What’s the Matter With Florida?
4th October 2021
In 2004, Thomas Frank published a widely-discussed book called What’s the Matter with Kansas? I didn’t read the book, but my understanding of Frank’s smug thesis is that Kansans, and by extension Americans (the title of the book overseas was What’s the Matter with America?), were voting against their interests, as Frank saw them, because they were distracted by cultural issues.
These days, Democrats are asking, “what’s the matter with Florida?” As they see it, Florida twice voted for the devil incarnate for president. It also elected Ron DeSantis, someone almost as bad as Donald Trump, to be governor. And now, despite ruinous governance (as the Dems see it), they seem likely to reelect DeSantis.
That would be a great title for a book: What’s The Matter With Thomas Frank?