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‘Florida is Where Woke Goes to Die’: DeSantis Boasts Accomplishments in Inauguration Speech

‘Florida is Where Woke Goes to Die’: DeSantis Boasts Accomplishments in Inauguration Speech

“We will not allow reality, facts, and truth to become optional. We will never surrender to the woke mob.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis filled his second inauguration speech with all his administration’s accomplishments during his first term.

Florida is ranked first in tourism, education, and new business formation. It’s also the fastest-growing state.

DeSantis kept Florida open during the pandemic. He never caved to the woke mob.

I pasted the entire transcript under the video.

Transcript:

Mr. Chief Justice, members of the Cabinet, and fellow citizens:

From the Space Coast to the Suncoast, from St. Johns to St. Lucie, from the streets of Hialeah to the speedways of Daytona, from the Okeechobee all the way up to Micanopy.

Freedom lives here, in our great Sunshine State of Florida!

It lives in the courage of those who patrol the streets and keep our communities safe, it lives in the industry of those who work long hours to earn a living and raise their families, it lives in the dedication of those who teach our children, it lives in the determination of those who grow our food, it lives in the wisdom of our senior citizens, it lives in the dreams of the historic number of families who have moved from thousands of miles away because they saw Florida as the land of liberty and the land of sanity.

Over the past few years, as so many states in our country grinded their citizens down, we in Florida lifted our people up.

When other states consigned their people’s freedom to the dustbin, Florida stood strongly as freedom’s linchpin.

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.

We face attacks, we take hits, but we weather the storms, we stand our ground, and we do what is right.

As the Book of Psalms reminds us, “I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.”

We have refused to use polls and to put our finger in the wind – 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.

Florida shows that results matter. We lead not by mere words, but by deeds.

Four years ago, we promised to pursue a bold agenda. We did just that and we have produced results:

We said we would ensure that Florida taxed lightly, regulated reasonably, and spent conservatively – and we delivered.

We promised we would enact big education reforms – and we delivered.

We said we would end judicial activism by appointing jurists who understand the proper role of a judge is to apply the law as written, not legislate from the bench – and we delivered.

We promised to usher in a new era of stewardship for Florida’s natural resources by promoting water quality and Everglades restoration efforts – and we delivered.

We said we would stand for law and order and support the men and women of law enforcement – and we delivered.

We promised to remedy deficiencies in Florida’s election administration and to hold wayward officials accountable – and we delivered.

We said we would support the areas in Northwest Florida stricken by Hurricane Michael – and we delivered.

And when Hurricane Ian came last year, the state coordinated a massive mobilization of response personnel, facilitated the fastest power restoration on record, and even quickly rebuilt key bridges that had been wiped out by the storm. We have stood by the people of Southwest Florida and we will continue to do so in the weeks, months and years ahead.

Because of these efforts and others, Florida is leading the nation:

We are #1 in these United States in net in-migration

Florida is the #1 fastest growing state

We are #1 in new business formations

Florida is #1 in tourism

We are #1 in economic freedom

Florida is #1 in education freedom

And we rank #1 in parental involvement in education

Florida also ranks #1 in public higher education

This is a record we can all be proud of.

And we are far from done:

Florida has accumulated a record budget surplus, and we need to enact a record amount of tax relief, particularly for Florida families who are grappling with inflation.

We must ensure school systems are responsive to parents and to students, not partisan interest groups, and we must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideology.

Florida must always be a great place to raise a family – we will enact more family-friendly policies to make it easier to raise children and we will defend our children against those who seek to rob them of their innocence.

We will always remain a law-and-order state, we will always support law enforcement, and we will always reject soft-on-crime policies that put our communities at risk.

Florida is now in a golden era for conservation of our treasured natural resources. Our momentum is strong and we will finish what we started – we will leave Florida to God better than we found it!

This much we pledge and so much more.

It is often said that our federalist constitutional system – with fifty states able to pursue their own unique policies – represents a laboratory of democracy.

Well these last few years have witnessed a great test of governing philosophies as many jurisdictions pursued a much different path than we have pursued here in the state of Florida.

The policies pursued by these states have sparked a mass exodus of productive Americans from these jurisdictions – with Florida serving as the most desired destination, a promised land of sanity.

Many of these cities and states have embraced faddish ideology at the expense of enduring principles.

They have harmed public safety by coddling criminals and attacking law enforcement.

They have imposed unreasonable burdens on taxpayers to finance unfathomable levels of public spending.

They have harmed education by subordinating the interests of students and parents to partisan interest groups.

They have imposed medical authoritarianism in the guise of pandemic mandates and restrictions that lack a scientific basis.

This bizarre, but prevalent, ideology that permeates these policy measures purports to act in the name of justice for the marginalized, but it frowns upon American institutions, it rejects merit and achievement, and it advocates identity essentialism.

We reject this woke ideology.

We seek normalcy, not philosophical lunacy!

We will not allow reality, facts, and truth to become optional.

We will never surrender to the woke mob.

Florida is where woke goes to die!

Now Florida’s success has been made more difficult by the floundering federal establishment in Washington, D.C.

The federal government has gone on an inflationary spending binge that has left our nation weaker and our citizens poorer, it has enacted pandemic restrictions and mandates – based more on ideology and politics than on sound science – and this has eroded freedom and stunted commerce.

It has recklessly facilitated open borders: making a mockery of the rule of law, allowing massive amounts of narcotics to infest our states, importing criminal aliens, and green lighting the flow of millions of illegal aliens into our country, burdening communities and taxpayers throughout the land.

It has imposed an energy policy that has crippled our nation’s domestic production, causing energy to cost more for our citizens and eroding our nation’s energy security, and, in the process, our national security.

It wields its authority through a sprawling, unaccountable and out-of-touch bureaucracy that does not act on behalf of us, but instead looms over us and imposes its will upon us.

The results of this have been predictably dismal.

This has caused many to be pessimistic about the country’s future. Some say that failure is inevitable.

Florida is proof positive that We the People are not destined for failure.

Decline is a choice. Success is attainable. And freedom is worth fighting for.

Now fighting for freedom is not easy because the threats to freedom are more complex and more widespread than in the past – the threats can come from entrenched bureaucrats in D.C., jet-setters in Davos, and corporations wielding public power.

But fight we must.

We embrace our founding creed that our rights are not granted by the courtesy of the State, but are endowed by the hand of the Almighty.

We reject the idea that self-government can be subcontracted out to technocratic elites who reduce human beings to mere data points.

We insist on the restoration of time-tested constitutional principles so that government of, by and for the people shall not perish from this earth.

Florida has led the way in preserving what the father of our country called the “sacred fire of liberty.”

It is the fire that burned in Independence Hall when 56 men pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to establish a new nation conceived in liberty.

It is the fire that burned at a cemetery at Gettysburg when the nation’s first Republican president pledged to this nation a “new birth of freedom.”

It is the fire that burned among the boys who stormed the beaches of Normandy to liberate a continent and to preserve freedom for the world.

It is the fire that infused a young preacher’s dream, relayed at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, that the Declaration of Independence said what it meant and meant what it said: all men are created equal.

It is the fire that led a resolute president to stand in Berlin and declare “tear down this wall,” staring down the communists and winning the Cold War.

It is our responsibility here in Florida to carry this torch.

We do not run from this responsibility; we welcome it.

We will be on our guard.

We will stand firm in the faith.

We will be courageous.

We will be strong!

And we thank God and are proud to be citizens of the great Free State of Florida!

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Comments

“Santis kept Florida open during the pandemic. He never caved to the woke mob

Not true, he initially closed down but after reassessment, a few months later he reopened

The only Gov that did not ever close down was South Dakota Noem…..

I think she a MAGA light and owes the big boys, but it was her shining moment

    henrybowman in reply to gonzotx. | January 3, 2023 at 4:14 pm

    Noem blew out her shining moment when she vetoed her state bill that prevented transes from playing on women’s teams. All that red cred… bled out and never came back.

    CommoChief in reply to gonzotx. | January 3, 2023 at 6:03 pm

    True. DeSantis did initially follow the Federal government plan/ CDC guidance until it became clear the CDC and public health community was full of it. He then opened up the State taking lots of heat for doing so. Other State leaders did eventually follow his example, national leaders not so much.

    Given the large population of elderly in FL who were most at risk I am willing to cut him some slack for buying into the national policies early on. Especially so given his very public u-turn away from the policies pushed from CDC, prominent National leaders and constant hectoring from legacy media. Noem did so from jump and hats off to her on this point but she didn’t have the same concerns in a big State with a small population.

      Being a Floridian, I’ll add to that. He did shut down the state, but he never, even before pulling back as data came in, strong-armed any county, city, town, or area to abide by the shut down rules. After a few weeks, maybe a month?, our local restaurants all opened up with signs on the door saying to socially distance and wear masks. No one paid the least bit of attention to those signs, and no one said a thing about it. The police didn’t care. The state didn’t care. It was hands off, full-on freedom for us from the beginning.

      Heck, I was still wearing a mask when I noticed that restaurants and bars were open again . . . because it was all still so early, and we didn’t know what was what. I think I wore a mask when in public for a couple of months, but I stopped around March(ish) ’20. Haven’t worn one since, except for one trip to the DMV in the fall of that year. There was a sign. I might ignore signs at the grocery store, but not so much at the DMV. Heh.

      When he did reopen the state to much derision (including from Trump), he soon realized that some blue cities and counties were attempting to fine people for defying local mask mandates. He put a stop to that in record time.

      I remember being at the corner store when a tourist couple came up and asked where they might find a public restroom because all the ones they had seen were closed, and they surmised it was “because of covid.” I laughed out loud and said “this is Florida!” I explained that a lot of stores don’t have public restrooms but that they could use the ones at any fast food restaurant. I got in my car still giggling at their faces when I said “this is Florida.” We were always free here, and we were only so due to Ron DeSantis.

      I have zero complaints about DeSantis response to the WuFlu. In fact, I think he did everything exactly right and was willing to shift course as more data came in. That’s leadership.

    Evil Otto in reply to gonzotx. | January 3, 2023 at 8:35 pm

    A month later. And Trump gave him flack for reopening.

“From the Space Coast to the Suncoast, from St. Johns to St. Lucie, from the streets of Hialeah to the speedways of Daytona, from the Okeechobee all the way up to Micanopy.”

I have to believe that whoever wrote this wrote “racetracks” instead of “streets,” and Ron just flubbed it. The parallelism is way too well crafted otherwise.

Woke (e.g. DIE) and morally broke. Progress.

That said, diversity of individuals, minority of one.

I actually attended the Inauguration live and in person. Ron has made his mark and will leave Florida in better then when he came in. The question is when. We shall know soon.

I’m not expecting anything like this from our less-than-inspiring Brad Little when he’s reinaugurated on Friday here in Idaho.

    henrybowman in reply to jimincalif. | January 3, 2023 at 5:34 pm

    I may leave the state when Katie Hobbs gives hers, to avoid dying of depression and malaise.

      CommoChief in reply to henrybowman. | January 3, 2023 at 6:09 pm

      Lots of rural property available here in Bama so come on down…but our heat isn’t dry ….I grew up here spent most of my adult life in the Army in various places, spent 2011 to the end of 2020 in El Paso and it took me about 18 months to acclimate again.

Florida is where northern liberal Democrats move when they become unhappy with their current situation, but it’s doubtful they suddenly become conservative Republicans upon arrival.

    Evil Otto in reply to Paula. | January 3, 2023 at 8:38 pm

    Ordinarily I’d agree with you. New York and California lefties spread like viruses once they start killing their host, but this seems to be different. It seems like a lot of the transplants here in Florida seem to be conservatives who grew sick of what their states were doing. We might be seeing something like the “Free State project,” but without any intention behind it.

      CommoChief in reply to Evil Otto. | January 3, 2023 at 9:54 pm

      Concur. The folks getting out of dodge and moving to red States at least have the awareness to process that their old area was going to hell and gumption to pack their crap and set out for new horizons.

This is the time for the (metaphorical, always have to say that ) Night of Long Knives within the GOP. Create a new party as a plurality with the ability to form coalitions. Anything but to re confirm the GOPe.

The Omnibus “Budget” was the last straw.

Amen

Oh that son of a mailman weasel at it again

UPDATE 4:07 p.m. ET:

Aguilar nominates Jeffries again, and “Hakeem!” chants break out in the chamber. What a day for the first day of the House GOP majority.

UPDATE 4:05 p.m. ET:

Now, former Ohio Gov. John Kasich–a Republican who ran for president against former President Donald Trump in 2016–is publicly calling for a group of House Republicans to band together to make a deal with Democrats to pick the next Speaker:

I thought this was funny and appropriate

“Unlike democrats – Republicans aren’t used to having 3 ballots.”

Wow wow wow looks at this video, Jeb. Bush on stage for DeSantis, of course, but look at what DeSantis wife is wearing, she literally stole First Lady Melanie’s dress for her husbands inauguration .
Maybe the FBI got the dress for her , you know they were in Melanias wardrobe and panties….

No shame’s

Can’t make this up

https://youtu.be/Vc0rVjEco4g

    It is common–tradition, really–for former Florida governors to attend a governor’s inauguration. Jeb would be there if Charlie Crist had won, as would DeSantis himself. Indeed, Jeb was there for Crist’s inauguration back when Crist was pretending to be a Republican. This is how it’s done in Florida, and there is nothing curious about it at all.

    As to Florida’s gorgeous first lady looking drop-dead gorgeous . . . what? The outfit is a killer, but it’s more reminiscent of Jackie O than Melania. Especially the lovely white gloves. Dressing like gorgeous former First Ladies is bad . . . how?

    I don’t get why you are so DeSantis deranged, but if you are going to be, at least find something true and/or meaningful to complain about. This is just ten kinds of nothing.

It’s Camelot but if you look real hard you’ll see all the strings..

    Meritocrat in reply to gonzotx. | January 4, 2023 at 10:25 am

    Know the man by his endorsements: Ryan, McConnell, Luntz, Cheney, Jeb, Pompeo, et. al. Just wait till he has his coming out party…he already has upwards of $250m of RINO money.

When in the past have we ever seen the inauguration of a Governor?

People

I agree, he’s done a really great job. My choice for POTUS for 2024. Hopefully for two full terms.

As for the “woke goes to die”, though, he might want to have a look into those full vehicle rainbow paintjobs that the Miami-Dade police department just rolled out for their cruisers.