Unpopular opinion, but true. We live in Florida and have made the decision to move, but, that doesn't negate the fact that DeSantis didn't foment a coup and he's not an illegal dictator. He barely won his first election, but he gained 600,000 more votes over that in his second election.
I've lived in 5 different states in my adult lifetime and he's by far the most popular politician I've ever seen. The people of Florida, mostly, love him. I do not. Therefore, it's probably not the place for me.
I tell people from outside of the state to point at Florida and make the decision not to become like it, but demanding DeSantis' overthrow from afar(as I often hear) isn't really democratic.
You're absolutely correct in moral vs legal in my opinion and it's a fair distinction.
What's hard for people I know from liberal areas to understand is that he *does* do what his constituents want, if we're going by majority rule. My friends in California and Washington find that incredibly hard to wrap their heads around, but it's true. Even more true for someone like Matt Gaetz who's from a particularly red part of a red state.
@BE @mloxton No one's demanding his overthrow. And yes, of course, literally Nichols is correct. But this is a waste of space in a supposedly reputable publication to make that banal point. The moral imperative is still to write about far right authoritarian policies and individuals as dangerous threats to democracy. And there are millions of people in Florida who do not want this and are seeing their rights as citizens stripped away.
There are, actually, plenty of people hoping for his overthrow, talking about it and wondering why Florida hasn't risen up against him. Sorry, but he just overwhelmingly won an election. He has to be dealt with within the law.
In no way saying that *you* said that, but I see it every day. I was making a broader point.
I'm not defending the article. There's a growing authoritarian movement that the nation's not dealing with effectively.
Yes, millions of people voted against it, and DeSantis, but more voted for it. By a lot.
My point isn't that it's right. It's clearly not. My point is that it's what the people who voted for him want, and it's what they want for the nation as a whole.
@BE @mloxton @mcopelov This line of reasoning relies on the idea that he was democratically elected which IMO is a hard argument to make given the extreme gerrymandering and voter suppression efforts in Florida. Like yeah he won the election but how democratic is an election if its not free or fair?
@Tortitude17 @mloxton @mcopelov
I see this point made a lot and I'll just make two points.
One, gerrymandering is impossible in a statewide election. The entire state votes.
Two, voter suppression is absolutely a thing, particularly in the south. I doubt that we can make the argument that led to an over 1.5 million vote difference.
Let's take the hypothetical that we could, in fact, say that 2 million voters were suppressed. If the federal government doesn't do anything about it, then I guess it's allowed by our federal government and, therefore, since it's the only oversight we have, it's legitimate?
He also got elected legally, but the United States isn't a perfect democracy, especially in states where voter suppression and gerrymandering are the norm, or only a minority of the population votes. Ideally, in democracy, the general will of the people, or at least of the majority, determines the actions of power. Our elected officials don't always do what their constituents want or what is in their best interest; even if they weren't all corrupt, there aren't enough good people in power to overpower that corruption.