Well, thank goodness for federalism. If you have read the new book from Geoff Shepard, The Nixon Conspiracy: Watergate and the Plot to Remove the President, you can see clearly that what happened to Trump and Kennedy is not new tactics. In the climb to global power, foreign and domestic enemies have thought that they could control the world by controlling the presidency. They make a mistake in viewing the presidency as a kind of American king, which was always wrong. But the plot to remove Trump is just the same old power that has been around for a while, and in knowing what we know now and comparing it to the Nixon Conspiracy, there are a lot of ah-ha moments in that book which is very telling. What has protected America from a complete takeover by these crazy powers, which we might call the “deep state” or the “globalists,” is our very good government balance of federalism where local and state powers are a priority. The federal government has very little power within the borders of the country. We could spend hours and hours talking about the vast Covid conspiracies or the quandaries of the “deep state” and their intentions of menace. In essence, what we have learned after the Trump presidency and the global Covid protocols is that federalism is the way to go all over the world. A competitive check on powers among the states has shown many economic lessons they had previously taken for granted. And in America, Governor DeSantis of Florida has proven to be one of the very best governors of a state, where Ohio’s Mike DeWine has shown himself to be the worst. Both call themselves Republicans, but only DeSantis has truly embraced federalism and the magic of capitalism to solve problems that came from so many directions. And to this day, Florida is thriving where Ohio is not. If only Ohio could have a governor like DeSantis.
But wait, Ohio does have such an opportunity. Jim Renacci is running for governor and looks poised to primary DeWine in May of 2022. Jim is offering to be the DeSantis of Ohio, using the model of federalism that has evolved out of Covid, where governors of states have shown just how much power they had. During the Covid lockdowns, which Mike DeWine started even among the blue state governors, the fundamental philosophy of the governors of all states had a measurable distinction in the success and economic recovery of the states. In red states where governors were strong, the economic impact of Covid had a much less impact. Cases being cases, all the states dealt with their issues, but in blue states where lockdowns and tyrannical power went to the heads of the governors, such as in New York and Michigan, death by Covid and the rapid spread of the virus had no improvement. Statistically, they look to have performed worse than in states that were more free and open with much less government intrusion. And these were valuable lessons. No longer was federalism debated in a college classroom advocating Marxism and more centralized authority as a capitalist utopia boomed outside the windows preparing for a big college football game on the weekend. Now all the rules of economic theory were put to the test by the two primary ways of approaching government, and the red states clearly won. Blue state governors, which Mike DeWine operated as one even though he called himself a Republican, showed the severe cost in misery, economic downturns, and the dangers of letting health departments run the general policy of a state.
On the other hand, DeSantis decentralized the problem, took away the federal government’s power to stick its nose in people’s business, and promoted an environment where people at the local level could solve Covid problems and economic challenges through their own innovations. By protecting the diverse state of Florida from centralized mistakes made by the federal government and protecting people with executive orders from further centralized authority mishaps, DeSantis led Florida to a very successful economic recovery coming out of the government-made pandemic. And the correct measure has been in the reaction by the very liberal woke company Disney in what they have been forced to admit, even if reluctantly. Due to the severe and lingering lockdowns in California, the Walt Disney Company has moved several thousand employees from the Anaheim offices to Orlando because Florida has been open and is a much more stable business climate where the government can’t interrupt their business operations so frequently. With DeSantis, companies can at least trust the governor will keep the government out of the company’s management. With Disney going woke for such a long period of time, much of that wokeness came out of mitigation of knowing that for decades, a centralized government coming out of the White House intended complete authoritarian control, similar to what they have in communist China. So they did what most companies did, appease the tyrants with wokeness so that they could survive. But in Florida, where the Disney presence is a massive part of the state’s economy, actively and passively, the reality of the situation benefits the entertainment company tremendously.
From the beginning of Covid, Disney led the way just like Mike DeWine by adopting all the government rules and regulations, imposing mask mandates, and all kinds of ridiculous and unscientific protocols, which has hurt their business tremendously. For them, if everyone had to impose the same restrictions upon themselves, then it made sense. But because of DeSantis not following all the rules, but in protecting people from those rules, all businesses in Florida did not have to wear dumb masks or socially ridiculously distance themselves. That left the Disney Company hanging out there alone, and losing money because of it, by their own choice. When it came time for the unconstitutional vaccine mandates, which the Disney Company wanted to impose, DeSantis had created a business climate where that Biden Executive Order would be challenged in court protecting businesses from an overreaching government that was just spitballing in the wind regarding ways to manage a virus they had in fact through Dr. Fauci released upon the world. So because of DeSantis, the people of Florida were protected from that level of stupidity, and even the Disney Company had to recognize the benefit. They announced last week that while they reviewed the legal circumstances, they would not be imposing the vaccine mandate on their employees for the time being. Essentially, they were putting their finger to the wind and seeing how these court cases play out, which is great for everyone involved. But if not for DeSantis, there would be no check on federal power, no matter how well-intentioned. Ultimately, when mistakes are centralized, everyone suffers. When errors are separated by federalism, then not everyone has to suffer. That is the benefit of a great governor like DeSantis.
That DeSantis model is now out there, and there is history that can be studied for centuries on the positive impact of federalism during a mass international crisis. Nobody can put this genie back in the bottle; it’s out, and it’s out forever. All those who have been pushing governments toward more centralized government, as they were even in the Nixon White House, have seen through Covid the root cause of their massive failures. They had hoped, like Disney, to hide those failures by forcing 100% submission to their cause. Still, because power was decentralized through federalism within the states of America, to compete, even the mighty Disney Company had to see reality for what it was. They benefited greatly from DeSantis as governor; even if they didn’t vote for him, his policies made Disney a better company. And that approach is what is needed in Ohio. With Mike DeWine, we will never have such a governor. But with Jim Renacci, we have a chance to have perhaps someone better than Ron DeSantis. Trump helped pave the way for DeSantis. And DeSantis has helped pave the way for people like Jim Renacci, whom I think can actually do better in Ohio than DeSantis has been for Florida. And the time is coming quickly for us to be able to vote for him in the primary. Which is something we can all look forward to with great zeal!
Rich Hoffman
The Gunfighter's Guide: 