SLEEPY FLORIDA MAN SEEKS TO TURN US INTO A NATIONWIDE FLORIDA

When my wife and I announced to our family and friends that we were leaving Florida after twelve years and moving back home to Buffalo, the common question we were asked was “why do you want to go back to the cold?”

I cannot say anything negative about my time there, as the State of Florida was exceptionally good to me, both personally and professionally. My family and I made many memories that we will forever hold onto and although I love the hot weather, ironically, the climate helped make our decision to come back home. The political climate that is. In the months since we left the Sunshine State, I have been keeping an eye on the happenings on the local and state level, seeing the politicization of classrooms and colleges/universities has made my wife and I feel better about our decision to leave.

Florida (Man) Governor, Ron DeSantis, has decided to fight the culture war as he begins his quest, a shadowy one at that, of running for the White House in the 2024 general election. DeSantis is using a similar playbook that 45 used, one that plays up fears and xenophobia as well as focusing on issues that only evangelical White voters will latch onto.

I learned as a Florida homeowner, back in 2021, that many insurance companies were raising rates and outright dropping coverage due to high costs of insurance rates throughout the state of Florida. My home at the time was one of the thousands throughout the state, whose insurance was dropped, due to the age of our roof, and thus, we were forced to have a completely new roof installed to have homeowners insurance. Thankfully, that new roof was a selling point many months later as we decided to sell and move back north, however, many Floridians did not have that option.

In the months and years since the homeowner’s insurance issues arose, State Representatives in Tallahassee refused to work on legislation that would have helped Floridians. Instead, they decided to focus their attention on “Critical Race Theory,” limiting classroom teachers from saying “Gay,” banning books from school libraries that were too “woke” and now in the past few months, attacking drag queens and Disney because of the Mouse’s inclusivity.

When I saw reports that books on Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente were on the banned book list, alongside any books that mentioned America’s racist past, it just made me shudder at the thought of my Brown children sitting in a Florida classroom learning an edited version of America’s history, one that did not cover the Civil Rights movement nor the struggles people of color in this country have had to endure throughout its history. All because Florida Man is playing up to his base, trying to seek support from the ignorant and “sleepy” people, who are against anything that would be considered “woke.”

We are seeing fascism take hold of the Sunshine State and Florida Man may well be the Republican nominee for President in 2024. Do not think that these policies or measures will only be exclusive to Florida however, as many other Republican governors nationwide are adopting similar measures.

Look, I am not anti-Republican nor anti-Conservative. Although I have always been leaning to the left, however, as I get older, I find myself more conservative on some issues and liberal on others. I have voted for Republicans in the past and may very well do so in the future, one day when they rid themselves of the fascist wing of their party, however as it stands currently, the fascist leanings hidden behind “patriotism” needs to be met head-on and called out. We cannot let America become Florida because it will be a cold place.