Dear Governor DeSantis. I’ve finally figured out what it means to be “woke,” I can only hope, sir, you don’t read my blog (which I very much doubt you do. You’re not in Harvard anymore or Yale. You’re setting the stage for the next big cultural conflict, coming to us over the next two years.

What you’ve learned is to reinvent yourself; you’re quite good at it.

This seems to be a struggle the country needs to have and wants to have. You seem to be leading the charge.

I see that “woke” means many people like me and others reading this.

But still, “nuts” to you. You are also doomed to lose. I am honored to be a “woke” person. The opposite is hiding and being aside from the moral issues of our time. There is no meaning in that for me. I stand with the people who learned things at Yale and Harvard – the teachers, scientists, academics, writers, and creatives who wish to do some good in the world.

I can’t find the shame in that.

This battle has been raging for centuries, and the “woke” have never been defeated and cannot be. Sooner or later, the lords and masters come after them. I am happy to be “woke,” it took me long enough, and I’m very grateful for it. It makes me a better man; you will never drive it out of me, I don’t care how many laws you and your legislature pass.

For all the hoopla around you, you are just setting yourself up to be the next Big Loser in American politics; you and Mr. Trump can fund a new museum in Washington, The Museum Of WhiningLosers. (“Woke people tend to love museums. They should be persecuted for that also.)

You are on the very wrong side of history.

They didn’t teach you much about democracy at Harvard or Yale, but they obviously taught you about the Dark Ages; they seem to me to be the model for your presidential campaign and governing plan. Your ideas are much closer to Benito Mussolini than to Thomas Jefferson or John Adams.

For those of you who love history books – I do – the Dark Ages have tremendous relevance to the times you’re governing down there in Florida. America’s deep cultural struggles are one of the oldest stories in the world.

. It seems that men will do almost anything to hang on to power.

Scholars named the time the “Dark Ages” after the Roman Empire collapsed and lost its influence around 500 A.D. The Middle ages are said by historians to be dark because of a documented lack of scientific and cultural advancement. During this time, feudalism was the dominant political system, just like Governor DeSantis is now in Florida.

As a former political writer, I feel called to name this conflict – Mr. DeSantis is now a very popular leader – Neanderthal Politics.

It a time for going back, turning back the clock, jailing scientists (or trying to help) or burning them and outspoken women at stake for advocating vaccine shots (which have saved a few billion human lives since polio and smallpox shots became available) and for persecuting people with different beliefs than you have – like believing in climate change or supporting human rights.

For a while, this idea was out of vogue in our fledgling democracy. In fact, our country was created in part not to be the first country on earth to protect the rights of people who disagree with us.

The governor ought to go and read some Greek Tragedy. You haven’t got a chance against the armies of the “woke.” Disney might curl up and hide, but you seem to have no idea what you are up against. Someone said you have all the charisma of a roadblock.

I have to agree with that.

Feudalism –  Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene – is the opposite of democracy, which at least claims to care about the poor and needy. Those sappy, squishy “woke” they just never quit. Do you really think you’ve run them out of Florida? Historically, they are like ants – impossible to kill, stubbornly empathetic to the end.

American influence in the world and cultural achievement is measured in how many “woke” people and businesses can be silenced, threatened, sued, shamed, or driven out of schools, libraries, and the commercial world. Culture is a political war tool now, not an appreciation and support of the arts.

The woke are the new Jews, the new African Americans, the new Chinese, and the new Irish. In our country, there is always something new to hate, and some soulless and ambitious politicians eager advantage of that.

It’s the eggheads and goo-goos turn now to take the heat. Governor DeSantis seems to be smarter than Trump, yet eerily like him. Some politicians never run out of people to hate, and he s probably faking it all as well. It’s hard for me to believe he chose Harvard and Yale to war against the “woke.”

He also has the stink of the hypocrite all over him. He just doesn’t ring true.

Governor DeSantis has already pointed out that there is no climate change, and doctors can no longer decide to save a woman’s life at birth; he knows more than the most edited and respected scientific researchers worldwide – many from Harvard and Yale.

He claims they are criminals and should all be in jail for trying to save people’s lives.

In May of 2021, Governor DeSantis told a news conference, “The vaccines protect you. Get vaccinated and then live your life.” A sanity attack, soon corrected. Now he wants the people who created them to do jail time.

No wonder he hates the “woke.” They know how to Google him.

Both political – red and blue – are busy perfecting the new political art of demonizing opponents and anyone who disagrees with or thinks differently than they do.

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DeSantis is now a prime presidential contender because he is learning to demonize people he disagrees with; suing them, firing them, threatening them.

Mickey Mouse no longer dares to support trans and gay people, retirement funds and private businesses in Florida won’t dare to support climate change initiatives, teachers no longer dare to mention sex or homosexuality, and prosecutors no longer dare to avoid prosecuting the parents of transgender people and abortion for women of all ages is being severely restricted.

It sounds Orwellian to me, the nation of fear.

The term “woke” or WOHK was derived from African-American culture. It means “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.”

The riots and response to the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police broadened the usage of the term among white people who were shocked by the number of African-American men who police officers – black and white –  were killing in different parts of the country.

The use of the term has evolved and increasingly refers to being aware or better and well informed in a political or cultural sense, especially surrounding issues by marginalized, persecuted, or impoverished people.

I was a police reporter for some years, and I do not believe most police officers get up in the morning looking to kill black people or anyone.  They are often a scapegoat for a society that can’t or won’t figure out how to help people, thrown into a chaotic morass of deprivation and illness.

But the system isn’t working, and too many unarmed black people were dying at the hands of police officers unable or improperly equipped to deal with them.

The George Floyd killing and the explosive response “woke” me and Maria to the awful legacy of racism in our country and the still powerful and unresolved role race and the ghost of slavery have in American life, politics, and policing.

All you needed to do was to watch the videos.

I am a lifelong creature of the center, along with many Americans,  and proud to be “woke.”

Governor DeSantis is a savvier version of Donald Trump, but in my view, just as unelectable as a President.  No one can confuse him with something different or new, or good for our democracy.

Like Trump, he has a deaf ear turned away from most of the country and talks only to his base. That is not a leader; it is a follower.

He offers absolutely nothing to the people who will start paying attention to him, and more and more, they are paying attention.  He is as charismatic as a tree stump; these are two fatal flaws.

The extremists on both sides simply can’t accept that there are not enough of them to take over our very diverse and complex country. They are stuck in delusion and conspiracy; they can’t seem to crawl out of it.

It should be clear enough by now that people who infuriate millions of women, take their rights away, and push us to return to the dark ages are not good at attracting new followers. Neither are the people who are again spending trillions of dollars without knowing where it goes.

Real politics is about just the opposite. The Democrats survived the mid-term by drawing new voters. That’s how Biden won. Trump hasn’t learned that yet; that is why he is a loser many times over. When he looks in the civic mirror, he only sees himself.

The problem with DeSantis is that being “woke” is not just a knee-jerk political position to invent and exploit but so much more.

It’s about science, culture, education, diversity, people of color, people who disagree with him, gay and trans people, and people who believe in love, compassion, mercy, and empathy. It’s about freedom, creativity, and the right to better your life. It’s about self and equality.

We need science more than ever, not a return to the anti-intellectual fervor of the Dark Ages.

I’ve voted for many Republicans in my life and considered myself a conservative in many ways until Donald Trump decided people like me were enemies of the people because we couldn’t kiss that ring.

It took a good while for most Americans to grasp that he was, in fact, the enemy of the people.  Millions don’t accept that; that’s their problem.

I have nothing against the people. I wish them well.

Democracy lives, and so do the “woke.”

It’s a club I am happy to join.