A new session opens with the same old DeSantis divisions
The opening day of the annual Florida legislative session used to be a fleeting moment of hope, renewal and bipartisan cooperation — before the inevitable two months of partisan rumbling.
But 2022 is an election year, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has his sights set there and beyond, as in 2024 and the White House. That was clearer than ever Tuesday as his State of the State speech to the Legislature was a culture wars playbook of divisive rhetoric. He dished out enough red meat to stock a butcher shop with enough left over for a Donald Trump rally.
Millions of Floridians struggle daily with out-of-control housing costs, but you would never know it to hear DeSantis talk. That subject never came up in a 35-minute address. He talked instead about “divisive ideologies” like critical race theory (which is not taught in Florida’s public schools), ballot harvesting in elections (already illegal), and defunding the police (another discredited non-issue, and it’s so 2020).
The governor’s speech was carried live on the Florida Channel, but it sure sounded like Fox News.
He talked about the need to “strengthen” gun rights and restrict access to abortion. As if on cue, a bill to ban all abortions in Florida after 15 weeks (HB 5), with no exception for rape or incest, and patterned after a law in Mississippi, surfaced minutes after his speech. That issue will likely dominate this session more than any other.
‘A law and order state’
On criminal justice, an area desperate for sensible reform, DeSantis used a favorite Trump phrase, calling Florida a “law and order” state, as he trafficked in fear-mongering if not outright disinformation.
“We will not allow law enforcement to be defunded, bail to be eliminated, criminals to be prematurely released from prison or prosecutors to ignore the law,” his speech read. There is the definitive DeSantis, finding a bogeyman to create a phony controversy where none exists. It’s all about deepening the divisions and creating a Florida of us versus them.
Florida’s governor repeatedly blasted
the Biden administration over inflation and immigration. He called Florida “the freest state in these United States” (as long as you like his version of law and order). But he could not bring himself to pause to remember the nearly 63,000 people in Florida who have died from the dreaded virus.
He said his budget will have more than $15 billion in unspent reserves, as tens of thousands of Floridians remain homeless.
He boasted about how job creation here far exceeds that of other states, but anybody who loses their job is at the cruel mercy of a broken unemployment system that still isn’t fixed.
There was not one word about the double whammy of housing costs and skyrocketing property insurance premiums. Those issues can’t be reduced to a three-letter word like CRT (critical race theory), and besides, it’s not what the Republican base wants to hear.
Where we agree
DeSantis did emphasize some issues with which we, and most Floridians, would strongly agree. He wants to give substantial pay raises or bonuses or both to correctional officers, police and teachers. He wants to improve foster care. He stressed the importance of vocational education and creating jobs in skilled trades that don’t require college degrees.
He wants to replace the Florida Standards Assessment test with progress monitoring, and spend more money on coastal resiliency and improving water quality. Those are all laudable priorities.
It may be only a speech, but it sets the tone for the 60-day session. We long for the DeSantis who took office in 2019, and who, in his first major address, talked a lot about “us,” all of us, and the need to “strengthen our state and benefit the people, now and in the future.”
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at insight@orlandosentinel.com.