I have spent the overwhelming majority of my life in Kansas. Being in a Plains state means you know exactly what you are missing out on. We don’t have the beach. There are no major theme parks here in Kansas. The major sports teams? Sure, they are nearby—but on the Missouri side of the state line in the Kansas City metro. It’s only been in the last 20 years that major sports like NASCAR and Major League Soccer have come to play on the Kansas side. That’s okay, we say to ourselves. We have good schools, good communities. Maybe we don’t have those other things, but we can get by.
This weekend, in a fundraiser for Kansas Republican candidate Derek Schmidt, there seemed to be a betrayal of the idea that being Kansan was good enough. No, we can’t be just Kansans. We have to be more like Floridians. How can we do that, you ask? Well, we can’t import the ocean. Disney isn’t knocking at our door to set up a theme park, and neither is Universal. We aren’t a location for cruise ships. Oranges aren’t a product we easily grow here—I mean, I’m sure in a greenhouse it’s possible, but no one I’ve ever met is growing fields of them. How, exactly, can Kansas suddenly be more like Florida? Oh, yes, there is one way: hate. Kansas Republicans took to the stage and the airwaves to talk about specific imports we can take from Florida to make Kansas more like DeSantis' vision of the South.
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Speaking to the audience, Schmidt told Republican faithful: “I want a future for our great state of Kansas that looks a whole lot more like Ron DeSantis has in Florida.” He went on to note that DeSantis was the “education governor” in the country. DeSantis, of course, is up for re-election, but on a whirlwind tour of the United States as he has already decided he cares far less about Florida than his ambition to become U.S. president in 2024.
What issue is it that makes DeSantis the education president? Well, the answer is simple: he hates trans students and is open to banning books and bashing teachers. All things that have worked out incredibly for Florida, Florida teachers have fled the profession after being bashed in the media and referred to as “clowns” by their governor, terms of endearment that aren’t likely to keep someone motivated to stay in their job.
As a teacher pointed out to CNN and to her students, many were disappointed right out of the gate in Florida as they were informed that some programs were now off limits in Florida schools, and students would be those who suffered. What kind of programs were those? DeSantis and Schmidt would have you believe the school is full of indoctrination; teachers would tell you their dealbreakers included students no longer being allowed to choose their own books from the Scholastic Book Club or hold Scholastic Book Fairs.
Wait. What? Am I the only person who loved the book fair, every year? Who grew up in an environment where reading books of all kinds was so celebrated we had a reward system called “Book It!” to encourage you to read? Of course not. But look at what those students are losing—a shared cultural connection to learning that we and their own parents surely remember as a good and beneficial part of our education.
The system in Florida has turned from one where teachers were once respected members of society into one that allows people—any people, really, including those without kids in a school, or those whose children are in no way connected to a school district—to believe in conspiracy theories and hatred, connecting teachers not to the fantastic education they provide for our students, but instead to a conspiracist cult that promotes “realities” that exist only in their own minds.
Republicans, who have begun running hate ads in the state, have also faced pushback since Kansas overwhelmingly voted against their anti-choice amendment.
The rhetoric pushed by Schmidt has not gone unnoticed by young voters and students, who don’t seem to buy into what the Republicans are trying to sell. When a local school board took on the policy of outing students and making sure that they knew coming forward would not be respected, students asked for input. When they were denied, they staged a protest.
At 1:45 p.m. Friday, about 50 students poured out of Gardner Edgerton High School, gathered at the flag pole and then marched to City Hall, carrying signs saying “Refuse to hate” and “Make schools safe” and waving rainbow flags. They said they were marching in support of transgender students, whom they feel would be discriminated against if the school board were to adopt the rules.
No, Kansas can’t be just like Florida when it comes to the ocean. We can’t import a lot of NFL or basketball teams. We don’t have swamps or alligators. So, how can we be more like Florida in Schmidt’s view?
We can import hate legislation. That’s the plan Republicans think will succeed in 2022.
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