Deep Something

Whose Choice Is It?

September 12, 2026September 12, 2026 B. John 57 Views 0 Comments School Choice, Florida Schools, Vouchers, Education Funding, Teacher Shortage, Educational Equity, Wealth Transfer, Public Education

This entry is in the series Education

Florida calls it school choice. But choice for whom?

An $8,000 voucher may open doors for a family that can add another $10,000 or $15,000. For a family that cannot, the same voucher may leave those doors closed. And even when the money is there, private schools still decide whom they admit. That raises a harder question than the slogan suggests: whose choice is it?

In this essay, I look at what public education was created to do, what Florida is changing, and why the stakes go far beyond schools. Drawing on our March Voices of Justice: Speak Up for Students program at Hyde Park United Methodist Church, including insights from USF education policy professor Dr. Bill Black, I argue that public education is one of the few institutions designed to give every child a claim on shared public wealth. Weakening that promise risks hardening the very class divisions public schools were built to overcome.

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Daniela Simic Has Been Preparing for This Job for Years

September 8, 2026September 8, 2026 B. John 105 Views 0 Comments community leadership, Daniela Simic, classroom experience, teacher endorsements, Public Education, District 2, Brittany Lyssy, Campaign Finance, Hillsborough County School Board

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

Daniela Simic’s campaign is built around something school board races could use more of: deep experience with schools themselves. She has spent about 25 years in education, from the classroom to district leadership, with years of PTA and community work layered on top of it.

Her fundraising tells its own story. Simic and Brittany Lyssy have raised roughly the same amount from outside donors, but Simic reached that total through far more contribution transactions, a lower median donation, and broader support from individuals, educators, labor groups, and community organizations.

The race gives District 2 voters a clear factual comparison in background, donor base, and connection to Hillsborough’s schools. The full piece looks at Simic’s record, the people backing her, and the experience she brings to one of the largest school systems in the country.

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What We Owe the Worker

September 7, 2026 B. John 107 Views 0 Comments Stoicism, justice, labor rights, common good, unions, Labor Day, dignity of work, Workers

This entry is in the series Journey Through Stoicism

People often see Labor Day as just the end of summer, but its history asks us to remember something more. The day began with workers fighting for safer workplaces, better pay, reasonable hours, and the right to organize. Those fights were never only about economics. They were about dignity.

The Stoics didn’t write about labor rights as we know them, but they believed strongly in justice, cooperation, and the common good. Marcus Aurelius reminded himself that people are meant to work together, and that harm to the community eventually harms everyone. This idea matters now, when many workers still have little control over their pay, safety, schedules, or ability to organize.

This Labor Day, let’s consider what Stoicism can still teach us about work, the value of workers, and what we owe each other in a society that says it honors labor.

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A Polite Version of Josh Wostal Is Still Too Much

September 3, 2026 B. John 113 Views 0 Comments Hillsborough School Board, Campaign Finance, Stacy Hahn, Neil Manimala, developer contributions, Wostal, Ron DeSantis, Hillsborough County Commission

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

Stacy Hahn doesn’t sound much like Josh Postal. She’s thoughtful, qualified, and generally pleasant. But votes count the same whether they come with a scowl or a smile, and Hahn’s eight years on the Hillsborough County School Board show a record that’s much more conservative than her polished image suggests.

Hahn opposed letting voters decide on more funding for teacher pay, voted against defending that referendum when Postal and the County Commission tried to block it, rejected a Pride Month proclamation, and publicly aligned herself with Ron DeSantis’s political group. There are some exceptions in her record, but when it comes to taxes, LGBTQ recognition, sexual-health education, and DeSantis-era politics, the pattern is clear.

Now Hahn is running for the County Commission with a campaign mostly funded by construction, development, real estate, and government-relations groups—including businesses that have worked with Hillsborough County. These contributions don’t prove improper influence, but voters have a right to look at who is supporting a candidate and what choices that candidate might make in office. Dr. Hahn may be a more pleasant version of Josh Postal, but the real question is whether Hillsborough County needs another version at all.

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Ambition, Attendance, and the Race for HCSB District 2

August 31, 2026 B. John 145 Views 0 Comments Public Education, Hillsborough County, Tampa Politics, Hillsborough School Board, District 2, Brittany Lyssy, Local Governance

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

When someone wants to lead a multi-billion-dollar school district, authenticity comes first. Brittany Lyssy’s campaign for Hillsborough School Board District 2 asks voters to believe that a family of five lives in a 680-square-foot, one-bedroom condo while also keeping a homesteaded home in Manatee County. From barely attending advisory board meetings to repeating national talking points, District 2 voters deserve real community representation, not a staged political act.

Featured Places Tampa Politics Legislature

When Tallahassee Called, Josie Tomkow Answered

August 27, 2026August 27, 2026 B. John 165 Views 0 Comments Home Rule, local control, Hillsborough County, Tallahassee preemption, party leadership, Senate District 14, Josie Tomkow, Tampa Politics

When Josie Tomkow had the chance to support local communities, she chose Tallahassee instead. This pattern appears throughout her House voting record: tenant protections, land use, infill development, vacation rentals, civilian oversight, worker rules, and school-board governance all go the same way.

This matters because Tomkow now wants to represent Senate District 14, which includes Tampa and Hillsborough County. But her record comes from somewhere else, and it raises an important question for voters here: when local needs clash with party leadership, whose side will she choose?

Her votes seem to answer. Even when another Hillsborough Republican voted no on a major preemption bill, Tomkow voted yes. So the question is not whether she can learn Tampa’s concerns. The question is whether she has already shown us who gets her vote when Tallahassee comes calling.

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Trump Wants the Midterms to Be About Trump

August 26, 2026 B. John 121 Views 0 Comments Democratic politics, Donald Trump, Cost of Living, 2026 midterms, Republican incumbents, MAGA Inc., campaign advertising, voter accountability

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

Donald Trump has looked at a 34 percent approval rating and reached a comforting conclusion: Americans have not seen enough Donald Trump. His super PAC is preparing midterm ads built around his record, his speeches, and clips of Trump praising Trump. Apparently, the nation has suffered from a shortage.

The ads will tout stock-market highs, factory output, falling overdose deaths, and other signs of the “Golden Age.” Families will still see grocery bills that keep climbing, gasoline near $4.09 a gallon, and a job market that lost ground in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has yet to buy anyone’s groceries.

Trump wants voters to treat the midterms as though his name appears on every ballot. They should accept the invitation. Then they should ask every Republican incumbent whether Trump’s record belongs to them too, which votes lowered costs back home, and why the greatest economy in history remains so difficult for most people to find.

Featured Places Tampa Politics Election

Before We Choose Together

August 14, 2026August 14, 2026 B. John 204 Views 0 Comments Tampa Politics, Campaign Finance, political power, Democracy, voter influence, political access, community leadership, special interests, representative government, Civic Engagement

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

We like to tell ourselves a comforting story about democracy: everyone gets one vote. The developer who can spend thousands on campaigns gets one. The teacher gets one. The restaurant worker gets one. The college student voting for the first time gets one. On Election Day, at least, the arithmetic is wonderfully simple.

But political power starts working long before Election Day. Candidates need money, introductions, endorsements, volunteers, organizations to support them, and people who can get them into the rooms where political relationships are built. By the time most voters start paying attention, a much smaller group may have already spent months deciding which candidates have the money, visibility, and standing to be taken seriously.

That raises a question I hadn’t fully considered when I wrote What We Choose Together: What needs to happen before the word “together” is really true? In Before We Choose Together, I look at money, access, community ties, and the kind of public officials who still answer the phone and talk with regular people. Our vote matters, but so does our ability to be heard before we cast it.

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Mike Suarez Knows Insurance. That’s Why I Have Questions.

August 7, 2026August 7, 2026 B. John 282 Views 0 Comments auto insurance, Luis Salazar, PACs, Mike Suarez, Campaign Finance, Insurance, Florida House District 64, homeowners insurance

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

This entry is in the series Florida Legislature

Mike Suarez says his 30 years in insurance make him the best candidate to tackle Florida’s insurance crisis. With what homeowners and drivers are paying, that sounds like valuable experience. But his campaign finance reports show something else voters should think about: insurance-related interests are also the largest industry group I identified among his contributors.

That doesn’t mean anyone bought Mike Suarez’s vote. But it does mean voters have every right to ask a tougher question. If you’ve worked in an industry for decades and people connected to it give a lot to your campaign, whose interests will matter most when insurers and policyholders want different things?

Suarez wants voters to see his insurance career as a reason to elect him. That’s fair. But his professional and financial ties to that same industry deserve scrutiny too. Florida families don’t need another explanation for high insurance costs. They need someone in Tallahassee who will tell them exactly how their homeowners and auto insurance bills will go down.

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Who Governs Tampa?

August 3, 2026 B. John 231 Views 0 Comments Karen Gonzalez Pittman, Tampa Politics, Home Rule, Hillsborough County, Preemption, Florida Legislature, Local Government, Tallahassee, school boards

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

Most people assume that when they elect a City Council member, County Commissioner, or School Board member, those officials have the authority to govern. In Florida, that’s becoming less true every year. Through a growing list of preemption laws, Tallahassee has steadily taken power away from local communities, often replacing local judgment with statewide mandates.

Representative Karen Gonzalez-Pittman’s voting record shows she has consistently supported that shift. From housing and neighborhood development to public schools and worker protections, her votes raise a fundamental question for District 65: should decisions about Tampa be made by the people who live here, or by politicians in Tallahassee? This first installment examines one of the most significant, and least discussed, changes in Florida government.

Featured Places Tampa Politics Election

Would This Resume Get the Job?

August 1, 2026August 1, 2026 B. John 265 Views 0 Comments Hillsborough County Public Schools, School Board Election, Leadership Experience, Local Politics, education policy, Brittany Lyssy, Campaign Finance, Hillsborough County School Board

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

Would this resume get the job? That’s the question every voter should ask before electing someone to help govern the seventh-largest school district in the nation. Hillsborough County Public Schools oversees more than 218,000 students, employs over 23,000 people, and manages a budget exceeding $4 billion. If this were a private company, would this résumé earn a seat in the boardroom?

This article examines Brittany Lyssy’s publicly presented qualifications alongside her campaign finance reports, which show that, excluding a personal loan to her campaign, nearly four out of every ten identifiable donor dollars came from outside Hillsborough County. It’s not a partisan argument. It’s a hiring question. Before entrusting someone with one of the most consequential governing positions in our community, voters deserve to ask whether the experience matches the responsibility.

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