These are some of my thoughts following tonight's televised debate between Governor Ron DeSantis and opponent Charlie Crist.
Governor DeSantis of Florida is in an enviable position, controlling the executive branch of the third-largest state while also dominating the Florida legislature. When it comes to both culture wars (e.g., Disney, "woke" act) and matters of extreme importance (e.g., U.S. House redistricting), they cower at his command. But, this presents at least 2 problems. I will mention the first one only in passing and focus on the second one, which I find to be more enticing.
The first problem is that DeSantis' immense power also means that he fully owns the property insurance crisis, skyrocketing housing costs, paving of wetlands, and so many other issues his administration has failed to address. His opponent, Charlie Crist, assiduously highlighted this in tonight's gubernatorial debate.
The second problem, which I find more interesting and believe is a sore spot for the governor, is that Ron and Casey DeSantis, in their quest for power, have had to completely betray the ideals they once swore by. DeSantis made it to the United States House of Representatives in 2013 as a supposed "tea party" conservative fighting for small government, separation of powers, and so on. In fact, Ron DeSantis loves James Madison so much that Casey and him named their first child Madison. But, James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights, and he also wrote Federalist Paper No. 47. He would not have been a fan of what DeSantis is doing.
In Federalist Paper No. 47, James Madison wrote the famous quote, "the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." This is an important quote I always emphasized to my 12th grade U.S. government students, as many of them tended to assume that tyranny could not take hold in a democracy. But, Madison is saying that even with free elections, separation of powers is essential to preventing tyranny.
Governor DeSantis dominates the Republican majorities in the Florida House and Senate so masterfully that they literally stood by and smiled as he announced his line-item vetoing of over $3 billion from Florida's most recent annual budget, including many appropriations important to their districts. They surrendered their reapportionment authority, giving him carte blanche to draw his own extremely gerrymandered and possibly illegal congressional districts. They have repeatedly rubber-stamped his radical appointees, such as Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a notorious purveyor of quackery, as Florida's Surgeon General. This shows not a separation of powers, but a fusion of executive and legislative power that would have been alarming to DeSantis' hero, James Madison.
Governor DeSantis is even flexing the Florida Constitution's powers to remove duly elected school board members and a prosecutor (Andrew Warren). This is subject to review by the Florida Senate, but they won't be in session again until 2023 (unless called into a special session by the governor) and will certainly rubber stamp it. Furthermore, DeSantis controls many judicial appointments, and has appointed a majority of justices on the Florida Supreme Court, numerous appointments on district appeals courts, and his gubernatorial powers even allow appointments to fill unexpected vacancies on county and circuit courts that are ordinarily elected.
The sweeping powers of the Florida executive are disconcerting in comparison with the United States government and current national politics, which do not permit the President of the United States to veto portions of bills, to remove elected officials, to draw legislative districts, or to dominate the national legislature. DeSantis, in his quest for power, has sought to go even further, seeking to take over Florida's universities with radical right-wing presidents (see University of Florida), Board of Governors members, and new laws to weaken and politicize tenure. To imagine a DeSantis presidency is frightening, seeing what he has already done in Florida to push the limits of an already overpowered governorship.
Further betraying his roots, DeSantis takes big donations from billionaires and corporate interests and rewards them handsomely. This is a stark contrast with his roots, which are in pretending to be an underdog fighting the Obama administration, battling against big government, and seeking to restore the ideals of James Madison. He wrote a hokey self-published book which seemed to be of help in his 2012 congressional campaign (Dreams from Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama), where he ran an efficient and under-the-radar campaign to win a Republican primary in Volusia, Flagler, and St. Johns counties and sail to Congress. In fact, a volunteer for my 2020 Democratic congressional campaign was a former Republican operative in 2012, who worked on the campaign of one of DeSantis' opponents in the Republican primary. He recalled that there was a ruthless, negative campaign between the 2 supposedly leading candidates in the August 2012 Republican primary, and DeSantis came out on top by running an efficient operation while they duked it out and alienated voters into the DeSantis camp.
National reporting has detailed how the socially awkward DeSantis parlayed this coup de grâce into even more power, weaseling his way into the graces and pocketbooks of billionaires such as the Koch brothers via his congressional incumbency, laser-focused networking, and music-to-their-ears rhetoric. Simultaneously, he and Casey recognized the importance of Fox "News" toward their quest for power (Casey is a former Jacksonville news anchor). With this and a little help from President Donald Trump, he managed to go from obscurity to the governorship, winning narrowly in November 2018 by 0.4% and even selling out his kids in the process. (DeSantis ran hokey campaign ads reading Trump's Art of the Deal to his then-infant son Mason and building a supposed southern border wall out of blocks with his then 2-year-old daughter Madison.)
Now, DeSantis seeks gubernatorial re-election as a stepping stone to pull off the ultimate heist: The office of President of the United States. In tonight's debate, he couldn't even commit to serving half a term as governor if re-elected, let alone through the end of his proposed second term in January 2027. He and Casey have organized a national persona as a combative fighter to appeal to fringe voters who will supposedly decide the 2024 Republican presidential primaries. But, the Republican party has abandoned any lip service it used to pay to James Madison and small government, now fully embracing government overreach into the decisions and dealings of private individuals and businesses, as well as seeking an end to free and fair elections and a merger of executive, legislative, and judicial power under strongman rule.
DeSantis is a bookish, Harvard- and Yale-educated lawyer who once subscribed to these principles yet now has sacrificed them at the altar of power, while also trying to pass himself off as a populist man of the people. These are two tall orders indeed. Although DeSantis is awkward, impersonable, and easily mocked for wearing embarrassing white boots and a face mask incorrectly, he is diabolical and must not be underestimated or allowed to fester. In this pursuit, the betrayal of Madison's principles, in particular, may be his Achilles' heel, from a rhetorical perspective.
Now in October 2022, after a brief reprieve following the election of 2020 and the insurrection of January 6, 2021, we stand on the precipice of autocracy once again in the United States of America, with new problems brewing in legislation and political candidates all over the nation who seek to rig future elections for Trump, DeSantis, or similar Republican demagogues, and then to rob the nation's treasures for them and their criminal accomplices while ensuring they "win" every future election, regardless of the will of the people.
At this moment, Floridians now have a chance to vote for Charlie Crist and thwart one such demagogue. VOTE. Do it now. The election is winnable, and DeSantis' presidential ambitions will be severely weakened by losing re-election as governor. You do not want to, at some future date, have to rely on DeSantis having a "profile in courage" moment, mercifully returning to Madisonian principles as he is handed the opportunity to dissolve the American republic and become a new Julius Caesar. Ron DeSantis is NOT a less dangerous "Trump 2.0," despite the mainstream media's claims. Stop him now, while you have the chance.
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Notes:
This essay started out as a tweet which then ballooned into a full-blown essay on my Bluetooth keyboard and smartphone. The major points I have mentioned are all easily found by web search. I do want to include this one link to DeSantis' campaign ad from 2018 featuring Madison and Mason "building the wall" and being read propaganda from Donald Trump's book and campaign sign. It is even more cringeworthy upon repeated viewings: