Does “Ron-Ron” Get The Common Good?

Ron-Ron DeSantis, a.k.a. “Ron DeSanctimonious,” is trying to build a career and persona based on his mantra that the federal government – and really anybody – can’t tell Florida (i.e., DeSantis) what to do. According to him, it’s about freedom and individual liberty and nobody knows what to do better than Floridians like him who live inside an elite gated golf community on hole #12.

Fair enough — maybe. I’m a big believer in the Principle of Subsidiarity, which says “social and political issues should be dealt with at the most immediate (or local) level that is consistent with their resolution”. In simple terms, this would argue that states know better about the economy and education and public health of its citizens than the federal government. It’s a principle that sounds good in theory and can be good if people are transparent and balanced and consistent and honest in their execution of the principle.

“Florida is where woke goes to die.” — DeSantis

Do the people of Florida realize that “woke” means “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination”?

Said simply, Florida is a state where civility is dying, which I would think is not a place where you want to live.

If it is, what does that say about you?

Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct by P. M. Forni

If that were true and DeSantis was transparent and balanced and consistent and honest, he would have to apply that same principle of subsidiarity to his own case in Florida. Right now, he is suing to block hospitals that want to create vaccination and/or mask mandates in their facilities because, in their informed local judgment, this will be the best way to protect patients and frontline workers. I work for a big hospital system and we all get vaccinated (COVID and flu) and we all wear masks during our work shift, and I can tell you that we would’ve never made it through these two pandemic years as well as we did (and saved lives), if we had not done that. If you work in a healthcare environment and you’re responsible for your patients’ and employees’ safety and health, you know this is just common sense.

The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? by Michael J. Sandel

We don’t worry about our individual freedom and liberty because we always have that. This is a time when supporting the Common Good is what our nation needs us to do, so you pitch in and get vaccinated and wear masks to keep everybody you come in contact with safe and healthy.

But this is where DeSantis double-speaks. I suspect he’s not even aware of the Principle of Subsidiarity. He’s only aware of what he wants to do and what plays well with a certain political base which may help him in his bid to run for President. To hell with the Common Good, he would say, this is politics.

And to hell with basic ethics and values, let’s copy Paul Harvey’s “So God Made a Farmer,” and twist the words to make me look strong and good and call it, “So God Made a Fighter,” DeSantis would say.

This is the kind of shameful self-serving crap our two-party frothing-at-the-mouth political culture creates as it trips over itself in the rush to win at all costs, by any means.

I don’t know about you, but I have no respect for this. It’s a typical pattern of behavior and politicking and manipulation and self-aggrandizement that you see in a certain political class these days.

I call bullshit!

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What Does It Mean To Be An American?