Florida: ‘Free to do as you are told’

[pecksniff]

Florida Republicans advance wave of draconian bills.

It has been a long and painful month in the Florida legislature for opponents of the state’s Trumpist governor Ron DeSantis and his loyal band of rightwing Republicans. A slew of bills has advanced attacking everything from diversity rights, abortion protections and free speech in schools, in addition to a proposal that would legally shield white people from feeling “discomfort” over the state’s racist past.

And last Wednesday, an anti-masker physician, hand picked by the governor and apathetic about the value of Covid-19 vaccines, was backed unanimously by a Republican senate panel as the next surgeon-general following a walk-out by Democratic politicians frustrated by Joseph Ladapo’s evasiveness.

To hear DeSantis tell it, the “freedom state” of Florida is merely following the will of a populist citizenry in defying the perceived tyranny of the federal government, determined to protect liberty in the face of a deadly pandemic that has claimed more than 64,000 of their fellow residents, and standing up against the “indoctrination” of children.

Yet as the possible 2024 presidential candidate presses ahead with turning Florida into what critics see as his own conservative fiefdom – a de facto Trumpistan of the south with an “Orwellian-sounding” election police force – DeSantis is finding opposition beginning to harden.

More of the state’s 21 million people, which elected him in 2018 by barely 32,000 votes, appears displeased at the creeping authoritarianism and is keen to show DeSantis – who will be seeking re-election in November – that Florida is not the solidly red state he believes it to be.

 

[pecksniff]

We can only hope for a backlash in November.

 

[Bud_Spencer]

It's DeSantis in a walk. The Dummycrats aren't even making a run at him.

 

[pecksniff]

It's DeSantis in a walk. The Dummycrats aren't even making a run at him.

I was thinking more of the legislature.

 

[Bud_Spencer]

I was thinking more of the legislature.

Florida is getting redder. You might seek out a urisdiction more to your liking, like North Korea.

 

[pecksniff]

Florida is getting redder. You might seek out a urisdiction more to your liking, like North Korea.

More of the GI and Silent generation retirees die every year. Likewise with the old Crackers and Cuban refugees. This state will never get any redder than it is now.

 

[Bud_Spencer]

More of the GI and Silent generation retirees die every year. Likewise with the old Crackers and Cuban refugees. This state will never get any redder than it is now.

Figures a grubby communist would be detrministic about everything.

 

[pecksniff]

Figures a grubby communist would be detrministic about everything.

It's just demographics. Most people's voting behavior is more or less the same all their lives -- demographic factors are what to look for.

 

[Bud_Spencer]

It's just demographics. Most people's voting behavior is more or less the same all their lives -- demographic factors are what to look for.

I repeat.

 

[pecksniff]

I repeat.

Everybody in both parties who is making any strategic plans is thinking along the exact same lines.

 

[Cubantripod]

More of the GI and Silent generation retirees die every year. Likewise with the old Crackers and Cuban refugees. This state will never get any redder than it is now.

Red states are getting redder and blue states are getting bluer. Additionally, Cubans refugees may be dying, but their children know too well their pain and will not betray their parents struggle.

 

[GothTalk]

Florida Republicans advance wave of draconian bills.

Awwwwww Dems lost the democracy game in Florida....WAHHH!!!!

Why do you hate American democracy so much???

 

[GothTalk]

Red states are getting redder and blue states are getting bluer.

The migratory impact within the USA has yet to be realized by most of the left, RAW/Salon/MSNBC haven't told them so yet.


They cling to the hope that Texas and Florida are going to become cobalt blue communist strongholds like California and New York any day now!

 

[pecksniff]

communist strongholds like California and New York