Governor Andy Beshear recently announced his candidacy for a second term as Kentucky’s Governor. The MAGA republicans immediately attacked him saying that his philosophy and management style was not appropriate for Kentucky because he was a proponent of “woke” culture. Well that was certainly news to me.

I looked up exactly what republicans mean by “woke”. Here’s what I found; Merriam-Webster describes woke as: “Aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” That sounds pretty good to me. The counterpoint would be that republicans are oblivious to and unknowledgeable about current facts and issues and are unaware of and uncaring about issues of racial and social justice. They ignore the fact that Andy Beshear is one of the most popular and well thought-of governors in the United States.

The way he led the state through the 3-year Covid epidemic and last years tornado outbreak while at the same time attracting billions of dollars of new investment and creating a record number of jobs for Kentucky do not seem to matter at all to them. All they appear to be interested in is reducing taxes on the rich and taking away women’s reproductive freedom rights.” 

— James Porter, Danville