DeSantis

A classmate asked me why I felt Florida was destroying my birth country. Here's why.

1. The introduction of S.B. 7050 making it harder to register to vote. It is the third change in recent years all of which limits the right to vote, more often by minorities.

2. Book banning. This is a tactic of dictatorships-want-to-be. I've read almost all of the list of books. For the teen books they included books my daughter read and loved. More important, banning books also reduce the chance to see anything other than the powers that be do not want people to see.

3. Limiting gender affirming health care for trans kids. I object to any government trying to control health care for any group.

4. Don't say gay. It's okay to get a gun, that other three-letter g word but not to utter certain words. 

5. Refusing to allow important parts of America's history to be taught producing a generation of ignorant citizens. Tom Hanks said it better about his not learning about vital parts of America's history https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tom+hanks+texas+massacre That he should have known to be a fully informed citizen. And that was long ago. Much I should have been taught growing up in the 60s, I wasn't. Florida has taken it so much deeper that it is frightening. Things that America has participated in 105 wars, four of which are ongoing.

6. Trying to ban universities from teaching diversity and negates the experiences of a major part of the population. It's like trying to tell the entire store of elephants by touching two inches of an elephant's trunk while blind.

7. His interference with Disney, the top income generator for Florida. Disney is not my favorite company for lots of reason, but having this type of interference for political reasons is dangerous for the economy.

8. Drag queen limitations for youth. Hmm...did any see Tootsie or Madame Doubtfire? Were they traumatized? I doubt it. I guess no kid could ever have gone to a Shakespeare play in the Elizabethan times because all the women parts were played by men. And what about all those Roman soldiers in skirts? Kilts for Scots--impossible. 

9. Abortion being denied to women in various ways. No politician should have the right to deny health care to anyone. It should be left to doctors, scientists, and the person whose body needs or wants it.

Although much of what I was taught in school was only part of the story and other parts were left out, I truly believe in democracy. I believe it is the job of government to serve the people not decide which group of people best serves them and cater to their whims over others.

If more of America follows Florida's example it will not survive as a democracy and as Winston Churchill said, "Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried."