More Musings On Florida's Governor

Is He the Exception That Proves the Rule?

A reader of mine, based in New England, expressed interest in my take on Governor Ron DeSantis. As 2021 escapees ourselves to Florida from New England, this person wanted to know if I thought the Governor was the real deal (my words) or just another lip-service politician, perhaps a neocon in disguise. I dedicate this newsletter to this person and that question. Warning: I do call people names.

In the interest of full disclosure, I hold virtually all politicians — foreign and domestic — in very low esteem. I’ve done so for as long as I can remember. For years I have declared that “the system” itself attracts — with rare, rare exception — the very worst among us and brings out the very worst in them. I see the vast majority of them as the enemies of freedom. In short, even if they seem “normal” or “nice,” I assume there’s something very 𝕨𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘 with them — these seekers of power and the limelight — until they prove otherwise. Few do. As my readers and people who know me know, I call that rotting thing on the Potomac the world’s largest and deadliest organized crime syndicate. I stand by that.

Our Enemy, The (Administrative) State

More dangerous, though, are the “jokers” in the administrative state — the Cabinet departments, the alphabet soup “agencies”, and all the sub-agencies that infest “the government” — virtually all unelected and most importantly, virtually all unaccountable. Freedom in this country is on life support and these creeps — these accomplices — helped put it there. (Again, not all. I’m sure there are some “nice people” somewhere in the F.B.I., the C.I.A., the N.S.A., the N.I.H. among its 20,000 “employees”, etc., etc. Maybe. Maybe you might know some of these “nice” people.)

The past 30+ months of crime would have been impossible without this administrative state.¹ Can you say PREP Act and liability immunity for “vaccine” manufacturers, for example? The amazing Katherine Watt has done a deep dive into the origins of the administrative state so characteristic of the worst regimes. Katherine’s writings make clear who brought us this creature — “our” politicians and their partners in crime — the revolving door corporatists. Her revelations of the making of the American Bioterrorism Program stun the mind; her research is stellar.

This feature of large centralized government has grown beyond anything the Founders might have imagined. Jeffrey Tucker per his usual brilliance has written exquisitely on who our real rulers are. Read Tucker and Watt and weep. After weeping, go have a chuckle via typical English wit as it makes clear, “Government isn’t about morality.” The administrative state in a five-minute nutshell.

Governors as Criminals

Yet, during the course of the “COV!D” crime in the country called America, we witnessed the States give the D.C. crime syndicate a run for its money in terms of criminality and the destruction of human freedom. Their criminal conduct aided and abetted crimes against humanity and the Constitution initiated by the federal political class and its administrative apparatchiks. Instead of acting as bulwarks against federal criminality and encroachment, the States took the ball, as they say, and ran with it. To their enduring shame.

Way back when in early 2020 when the psychos started to propose the idea of shutting down commerce — a proposal that included the disgusting, 14th Amendment-smashing classification of “essential” vs. “non-essential” business/workers — I thought my head was going to explode. WITA (What in the actual) you-know-what are these lunatics talking about? "Essential"? "Non-essential"? By “lunatics” I meant Anthony “the little elf” Fauci, Deborah “sleight of hand” Birx, Robert "I do what Debbie B tells me" Redfield -- plus all the governors and all their "public health" doofuses declaring that the chance of some of us coming down with a severe respiratory infection warranted the destruction of commerce (the engine of life) and with it the end of the life as we know it. They can't be serious, I foolishly told myself. Why...that would be a CRIME.

Silly me.

As this madness continued unabated and it was clear that every single governor in the country appeared only too happy to take center stage and violate his/her oath to the Constitution (and by extension, to liberty), I knew this country was on the verge of its greatest debacle, its greatest crime courtesy of its governors. (While there’s a controversy around this, this includes Governor Noem despite her marketing to the contrary. Please see her 6 Apr 2020 Executive Order 2020-12. Some might argue this order orders no business to “close”, but the word “shall” appears several times — a change from her earlier EO, No. 2020-8, that said “should. A debate for another time.)

This brings me to the focus of this newsletter — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and what I see as a transformation of the man. I will posit that what Ron DeSantis went through is what many, many Americans also experienced — a transformation, a realization that virtually all of our institutions are deeply, deeply corrupt. It is my theory that this realization changed Governor DeSantis. He is now acting on that transformation — with moral certitude and a boldness many call “beast mode”.

I have been very tough on Governor DeSantis in Substack Comments sections, in emails, and even in the Substack I wrote specifically about him:

So, What Made Him Do It?

As I gathered supporting documentation for my letter to Florida Attorney General Moody, I learned a very interesting point about Governor DeSantis’s move to closure:

• In March 2020, Governor DeSantis rightly expressed concern that ordering a shutdown would make him a “dictator”. He was right. It would and he had no lawful² authority to do this. To my knowledge, Governor DeSantis was the only governor to verbalize his concern in this regard while under tremendous pressure to order the state to close. He may have also been a victim of Deborah Birx’s manipulations, as I posited in my letter to AG Moody.

What Governor DeSantis left out is the fact that “emergencies” do not void the Constitution nor confer additional power where there is none. After all, what would be the point of our Constitution if they did? https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/290/398/#425

“Emergency does not increase constitutional power, nor diminish constitutional restrictions.”

• On Apr 1, 2020, DeSantis unfortunately caved (as I call it) issuing an unlawful order to close. Yet only a little over two weeks later, he’s calling for a plan to reopen…Hmmm.

• By July 2020, Governor DeSantis seemed to have caught on to the “funny business” going on in what he called the “testing industrial complex”.

  • While still confused by why it took so long, DeSantis did issue a statewide order in December 2020 requiring all labs in the state to report their PCR cycle thresholds (CT) to the Florida Department of Health. You can read more about this here and here. Did any other governor do this?

The Great Barrington Declaration

October 2020. In the town of Great Barrington in the gorgeous Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts lies the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER). Led at the time by Jeffrey Tucker (who has since founded the Brownstone Institute), Tucker hosted several highly-credentialed and experienced professors to an intimate meeting at AIER’s magnificent headquarters.

This meeting took place over the weekend of Oct 2 - 4 2020 and led to the creation of The Great Barrington Declaration³.

• By March 2021, Governor DeSantis has invited The Great Barrington Declaration’s authors, along with Dr. Scott Atlas, to Tallahassee for a more personal roundtable on the topic of the lockdown. Did any other governor do this? You know, get a second opinion?

• In Sep 2021, Governor DeSantis appointed Dr. Joseph Ladapo as Florida Surgeon General. Dr. Ladapo came on the scene back in July 2020 as part of America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS), founded by Dr. Simone Gold. As part of the White Coat Summit, Dr. Ladapo spoke on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court steps adding his voice to those of Drs. Gold, Urzo, Todaro, Erickson, et.al.

• In early November, 2021, Governor DeSantis called a special legislative session to address the demented one’s federal “vaccine” “mandates”, plus other threats to Floridians’ livelihoods. Did this session go as far as yours truly wanted in terms of freedom? No, of course not, but I’m “extreme” in the extreme when it comes to liberty. Did any other governor do this?

The above are just some of the dates of note related to Governor DeSantis’s evolving outlook. In 2022 he brought us some real gems like the recent exposé of the eye-watering hypocrisy of the “beautiful people” of Martha’s Vineyard. Governor DeSantis also brought us the hilarious “little elf” line, making it obvious he’s had it with the Mendacious Midget™. Speaking of, DeSantis also stated out loud that “They lied to us about the mRNA vaccines.” Oh, and so much more, Governor.

So where does this leave me with regard to Governor DeSantis? Well, I thought I knew until I became aware of his “Freedom Playbook”. As pointed out in this short video, the Governor’s “Freedom Agenda” does not mention…freedom. At least not explicitly. What the heck?

I just found it astounding that after a nearly three-year-long crime that continues to this day (though far less egregiously in Florida) that Governor DeSantis and his campaign would craft a Freedom Playbook that reads…:

FREEDOM AGENDA:

Putting Kids First and Protecting Parents’ Rights

Florida’s Economy is Outpacing the Nation

Keeping Our Communities Safe

The Environment: Keeping Florida Beautiful

Protecting the Integrity of Our Elections

Standing Up for Moms and Florida Families

Florida: The Most Veteran-Friendly and Pro-Military State

Fighting Special Interests

…and never once explicitly uses the word. A “Freedom” agenda that omits a single mention of…freedom…It’s almost a joke. A crime obliterating the individual right to choose or not a medical intervention — and in this case, an experimental concoction never before used in humans — and it’s nowhere in Governor’s DeSantis’s “playbook”

I had such a major head explosion after learning this that it delayed the completion and publication of this newsletter. I’m finally calming down, but it is clear to me that as good as he is and as much as he has evolved over these past terrible 2.5 years, this omission is cause for concern. I dunno — maybe there’s some political campaign woo-woo at play here to keep medical freedom on the DL for now.

Get DeSantis re-elected along with other strong, pro-freedom legislators, and maybe, just maybe, Florida will end up leading the nation on this front, too — the restoration and formalization in code of the basic, natural human right to accept or decline medical interventions with full knowledge and free from a scintilla of coercion. In a “word” — medical freedom. Stunning to realize, but yes, we’re gonna have to spell it out for “them”.

I for one have had it with those among us — the ones I mentioned at the top of this post — who have proved so clearly my point: They are the worst among us. They seek power and once they get it, it brings out the worst that’s already in them. I think DeSantis could be one of those “rare, rare exceptions”, but to make sure he is up to us, those of us who cherish freedom, who know its source and the source of its greatest threat, and understand its price. I will leave you with the following quote:

Speaking to members of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society on January 28, 1852, abolitionist Wendell Phillips said:

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few. The manna of popular liberty must be gathered each day or it is rotten. The living sap of today outgrows the dead rind of yesterday. The hand entrusted with power becomes, either from human depravity or esprit de corps, the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continued oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot; only by unintermitted agitation can a people be sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.”

1. https://mises.org/library/our-enemy-state-0

2. I distinguish between lawful and legal. Laws enforcing segregation were legal, but were they actually lawful?? Uh, no. Did laws in Florida afford Governor DeSantis the legal authority to do what he did? Perhaps, but were those laws lawful? It seems even DeSantis doubted this by his comment.

3. Please excuse the writer. While bashing a basher for his bashing of the Declaration and its participants, the writer bashes the basher for his other “kooky claims” about the attacks of Sep 11. Lumping the basher’s incorrect theorizing on the Declaration with his correct theorizing about the attacks. Does this writer “hear” himself?