Gov. DeSantis Applauds The Sunshine State At CPAC 2022

Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis has led his state through the COVID-19 crisis with strong support from Conservatives and mounting complaints from Liberals. Because of his position and its positive impact on the state, he was a featured speaker at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando on Feb. 24.

The crowd was far from quiet and carried an enthusiastic tone of cheers as Gov. DeSantis spoke about Florida – more recently referred to as the “land of the free” — because of its lack of COVID-19 restrictions and the notable milestones the state has crossed since his time as governor.

According to DeSantis, Florida set a record for domestic tourism coming into the state — including visits from several politicians who have placed restrictions on their own states.

“They criticize Florida and the first chance they get what do they do? They escape to freedom in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.

With Florida’s increasing numbers of tourists, DeSantis said it has attracted people from all different places to pick up and move to the Sunshine State since the start of the pandemic, including people fleeing from leftist governments.

He then posed the question of why these critics would come to Florida.

“Well, I think it’s simple. From the very beginning, we refused to let this state descend into some type of Faucian dystopia where people’s freedoms are curtailed and their livelihoods are destroyed,” DeSantis said. “We protected people’s rights, we protected people’s jobs, we protected small businesses and we made sure that every kid in the state of Florida had an opportunity to go to school in person — five days a week.”

He applauded his state for being one that leads, especially during the time of the pandemic. DeSantis stated his duty as governor is to stand up and protect the freedoms and the jobs of the people he represents even if it
jeopardizes his political career.

According to DeSantis, Florida leads having the largest budget surplus and the lowest per capita tax burden in the U.S. along with no income tax. Since his time as governor, what used to be the most liberal state Supreme Court has now transitioned into the most conservative state Supreme Court in the country.

Furthermore, Florida has stood up against many current controversies such as transgender women competing in biological women’s athletics and banning the teaching of the critical race theory in
K-12 education.

“Yes, we’re against CRT, but what are we for?” DeSantis said. “I’m for the Constitution, I’m for the Bill of Rights, and we need to have our young people understand what that means.”

DeSantis entered the world of politics about 10 years ago and stands by the importance of freedom and the threat that the democratic government can have over its people. He fights against the power and control that deprives citizens of their rights and divides a nation.

“The left wants to do that because their goal is not to make our country great, it’s to marginalize the conservative half of the country,” DeSantis said. “They want us to be powerless, they want us to be voiceless, they want us to be second-class citizens … the woke is the new religion of the left … they want to delegitimize our founding institutions, and they want to replace that with their left-wing ideology as the foundational principles of our modern-day society.” 

He ended with the problem of having a society that veers from the truth — where anybody that stands up and speaks the truth will be persecuted.

But according to DeSantis, having courage to stand up against a progressive society is an opportunity to make 2022 “the year America fought back.” 

Shank is the Editor-in-Chief. Follow her on Twitter