Early notes on De-shittification
What did we learn? What's next? 1) De-Shittification hub 2) DOGE-ist list of merit-free, statewide crony hires 3) Learn from the enshittifiers of children's teeth 4) Watch "Andor"
More than 30 different people — over three weeks — showed up to talk De-shittification with me. One couple came over Tampa; another woman came up from Sarasota. A young man at school at UF came with two of his friends, who are recent Florida Southern grads. We had folks from Lake Wales and all over Polk County.
I was quite gratified and encouraged — particularly with all the connections readers made with each other.
Indeed, it made me chuckle about one of the MAGA Fluids I have tried to hold accountable for his behavior. He recently sniped at me: “No one cares what you write,” before he blocked me in a huffy expression of how little he cares.
Well, at least 30 people (most of whom I did not know) cared enough to give up a chunk of their Saturday mornings to hang out with me — and other folks who care — just because I invited them to. Anybody ever do that for you, Mr. Fluid?
Anyway, we’re taking this weekend off. Some of us thought maybe future gatherings might focus on an issue or specific subject or purely social gathering or activity. More on that to come. For now, here are some thoughts and suggestions about moving forward.
The De-shittification hub: send me your De-Shittification events/pursuits
Almost everyone who came to hang out already had something they were doing aimed at De-shittifying something. So it occurred to me that a PE1 clearinghouse of de-shittifying events or practices or gatherings or creativity would be helpful.
For example: I’ll be attending this liberal arts event on April 1 at the Bradenton Theater. I learned about it from the De-shittification attendee who came up from Sarasota.
I’ll make the Hub a separate running post. I think that’s better than trying to maintain a separate email list of geographically and socially disparate people. Everyone’s inboxes are full enough. I can communicate with people through the site, and people can communicate with each other through comments/notes.
Let’s keep a statewide list of no-merit, crony grift hires for public services
One of the very basic tenets of De-Shittification in Florida should be to return some tiny semblance of merit to any significant public position.
When independent populist John Morgan becomes governor in 2026, let’s have our own precise DOGE crony list ready to go. Here’s a start: For example:
Richard Corcoran. You know him, the comically overpaid grifter/manager of bad, 80-kid baseball team at the fake New College.
Kelli Stargel, who keeps failing lucratively upward at Florida Poly. She didn’t have enough to do as “senior adviser for strategic relationships” so they made her “associate vice president of strategic relationships” in charge of “legislative affairs, local government relations, strategic partnerships and international relationships.” That big title wasn’t enough to keep her busy for $175K, so they just gave her a raise to $220K and made her full “new vice president for strategic initiatives, development, and external relations,” to include overseeing the Poly Foundation. LOL. The college says: “In her new role, Stargel will continue managing strategic relationships and initiatives with a focus on partnerships at the local, state and national levels. She will also oversee the Florida Polytechnic University Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the University’s mission through community engagement, securing investments, and managing financial resources.” But fear not, Poly also will hire a “a chief development officer” to actually do Kelli’s work for her. Again, LOL.
Chad Davis, Kelli Stargel’s protege inside Polk County schools, who can’t resist trashing and/or embarrassing his clients, who laughs with Kelli online about how how teachers are overpaid.
Your nominees here …
Free advice to Mr. “For the People”: run on purging actual grifters who add nothing but taxpayer cost to public life.
That’s much more popular than gratuitously firing hurricane hunters and VA workers and veterans. None of my fellow Republicans will even speak a peep of defense for these hires — trust me.
I’ll also make this list a separate running post.
Learn from the enshittifiers of children’s teeth
The same people who brought you the resurgence of Measles just bullied the Lakeland City Commission into unanimously giving poor children more cavities, for which the children will not have access to dental care.
It took only a handful of enshittifiers to make that happen.
And trust me: these enshittifiers did not care about medical “choice” or public health. They cared about dominating the commissioners and imposing their selfish will on the community at-large. It was a public dominance ritual, nothing more — designed to inflict oral pain and extra lifelong tooth enamel decay on children born poor just to own the libs.
None of the commissioners were enthusiastic about enshittifying the teeth of Lakeland’s poor children — and folks without regular dental care access. But they did so anyway out of fear.
Learn from that, De-Shittifiers. Enshittifiers told them to jump; and they jumped.
As of right now, the people who have official public power in Lakeland fear their bad, selfish citizens far more than they fear their good, productive citizens, who they take entirely for granted. This is probably the case in your community, too, if it’s not Lakeland. It needs to change.
The children’s teeth enshittifiers do not care if our leaders like them. De-shittifiers can’t care either.
Use the Lakeland mayor’s race for clear civic expression
Here is how Lakeland, within its city limits, voted on Amendment 4, which would have restored “medical freedom” and full maternal health care for Lakeland women. Orange is yes.
Yes-on-4 voters will absolutely decide who becomes Lakeland’s next mayor in November of this year. What will we do with that power?
The “respectable” candidates will try to avoid taking any substantive positions on anything. (I hear Saga is gonna run again. Who knows what that whack-a-doodle will say and do? I do have to admit, however, her last race pretty well reflects the ideology Lakeland’s “respectable” leaders have chosen to ride-or-die-or-purge with. They deserve her.)
The respectables will try to separate themselves from Saga through outward personality — and by trying to focus on the quotidian matters of the city government organization — or vague gauzy ideas about loving Lakeland and the kind of jobs/development we fantasize about. The campaign will be substance-free if we allow it to be.
I, for one, will not allow it to be substance-free if I can help it. I’m going to want firm public candidate positions on, at least:
Leo Schofield’s exoneration — the absolute lowest of low-hanging fruit.
Demanding the Polk School district pursue a teacher pay/operations referendum so Polk can even pretend to try to stay competitive with peer/rival counties, for the sake of Lakeland’s children.
A City Commission resolution rejecting Jennifer Canady’s 6-week forced birth law and replacing it with 15-week forced birth, a reasonable compromise that is still out of step with Lakeland voters.
Publication of exactly how Lakeland Regional Health interprets “health of the mother” and miscarriage/pregnancy care.
For most of these, the respectable candidates will say “oh we cant do anything about that” Lalalala. But that’s nonsense. They can take public positions that reflect the will of their voters under pain of not becoming mayor. So can Saga.
And pain — not merit or morality — is what they respond to. Do not delude yourself about that. Figuring out how to make basic decency and kindness formidable to power — even weak power — is the defining challenge of this era.
I am utterly indifferent to the human identities and personal status ambitions of the people who seek to serve as the face of my city. I want to drive positions/policies through them. I want them to represent me as responsively as they do the children’s teeth enshittifiers.
Learn from “Andor”: all De-shittifiers are allies; don’t judge or lecture them on their methods or focus; and above all, try
Finally, I just want to repeat my periodic recommendation to watch the nominally-Star Wars-related show Andor. Season 2 is coming in April.
Season 1 remains the best work of popular art I have ever seen about the dynamics of power and resistance and creating personal sovereignty.
Here is a crucial scene for De-shittifiers to process. One of the leaders of the multiple different spontaneous and independent resistance groups explains why he won’t work with other groups. This will sound familiar, if you listen. And we De-shittifiers cannot afford to think like this, in my opinion.
And then this scene, I think, which gets at how a loose network of De-shittifiers can work, and lift each other, in a very moving way.
“Remember this: Try.”
There are far worse rallying cries than “Try.”
Thank you for trying, De-shittifiers. Let’s keep it going.