The change we see across Florida and throughout the country grew from seeds Republicans planted decades ago.
While Democrats strayed from their working-class roots, Republicans took control of state governments by appealing to everyday folks. We saw that in Florida for sure, where the GOP has a stranglehold on the state government, and it shows no signs of stopping.
Well, it's happening again, but even closer to home.
The new battlefield for Gov. Ron DeSantis is local School Board races, and it's having an impact.
There was a saucy little story in the Tampa Bay Times about the Pasco County School Board race.
DeSantis recently announced 16 endorsements in School Board elections around the state, and you know the drill.
"These candidates will ensure our students succeed, protect parental rights in education, and combat the woke agenda from infiltrating public schools at the local school board level," he said.
One of DeSantis' endorsements went to Al Hernandez in Pasco's District 1, who looks like he just stepped from Republican Central Casting.
He has a lot of big-name endorsements besides DeSantis and is well-connected in the business world. Hernandez also is on the trustee board of Pasco-Hernando State College and seems to understand that the School Board is a complicated job.
However, the conservative Pasco Watch group had something different in mind.
The Times reported they want Steve Meisman, whose platform seems to focus on eliminating "woke crap" from Pasco's classrooms.
Let's step back for a second.
I can't imagine many teachers in deep red Pasco, home to Richard Corcoran and Wilton Simpson, fit the profile to which Meisman refers.
Even if there were, teachers throughout the state are scared of saying anything that might cause a child to complain to their parents. Worse, teachers leave the profession like passengers scrambling for the last lifeboat on the Titanic.
Do you blame them?
And now, they see the possibility their local boards will attract single-issue candidates who cherry-pick isolated incidents and turn meetings into performance art.
DeSantis is guilty of this too, and it's by design.
It seems like every other word out of his mouth about public schools is either "woke" or "indoctrination." Would-be candidates pick up on those terms and repeat them as holy truth.
Mission accomplished.
The Governor first creates the strawman, slays it with some odd executive order, and takes another victory lap.
He's a smart man though; he should know it doesn't end there.
In wading into local elections, DeSantis may have created something that one day he won't be able to control. These races will attract more people who want to use meetings to howl at the moon.
Democrat Charlie Crist followed DeSantis' lead and endorsed School Board candidates, and that's not right either. Keep politics out of this because we don't need either a Left or Right agenda in the classroom.
Schools don't indoctrinate students. There isn't time to indoctrinate when they're teaching five or six classes a day with about 30 students in each one. Teachers have their hands full just navigating a daily workday.
There are lesson plans to prepare, tests to grade and threats to their livelihood if students struggle.
That's against the backdrop of bluster from Tallahassee about their profession. What is woke? Woke is whatever Republicans decide it is, and teachers are the target.
And the GOP has its way, that concept will come to a School Board near you.
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