What is the matter with Florida?
It’s a question posed by generations of Americans. Whether it’s throwing a live alligator through a Wendy’s drive-thru window or joining a Facebook event dedicated to shooting down a hurricane, the wonders that are Florida Man and Florida Woman have long produced wonder and amazement. But more recently, the Hot Mess state has turned into something far more troubling — the most intolerant and authoritarian-minded state in the country and a disquieting reminder of the descent of the Republican Party into the political sewer.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis likes to call Florida the “citadel of freedom” and the place “where woke goes to die.” The reality is a policy agenda defined largely by pettiness, cruelty and a disturbing disregard for basic democratic norms. If states are the so-called laboratory of American democracy, then Florida is the meth lab of American democracy.
In recent weeks, DeSantis has widened his war on the First Amendment.
Last year, after Disney exercised its constitutionally guaranteed right to free expression and publicly criticized the GOP’s legislative assault on LGBTQ Floridians, DeSantis, and the Florida Legislature, struck back by revoking the company’s self-governing status. Now the Legislature has granted DeSantis the power to appoint a five-person board to oversee the theme park in an effort that he said would “force Disney to stop ‘trying to inject woke ideology’ on children.” It’s hard to come up with a clearer example of a political leader using the instruments of state power to punish a company for expressing opinions he doesn’t like — and using that power to influence their business decisions.
In recent weeks, DeSantis has widened his war on the First Amendment. He’s spoken of his desire to weaken libel laws, which would make it easier to sue media organizations for defamation. This direct assault on the freedom of the press was picked up by at least one Florida…
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