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 actually working on policies related to security, health, education, and the like.
DeSantis and Disney recently settled their dispute over the board appointed to govern Disney’s district. DeSantis had stripped Disney of its special tax status after the company criticized his Don’t Say Gay bill, which then led to a string of lawsuits. Ultimately, the courts sided with DeSantis. But both DeSantis and Disney are now moving forward in a more constructive manner. DeSantis knows his battles with Disney were good for an election, but not good for the states economy and wellbeing.
But I fear the damage is done. Florida was once a swing state, where we waited every election to see which direction it would teeter. It was known as a middle ground, where conservatives and democrats co-existed, and all could feel welcome.
DeSantis chased out a huge swathe of our liberal population, and even brags about it — having fomented us into a solid red state, where you shall not see a blue governor anytime soon.
Florida felt like America’s lightning rod to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. I was getting ready to say the storm had passed.
But sadly, in the middle of writing this draft, Florida’s supreme court ruled that DeSantis’s six-week abortion ban could go into effect (and will in one month), robbing women of autonomy over their bodies, in what is effectively a full abortion ban. The small silver lining is that this will be a voter driven issue at the ballot box come November. If 60% of Floridians vote against it, we will preserve a woman’s right to choose.
The fatigue is personal
My spouse is a humanities professor, and as many know, the entire field has been under assault. They’ve instituted “Post Tenure Review” which gives legislatures the ability to remove professors at will if they want — undermining the entire point of having tenure. The concept of academic and intellectual freedom was embedded in our institutions, and meant to protect professors from vindictive politicians, who see academia as weaponized against the state. This freedom is a critical pillar of democracy.
And so, now, we can’t attract professors and educators for young people because they fear the macro environment that’s been created. And who can blame them? Why would you put your career at risk and willingly become a pawn in the next election cycle’s gimmicks and PR stunts?
When it comes to actual day-to-day living in this state — we worry about the same things most Americans worry about. We have inflation problems. Our property values have skyrocketed and we’re losing insurers.
Corporations are buying up all of our homes and turning them into overpriced rental properties. There are predatory insurance companies running amuck and unchecked. Which is part of why DeSantis fueled these culture wars in the first place. It kept the conversation from drifting towards actual problems we have in this state — things that impact our wallets, health, and careers.
I feel most sorry for Floridians who moved here just before all of this political theater ramped up. They presumably came here for all the amazing things Florida has to offer: great weather (it isn’t as hot as you’d think), amazing career opportunities, plenty of things to do, no state income taxes, access to the beach, and so much more. It really is a great place to live.
Now, it feels like they stepped into a pre-divorce couple’s ugly fight in the kitchen, with plates, orange juice, and peanut butter flying through the air and people screaming and all the neighbors wondering who the heck lives in that house. It’s just embarrassing.
I have two separate friends who moved here just prior to all of the drama. And they’ve been having to hear the same mundane, probing questions I get from families and friends out of state. It becomes a point of embarrassment that drowns out all of the great things about being a Floridian.
What I would say to those seeing this, who might hold these preconceptions — is to remember that a state isn’t its headlines. Just as Seattle and San Francisco aren’t saturated with homeless drug addicts on every single corner — as some networks would have you believe — Florida isn’t a state filled with raging homophobes.
We are a huge population, that includes millions who don’t particularly like these policies, and who are fighting hard to push back against them. We have families here that we want to be near. Many of us love the lifestyle the state affords. If we leave, all of the values we hold will collapse behind us.
Staying in a state isn’t us bowing in acknowledgement of our state’s policies.
Don’t judge a person by where they are from, just as you wouldn’t judge them over any characteristic that doesn’t reflect their character.