Billed as a “Declaration of Economic Independence,” the Florida governor’s national agenda takes on the Washington swamp, illegal immigration and fentanyl at our chaotic southern border, the Chinese Communist Party, economic malaise, and more.
“We want to be a country that makes things” is a top-line item in the DeSantis agenda, “where a family can raise children on a single income.”
To do that, “We will declare our economic independence” from:
- the failed elites that have orchestrated American decline;
- the profligate federal spending that has inflated prices and plunged our nation to the brink of insolvency;
- the Chinese Communist Party that has run circles around us for a generation;
- central planners who seek to advance their political agendas at the expense of the standard of living for the average American;
- destructive policies like the Green New Deal that seek to hinder our domestic energy production;
- a class of progressive corporations looking out for every interest except for that of the American people.
The Swamp won’t like the governor’s promise to “use his Article II authority to prohibit federal grants to entities that engage in active discrimination through DEI or other unconstitutional initiatives” and restore Clinton/Gingrich “work requirements for welfare programs.”
Nor is the public education establishment safe, with a promise to support “school choice nationwide, protect parental rights, reform accreditation, and steer funding towards programs and institutions that support the jobs of the future.”
The agenda also declares war on so-called ESG corporate governance, promising that “There will be no ideological litmus test for getting a loan, establishing a bank account, or running a business,” and that as president, “DeSantis will instruct the DOJ Civil Rights Division and relevant agencies to root out discrimination under the false guises of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
TL;DR: Reaganesque in its boldness, particularly the “We win, they lose” tagline, which was how Ronald Reagan himself summarized his Cold War foreign policy. But 40-plus years later, our most worrisome enemies of liberty are in Washington. Monday’s announcement recognizes that sad fact in a multitude of ways.
DeSantis has seen his support wither compared to frontrunner Donald Trump, as he started his campaign with a focus on his anti-woke agenda. While that’s paying such dividends in Florida, it’s largely a state and local issue. What he and his campaign seemed to have forgotten is that DeSantis is running for President of the United States, not Governor of America. Americans usually vote our pocketbooks, not whether we want a president to reform a particular leftwing university or strip a major corporation of special state tax privileges.
Is Monday’s big reveal enough to reboot the DeSantis campaign? On its own, no, not even close. But DeSantis is working, belatedly, to change the conversation to something much more appropriate to a presidential race. The agenda reveal could be too little, too late, but I’m curious to see how DeSantis sells it during the first GOP presidential debate, hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee on August 23.
The debate will be moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum and immoderately drunkblogged by Yours Truly right here at PJ Media.
I hope you’ll join me.