Many political insiders consider Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and considering that he coasted to reelection last November in the Sunshine State, it’s safe to say the he does indeed appear to be the front-runner, if only because Trump Fatigue Syndrome has fully overtaken most of the country and polls repeatedly show voters want anyone but Donald to run.
But there are plenty of Floridians who want the nation to know that DeSantis is just a younger, less abrasive version of Trump, perhaps even more extreme than anyone else currently on the GOP political scene.
One of those Florida residents is Don Falls. He’s a high school social studies teacher in Manatee County who is suing DeSantis over the Stop WOKE Act, which was passed in 2022 in order to “fight back against woke indoctrination.” Falls believes the law directly violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Falls sat down with Yelena Dzhanova of Business Insider and spelled out exactly what a Ron DeSantis presidency would mean for the country. It’s not a pretty picture.
“This year I’m teaching government and economics. I’ve taught just about every subject in social studies over the course of my 38-year career. I love teaching. And I love it every day. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis openly said in his swearing-in inauguration that this is the state where woke goes to die. And so he has made it his goal to do everything he can to stop what he perceives as a woke ideology that’s prevalent, particularly in schools. It’s all fabricated. If you know anything about education, you know that that doesn’t really exist on any scale and in schools, especially in Florida. But that’s what he campaigned on. That’s his base, and so he has continued to push those things.”
For example, Falls notes that all books have to be approved before they’re allowed into a school or curriculum, no matter what a teacher may want his or her students to read.
“The latest change is a sweeping act of legislation that requires all public schools to go through a vetting process for their books. The books have to be reviewed by a trained media specialist or librarian to make sure they’re appropriate for children. So, last week, I, an educator of Manatee High School in Bradenton, Florida, got a memo that gave me three choices: I could pack up all the books from my classroom, cover them up, or run them through their vetting process. If I chose to go through with the last option, I’d have to get approval for them to remain on my classroom shelves.”
What would that mean? More work for Falls, who is already hard-pressed for time.
“The point is that it would take me weeks, probably, to have to go through the process of trying to vet all of these books and get them in the system. So to me, this is just Big Brother looking over our shoulders, and fundamentally a violation of our first amendment right, right to free speech, and students’ first amendment rights of free speech.”
Right-wingers like Ron DeSantis aren’t fond of free speech they don’t agree with. If it was up to them, the only thing allowed on school bookshelves would be The Bible. And maybe a few copies of Mein Kampf.
