The following Letter to the Editor was published in the Daily Sun on Nov 18, 2022.
Thank you for the Nov. 10th article explaining the state’s attempt to tie tenure reviews of Florida university professors to the governor’s WOKE bill. This bill is undoubtedly something most DeSantis voters support as they pat themselves on the back, satisfied they have cast their ballots for “freedom.” But it is actually the governor’s freedom to dictate and bully that they’ve assured.
Efforts to restrict trained teachers from teaching facts is the antithesis of freedom, it is censorship. DeSantis disrespects educated experts and engages in childish name calling. He has a dishonest anti-democratic approach to governance, obstructs the free flow of information and silences his critics. He has restricted local municipalities ability to self-govern, limited our right to peacefully assemble, ordered raids on government whistle blowers, scolded mask wearers and arrested confused voters.
Unfortunately, it appears that a young man can grow up in central Florida, play baseball, go to mass, graduate at the top of his class, then go on to Yale and Harvard but resist ever learning the significance of intellectual freedom. When DeSantis disrespects the voters who oppose him he disrespects all voters. His acceptance speech about the “woke agenda,” was not inspirational nor unifying, it was negative and nasty.
Belle Hollon, Englewood
Image Credits: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) debates his Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist, at the Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce, Fla., on Monday. (Crystal Vander Weiter/Pool via Reuters)
