In his inauguration speech, DeSantis calls Florida a "land of sanity" where "woke goes to die"
“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” — George Orwell
Yesterday, Ron Desantis blessed the poor citizens of Florida with a few thoughts during his inauguration as Governor. Having just sworn his oath of office on a borrowed Bible, he ignored the ninth commandment and lied like a professional during his remarks.
"When the world lost its mind, when common sense suddenly became an uncommon virtue, Florida was a refuge of sanity, a citadel of freedom for our fellow Americans, and even for people around the world. In captaining the ship of state, we choose to navigate the boisterous sea of liberty rather than cower in the calm docks of despotism."
To paraphrase Shakespeare, it was a speech told by an idiot, full of sound bites and fury, signifying nothing. Unfortunately for the average American, who did nothing to deserve it, DeSantis will not emulate the demise of Shakespeare’s poor player — he will be heard some more.
But, fortunately for Floridians, unlike the sticks and stones of DeSantis’s enacted policies, these words did not hurt anyone. And it was in the long tradition of American speeches which extol virtues in the body politic that it has not evinced.
Hyperbolic inaccuracy started with the foundational claim, “All men are created equal” — an equality limited to the male of the species, as long as he was white, with bonus points for being a property owner. And ever since, the powers that be have spoken in a code understood by those in on the fix.
Take his phrase “citadel of freedom” What metric is he using to measure this claim? It takes chutzpah for a Governor of a state that restricts the right to vote to claim it is the cradle of liberty. And what of the LGBTQ youth denied the freedom to talk and read about their challenges? In Florida, the state has determined which love can speak its name — and which people had better shut up about their circumstances and stay in their assigned box.
But that is merely to scratch the surface of DeSantis’s Orwellian vision for the Sunshine State. His educational policy would find favor in North Korea as at least a step in the right direction. Ron’s fascistic curriculum requires teachers to lie to their students about their country's history. And excise all truth the white kids might find uncomfortable.
DeSantis — if you want to damn him with faint praise — is not the overt anti-abortion zealot found in other red states mandating young teen girls give birth to their rapist uncle Bubba's baby. However, Florida has limited abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. And I am sure that were it not for his national ambitions, DeSantis would be trampling women’s rights further.
And as for sanity, Ron is a “Florida Man”. Consider COVID. When it came to the most prolific medical killer in the US since the Spanish flu in 1919, Desantis was blasé about people’s health and determined to spread scientific illiteracy.
He celebrates his pro-business, anti-common sense policies as the optimal strategy for dealing with pandemics. But let us note that his profit protection policies led to Florida having the 13th highest death rate per capita among the states. An 11% higher fatality rate per infection than the US average. And a 6% higher rate of infection. Not good. And it has not been helped by his choice for Florida Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo.
Ladapo is Ivy League-educated with a glittering resume. But it was his vaccine denial that set DeSantis’s political heart aflutter. Ladapo has promoted unproven treatments, opposed vaccine and mask mandates, questioned the safety of COVID vaccines, and lied while contradicting professional medical organizations. In other words, he is a perfect fit for Florida's medical insanity.
Some businesses will also question DeSantis’s freedom claims. When Florida’s largest employer, Walt Disney, expressed concern over Florida’s education policies, the liberty-loving DeSantis sicced the state government on the company and stripped it of its ability to self-govern. A move that left local taxpayers on the hook for at least $100s of millions of debt obligations.
DeSantis has since proved he is not insane by reportedly backtracking on the dissolution of Disney’s Reedy Creek special tax district. Although he has denied any such thing as Republicans cannot admit mistakes in case the Mar a Lago malevolence rips them apart on Truth Social.
While DeSantis is policing corporations to ensure they do not question state propaganda, he also celebrates — in the style of Queen Victoria — his role in Florida’s economic vitality.
"Leaders do not follow, they lead. We have articulated a vision for a free and prosperous state. We have, through persistence and hard work, executed on that vision. We have produced favorable results. And now we are here today because the people of Florida have validated our efforts in record fashion."
When did Ron’s delusions of grandeur promote him to “we”? And is he right to extol Florida’s prosperity? No. At best, he overstates the case. Florida is 35th in state GDP per capita — $14,000 per head lower than the national average and trailing New York by $41,000.
Florida does have a lighter individual tax burden than many states. However, despite that, it is only 29th with an average individual disposable income of $50,194 — trailing the national average by $2,700. Florida also has the 15th highest state poverty rate.
And as for Florida’s education policies, the state is 34th in high school graduation rate and 29th in college graduates. If that is what DeSantis calls “favorable results” then he has a very low bar.
In reality, for all its prominence in national politics, Florida is notable simply because it is the third-largest state with a citizenry determined to live up to its “Florida man” reputation. However, if you strip away the oratory and ignore the police blotter, it is a low to middling state mired in the middle of the achievement tables with an overinflated sense of its worth. Much like its Governor.
“One may smile and smile and be a villain” thank you Pitt