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New Floridians Are Sick of the Political Turmoil
In the age of division, remember that a state does not define a person.
It wasn’t always like this. Even in the infamous 2000 Bush-Gore Election debacle, Florida wasn’t the political maelstrom it is now. We were just seen as a warm, low-cost state that you could retire to or use as an escape from the harsh winters.
Between 2000 and today, our job market exploded, with thousands of jobs and paths of upward mobility made available to all walks of life. My spouse came here under that premise, with a job offer at a local university.
Yet over the past year, it has felt like every month was the harbinger of some new insane headline. Just two weeks ago, DeSantis was threatening to fly Haitian migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. I saw commentors saying we should just land mine the beaches and send destroyers to blast every refugee boat that comes within our territory.
The tone gets out of hand. In my case, it’s quite frustrating, because I genuinely take pride in being a Floridian. We’ve already had to fight against a slew of Florida Man memes, which demonize the state (such as “Florida man threw live gator in Wendy’s drive-thru window, police say”).
Yes, some of these headlines can be quirky and funny. But they often take advantage of mentally ill people who are in the throes of addiction. Some people only know about us through those stereotypes.
It impacts our social lives
I was at a wedding up north last month. During all of the social gatherings, I can’t tell you how often I got odd reactions after saying I was from Florida. They’d say, “Oh really? How is that?”
Or, “Oh wow, I’ve heard a lot about Florida lately.”
DeSantis also did a great job in making LGBT folk feel unwelcome in the state, with a slew of laws, including the infamous Parental Rights in Education Act, also known as “Don’t Say Gay.”
The good news is that the temperature is cooling down a bit for the moment. The Florida legislature has tired of DeSantis’s “War on Woke”. Our lawmakers are finally able to hold sessions now that aren’t dealing with contentious hot-button issues 24–7, and are…
