August 24, 2023 07:20 PM UTC

DeSantis Repeals First Amendment

• 3 Comments
• by: Republican 36

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

In another spectacularly UnAmerican decision, the board of trustees Gov. DeSantis appointed to oversee New College, the small public liberal arts college, in Sarasota, Florida, has decreed that students involved in orientation are prohibited from wearing LGBTQIA lapel pins or other symbols that show support for that community. In other words, the First Amendment which protects freedom of expression, is no longer applicable in Florida. DeSantis owns this decision because he appointed a new board to oversee the college.

Coupled with the decisions emanating from his Department of Education supporting the nonsensical idea that slavery benefited the slaves because they were taught vocational skills, this violation of the First Amendment represents another stage in DeSantis’ attempt to indoctrinate Floridians into a white washed version of our history.

DeSantis, like so many of the present Republican leaders, crawl up on the Christian cross, wrap themselves in the American flag, and proclaim they are the protectors of the Constitution and the principles found in the Declaration of Independence which almost always includes a prohibition on remembering anything that was wrong with our past (e.g. slavery, Native American removal) and couple their declarations to an assumption that they are God’s will.

DeSantis is following in the footsteps of the recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that dismantled affirmative action. The Supreme Court enshrined the ideal that the Constitution is color blind and then went on to find unconstitutional the practical means to achieve that ideal.

Instead, the wrongs of the past should be placed in bright sunlight and used as markers along the road into the future of events and policies we should never allow to happen again. Every child in K-20 should learn about them whether they feel guilty or not. If DeSantis, the present Supreme Court majority, and other so called conservative leaders want religion back in the schools perhaps they would agree the first religious principle that should be taught are to “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and “Do unto others as you would do to yourself.” Perhaps allowing free speech and an accurate description and discussion of our history would, eventually, bring about a society that is color blind, tolerant, and on guard against future attempts to allow discrimination and hate to have free rein in America. Violating free speech and expression, imposing wrongheaded history, and depriving our society and government of the means, let alone the knowledge, to eliminate these wrongs will take us in the opposite direction.