Enjoy your summer ... and then get out and vote

School is out, summer is here and the state capitol is empty.

Florida’s political world is taking a collective breath after legislative sessions and before months of non-stop campaigning for the November election. Families are focused on escaping the heat, summer camps for kids and vacations.

But make no mistake. The damage Gov. Ron DeSantis is inflicting upon Florida continues to impact us all as he keeps consolidating power and punishing anyone who disagrees with him. It threatens our economy and our democracy, and the repercussions of the governor’s extremism are just beginning to play out.

Across the state, women are hurt and terrified as they wait for this governor, who praised the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, to completely strip them of their right to choose.

In Orlando, The Walt Disney Company recently postponed plans to bring 2,000 jobs from California to Florida. The disappointing announcement comes after DeSantis punished Disney for criticizing his discriminatory “Don’t Say Gay’’ law and abolished the company’s special governing district — leaving taxpayers on the hook for $1.7 billion in debt.

In Tampa Bay, elected officials and business leaders were stunned by the governor’s budget vetoes. The early fallout: a major expansion of Moffitt Cancer Center in Pasco County, and a new marine science facility focused on improving sustainability and resiliency at the University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus.

The lawsuits challenging the governor’s assault on our freedoms are also piling up. Last week, a Tallahassee circuit judge thankfully ruled against the governor’s cruel abortion ban that offers no exceptions in the case of rape or incest. But with DeSantis’ promise to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, there’s still a tough fight ahead.

Another lawsuit is challenging the governor’s “Don’t Say Gay’’ law that discriminates against LGBTQ students. And another is challenging DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE Act’’ that could silence civil rights teaching and training at schools, universities and businesses.

Additionally, there are lawsuits challenging a DeSantis law that makes it harder to vote, and a DeSantis map for congressional districts that eliminated Black representation in Congress.

The ridiculous legal fees DeSantis is forcing taxpayers to pay to defend the indefensible: More than $4.4 million and rising fast.

The governor’s continued assault also risks lives and defies common sense. DeSantis made Florida the only state that failed to preorder COVID vaccines for young children, creating chaos and leading to delays for families eager to protect their kids. This from a governor who constantly invokes parental rights to defend his fight over masks in schools. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

So is the bullying. DeSantis is seeking to take over local school boards by coaching and electing like-minded supporters. He also is trying to take control of the state Senate by endorsing candidates in Republican primaries who are not backed by Senate Republican leaders — a tactic out of the Trump playbook that no other Florida governor has so brazenly pursued.

Meanwhile, DeSantis is recruiting members for an elections police force and a state militia only he will control. The potential for abuse of law-abiding citizens should chill every Floridian.

The governor’s thirst for absolute power knows no boundaries. Published reports say he even floated legislation aimed at forcing every public university to reflect his warped reality. Big universities hire dozens of faculty members every year, and the governor wants every one of those hires to be approved by each university’s board of trustees that he controls. That would kill intellectual independence, which appears to be DeSantis’ intention.

In normal times, Floridians could count on checks and balances woven into the fabric of our state to limit an authoritarian-minded, power-hungry governor. Not anymore.

The legislative branch is subservient to DeSantis. The judicial branch is stacked with his right-wing ideologues, the news media has been demonized and shut out of his press conferences, and local governments have been stripped of powers to act in the best interests of their residents.

This regime is not a Florida I recognize, but it is one imagined by the likes of dictators. They seek total control, tolerate no dissent and silence those who disagree.

Take a breath. Take a vacation. Enjoy your summer. But be prepared to engage during election season and to vote in the Aug. 23 primary and Nov. 8 elections. Our freedoms, our institutions and the very future of our state are at stake.