This is starting to look like a prequel to The Handmaids Tale.
But it’s not.
This isn’t intentional. Florida’s politicians want an educated, wealthy population and to fight a meaningless culture war with Disney and young people (to keep Boomers happy).
They are too dumb to see they can’t have their cake and eat it too! This will be one expensive culture war.
Quality universities create quality employees and quality (tax paying) companies. By the end of the decade, and the region will stagnate and you’ll see a “new” Republican going full panic mode to fix the damage (while somehow blaming it on Democrats).
In short: There is NO plan. They’re just THAT shortsighted! (Everything you see can be, once again, explained by simple Boomer overindulgence)
How long till they secede and shut boarders to libs? Good times good times.
They’re not interested in secession, they want a constitutional convention to redefine the nation.
They definitely wouldn’t. But if push came to a shove, I wonder if they’d really be able to stop them? I’m not really clear on the finer legal points. But I know that for the American Civil War, the south all left the federal government (which presumably would have made it easier to pass any bills regarding the south) and they also basically forced armed conflict (both by attacking first and by seizing federal bases).
I’m not sure if a single state leaving would have the same effect, especially with how divided American politicians are. I don’t fully understand if anything actually needs to be voted on (I do know that the American Civil War didn’t formally declare war), but if anything had to be, it’s hard to picture even a single GOPer doing anything (nor enough Democrats to pass anything – never mind that in the Senate, the fillibuster means that if the GOP refuses to vote, that’s the end of things).
So it’s a pretty big worry, in my mind. With all the shit states like Florida have done, I wouldn’t put it past them to try and secede. And no matter what, there’s no way that would end well. Either things will get a lot worse for any Floridans that aren’t cis, straight, and white, or there’ll be a war that costs a lot of lives. It’s a lose-lose for any decent person. Only fascists stand to gain and they have power in Florida.
There is no way in hell a state would be allowed to secede as long as the federal government stands. Even ignoring the economic and geopolitical consequences, that precedent cannot be allowed to be set if the US is to remain a functioning nation.
A lot of people on this thread are saying the consequences of these policies is intentional.
I don’t give them that much credit. I don’t think they fully understand the consequences of these policies. And as things go to shit, they will just blame liberals.
And this is all really sad. There are some really nice parts of Florida, with some really nice people. Fucking sucks. Oh well.
It’s even more sinister than that. An uneducated populace is good for the ruling class. They have more children on average and will believe the lies more willingly.
The Republican party has been trying to destroy the education system for decades. Not only do they not want the poors getting educated (more malleable labor), they want to privatize education (vouchers, divert more public money to private hands).
I’m convinced these types of arguments are from republicans trying to garner sympathy for the poor stupid people, how could they have known! See they’re really not that bad guys, they just don’t know any better!
Such bullshit and really the most pathetic kind of excuse.
Most likely this drain of academics was an intended effect of the laws passed under DeSantis. The loss of academics hobbles institutes of higher learning while positions remain unfilled, resulting in a more ignorant populace. It also opens the possibility for far right extremists to infiltrate academia to corrupt academic thought and principles from within. The danger of ultra right wing, bigoted, nationalistic, authoritarianism continues to grow. How long before more right wing states follow suit?
It also ruins Florida’s economy, though. Brain drain is like the last thing nearly all places want.
My wife has extended family from Mississippi. They are some of the stupidest people I have ever met. They all, and I mean ALL, send their kids to private schools so they won’t have to attend alongside black kids. One of her cousins was just down visiting with us and I walked in while she was ranting about how “I know trump is blahbidyblah, but things were so much better under him… just look at the GAS PRICES screee scrawww hurr durr”. I did the ol’ Grandpa Simpson about face and checked tf out before I said something ugly and upset my wife (not that she actually agrees with her cousin or anything, I just need to be nice…)
