent Blacks died at the hands of White vigilantes. They have a Steven Foster Memorial even though he was never here, but what the hey. Florida has to honor somebody. I do not think they embraced history here that I can see except for the ethnic history of the immigrant groups that migrated here like the Greeks and the Cubans.

Education has been one DeSantis’s favorite things to attack. From “Critical Race Theory” to “Don’t Say Gay” he really wants to control the conversation. His campaign ads try and make him look like the schools love him but that is very far from the truth. He doesn’t encourage education, he suppresses it. The diversity in the classroom is something that should be embraced not discouraged. It should be preparing our children for the outside world which is also very diverse. Do you know what I think is one of the polar opposites of diversity? That would be racism and bigotry and yes, DeSantis does feed both of those in my opinion. In today world of the internet what he says he is trying to protecting these children from is there for them all to see and he has no power to sensor it. They see the diversity on TV every day that DeSantis demonizes so much in our schools. If he could sensor what you see and TV and what you read on the internet you better believe he would try. Banning books does not solve any problem and may actually make the problems worse. One thing he does do is make our State look very racist and homophobic. It is not surprising that there is a huge teacher shortage in Florida. Between pay and working conditions you are not going to attract quality people to want to teach in Florida.

In Florida, tourism is just about its biggest industries with Disney World being probably its biggest attraction and its biggest employer. Disney does not only attract millions of people from around the country but it also attracts them from around the world. It also attracts probably billions of dollars to the State of Florida. Diversity is very important to many businesses but it has to be very important to a business like Disney. When DeSantis went after diversity training with his “anti woke” legislation Disney would not support the Governor and I could not blame them. Their business depends on diversity and training its employees on how to handle a diverse group of people, it is just plan good business. Many Republicans went along with the Governor and removed Disney’s special tax status to punish then. Isn’t that like trying to punish your cash cow because they are just trying to do the right thing for their business? As I stated earlier one to the polar opposites of diversity in my opinion is racism and bigotry. That would not be a good look for a business like Disney and it is not a good look for the State of Florida.

Florida is a state that is very dependent on people from the outside coming in and spending their money. To have a Governor come right out and say that he didn’t want them coming into his State and changing things is not embracing the diversity that is Florida. I am one of those people that came to Florida from another state and stayed. If this is really the Free State of Florida then as a resident of Florida I have every right to try and correct the wrongs here. I am not an outsider. I have every right to vote for what I think is the best for Florida. I think that DeSantis is bad for our Children, our Schools, and our Businesses. I will be voting Blue.