The Party of Small Government and Smaller Minds

Yesterday, I wrote here about the latest in a long series of fascist, authoritarians bans in Florida under Gov. Ron DeSantis – all in the name of FREEEEEDOM!!!  Banning abortion – banning books - banning Black history - banning the teaching of AP psychology - banning healthcare for children.  And now, the newest, banning teaching William Shakespeare. 

Not to mention all the other results of DeSantis rule – teaching the benefits of slavery, conventions leaving the state, insurance companies leaving the state, tourism leaving, migrant workers leaving.  And coming into the state – malaria and leprosy.

After finishing the article, I read about a new ban in the state.  It might not be the most oppressive of the DeSantis bans, but it’s easily the most gallingly stupid and, as such, perhaps the most indicative of his fascism.  It was too late to fit it into the article I’d completed, but it’s so egregious that it deserves its own piece as a follow-up.

It’s not a new law per se, but an offshoot of the DeSantis “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and officially kicked in the other day, perhaps because of the start of the new school season coming soon.  What the new requirement in Florida is – and I’m serious about this –

Any Florida schoolchild who wants to be called by a nickname, or a name other that his or her official given name they’re registered by…must get a signed permission form from their parents!

Honest.  Really,  This is not a satire story from The Onion.  This is Florida state law. 

And it’s even worse than it sounds.  Which is saying a lot because it sounds really loathsome.  The parental permission form is not just for nicknames or gender names, but any name different from a child’s official registered name.  That means if the child’s name is Thomas, he must get a Florida state form that will allow the boy to be called…“Tom.”

Really.

Honest.

All in the name of FREEEEEEEDOM!!

To be clear, that's not just my interpretation of it.  As TV station WOFL in Orlando writes, "For example, if your child's name is Robert but likes to be called 'Rob,' the form will need to be filled out to make that happen."

And this is from the party of small government.  The party of “Keep government out of our lives!!”  Florida law now doesn’t allow a child to be called by the name he or she wants to be called.  Thomas can’t be called “Tommy.”  Elizabeth can’t be called “Liz.”  Eunice can't be anything but "Eunice."  Not without an official state form signed by the parents.

​There are a lot of things in life where it’s important for a parent to sign a permission slip for their child.  What a child wants to be called is not one of them.

Unless you live in a fascist, authoritarian society.  Or in Totally Goofball World.

Yes, of course, this form is really easy to fill out.  What it also is...is totally unnecessary and crazy and a Republican government intrusion so deep into people's lives that it doesn't let a child be called by the name he or she wants -- from the Party of Small Government (sic).  And sick.

It's shocking, I know, that DeSantis is plummeting in the polls once he left Florida's borders, and people elsewhere got a look at him.

And all of that doesn't even include, after having finished writing this article, I then had to go back and now add that yesterday DeSantis used the fascist authority recently given to him by the Florida legislature and suspended from office a second democratically-elected Democratic state attorney.

But DeSantis aside, this is today's fascist Republican Party.  Whether or not any other state does something like this -- yet -- it's a party that welcomes it, enables it and tolerates it.

​All in the name of FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM!