OP-ED: A dangerous history is repeating itself in Florida under Ron DeSantis
It has become obvious and there’s no denying it: when it comes to Florida under Governor Ron DeSantis, vindictiveness is the order of the day.
Vengeful is another word that comes to mind.
This state, this ship, under the command of its captain, is steering right towards the jagged edges of icebergs called fascism.
And like the onset of fascism, most of what is there beneath the surface is unseen to the naked eye.
But it is obvious that we, as Floridians, are being stripped of the liberties we unfortunately may have taken for granted.
And why were they taken for granted?
For the same reason that we pay no attention to reports of an asteroid that may dangerously close to Earth, say, in 2030.
Why worry now? What’s the odds? Besides, nothing has ever crashed into earth recently, right?
Thing is, we can keep an eye of that asteroid and track it with the brightest minds, the greatest astronomers.
Consider the asteroid to represent DeSantis and earth to be democracy.
Now consider that with this asteroid getting extremely close to us, all the astronomers and all the telescope observatories no longer exist. Get it?
Good, because that is where we are heading.
What is going on in Florida, at the hands of the governor, is unlike anything that took place under Governors Scott, Crist, Bush, Chiles, Martinez, Graham, or Askew.
There is a strong feeling that if you don’t march to his drumming, you are slowly but surely becoming persona non grata and the vindictiveness will derail you.
But his drumming is nothing but repeated cymbal crashing with not so much as any rhythmic value.
His strategy, at least in terms of securing a party nomination, is thus far a failing one.
People have bailed out. There is too much ground to make up against Trump and yet he refuses to alter his assault.
General George A. Custer made some crucial errors in the Battle of Little Big Horn.
One of the most blatant errors was that he refused to accept Gatling guns when offered them, as well as an added battalion from the 2nd cavalry to ride with him.
Do you think such weaponry and added manpower may have helped a bit?
It did not end well for him or many in military history who failed because of one trait that ran through them–overconfidence.
Overconfidence is the sibling of arrogance and the stepson to failure.
I, on the other hand, will follow the advice of Sun Tzu in military matters: “Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.”
I shall also follow that same advice when dealing with overconfidence, arrogance, and the hijacking of the many rights afforded to Americans, but are slowly eroding for Floridians.
Education has been attacked. There exists no other reality.
Mussolini, in speaking about education in Fascist Italy proclaimed:
The Government demands that the school be inspired by the ideals of fascism…it demands that the school at all levels and in all its instruction train Italian youth to understand fascism, to ennoble itself through fascism, and to live in the historic climate created by the Fascist revolution.
Similarly, in Nazi Germany, Hitler made sure that education would be molded for the good of the state:
It is of paramount interest to the state and the nation to prevent these [“splendid people”] from falling into the hands of bad, ignorant, or even vicious educators. The state, therefore, has the duty of watching over their education and preventing any mischief. It must exercise strict control over the press . . . . In the uniformity and constant repetition of this instruction lies its tremendous power. If anywhere, therefore, it is here that the state must not forget that all means must serve an end; it must not let itself be talked be . . . talked into neglecting its duty and denying the nation the food which it needs and which is good for it; with ruthless determination it must make sure of this instrument of popular education, and place it in the service of the state and the nation.
In other words, a total brainwashing of the youth by way of removing any sort of education that may have the children think independently as opposed to groupthink in a robotic fashion solely for the good of the state.
According to a brand-new study regarding education throughout the entire United States, Civics and History are at lows not seen among students in decades.
If one was hellbent on brainwashing students, which two subjects would they first water down then make disappear? Hint: it is not math and English.
After the education system is torn, spindled, and mutilated in the “Free State of Florida,” what else needs to get done, in order to cause a groundswell of support?
Answer: find someone to blame. Find a scapegoat, a magnet to all the ills of the people you serve.
In Florida, it appears the LGBTQ community (specifically trans) and Disney World (for not going along with the attack on that community) are those scapegoats.
Again, manipulating education allows an easier path for the scapegoating to bear fruit.
Mussolini’s search for a scapegoat did not follow Hitler’s, at least not at first.
In fact, per the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on July 7 1932, Mussolini stated:
Anti-Semitism does not exist in Italy; “Jewish Italians have always been good citizens and brave soldiers. They occupy the most important positions in the universities, in the army, in the banks. There are a large number of Jews who are generals. The Commandant of Sardinia, General Modena, is a general of artillery.
He went on to say, “Whenever things have gone bad with Germany, the Jews have always been blamed for it.” And German-Swiss author Emil Ludwig remarked, “And now things are very bad in Germany.
I bring this up, because these were the sentiments of Mussolini, prior to Hitler attaining power on January 30 1933.
Hitler, on the other hand, found the scapegoat he needed.
In his now infamous letter to Adolph Gemlich on September 16, 1919, his first ever public mention of antisemitism, Hitler, who was lecturing, said:
The danger represented by the Jews today finds expression in the undeniable dislike of them felt by a large section of our people, the cause of this dislike is on the whole not to be found in the clear recognition of the corrupting activity of the Jews generally among our people, whether conscious or unconscious; it originates mainly through personal relationship, and from the impression left behind him by the individual Jew which is almost invariably unfavorable. Anti-Semitism thereby acquires only too easily the character of being a manifestation of emotion. But this is wrong. Anti-Semitism as a political movement must not be, cannot be, determined by emotional criteria, but only through the recognition of facts.
This proclamation came 13 ½ years before Hitler rose to Chancellor of Nazi Germany.
The scapegoating can be a slow process.
As he stated, and perfected in later years, it must lack any emotional criteria.
If one is to incorporate this into a political movement, one must establish what the facts are, then identify them as the gospel.
It should be noted from 1938-1943, the treatment of Jews deteriorated in Italy. Many internment camps were set up to segregate Jews.
Jews were also shipped to concentration camps in Eastern Europe.
Mussolini surely changed from his beliefs in 1932.
Scapegoating gets more and more contagious as time goes on.
Minus outside intervention, which I would think includes a favorable election outcome, this never gets better on its own.
Moving forward, the Florida-based “Moms For Liberty” has become a surrogate of sorts, used to push many of the aforementioned issues.
A nexus to right wing extremism exists, at least in the contacts the associates have with some.
I have said it before, but it bears repeating:
Whenever the words “liberty,” “freedom,” “Constitutional,” and/or “patriot” are used as a display, run like hell, because ultimately you will find out it is anything but.
In sticking with a well-worn fascist checklist, the Fasci Femminili (Female Group) was part of Italy’s Fascist Party.
In Nazi Germany, if you had four or more children you could receive the “German Mothers Cross.”
If you want to keep the fascism alive, make sure the women have many kids.
“It is therefore not at all surprising that the state and party claim the education of mothers as exclusively their task and insist that all training be carried out only by National Socialists and according to the principles of National Socialism. For the way a mother sees her child, how she cares for, teaches, and forms him, the principles that she instills in him, the attitude that she demands of him, all of this is crucial for the national health, for a German morality, and for the unified overall mind-set of the future nation,” wrote Emilie Müller-Zadow of the National Socialist Women’s League, in “Facing History and Ourselves: Women and the National Community,” in 1936.
Obviously, the women, and more precisely the mothers, will be of monumental importance, as the protectors of all children (whether the children’s actual parents desire this or not.)
Moms For Liberty looked to separate school districts of protective COVID-19 measures.
They also moved to change classroom curriculum stopping the teaching of “critical race theory” and sex education.
Their collective hands are all over the book banning that is going on in the Free State of Florida.
All this under the auspices of parenting and the rights afforded them. They are little more than the feminine mouthpiece for DeSantis.
Counter that, however, with the all-out assault on a woman’s right to choose.
Pushing for and getting the Republican-led Florida Legislature to make abortion illegal after the sixth week.
Like so many of the conflicting messages that arise out of fascism, on one hand women are thought to be the right people to ensure our children are “protected” in school with the education they receive; while on the other hand, they are forbidden to realistically be able to determine whether they wish to bring a fetus to full term and give birth.
The first trimester in pregnancy is twelve weeks. The Florida Legislature is giving women half of the first trimester to make a life-altering decision.
It is sheer lunacy.
I am reminded that in 1942, Adolf Hitler appointed Otto Thierack as Reich Minister of Justice.
Thierack, a rabid, foaming from the mouth Nazi, would issue “letters” or more aptly, instructions to the Fatherland’s judges.
When speaking about the “need of all being on the same page” when dealing with crimes against the state per se, he wrote:
Those in the administration of justice must recognize that it is their job to destroy traitors and saboteurs on the home front. […] The home front is responsible for maintaining peace, quiet, and order as support for the war front. This heavy responsibility falls especially to German judges. Every punishment is fundamentally more important in war than in peace.
Was Warren, this duly elected state attorney, a home front traitor or saboteur because he had a disagreement with the governor over a legal issue?
You must admit, there are comparisons to be made.
One must figure that there is a blueprint laying around; you know, an Idiot’s Guide to Mussolini and Hitler’s Way of Governance?
The similarities of their early years are striking.
This is borderline fascism, and the word borderline is eroding very quickly.
Most recently, DeSantis was thrilled with the anti-ESG Bill (Environmental, Social, and Governance) which came across his desk this week for signature.
This means state officials cannot invest public money to promote environmental, social and governance goals. It will also stop ESG bond sales.
Said DeSantis, “We want them to act as fiduciaries. We do not want them engaged on these ideological joyrides.
So what exactly are these “joyrides” he talks about?
Climate change, pollution and waste, diversity and inclusion, labor standards and human rights, anti-corruption and bribery, and business ethics to name a few.
Seems that would be the type of joyride I would like to be on. I must assume it is rather “woke” to champion any of these issues.
Where are we headed as a state?
Oh sure, some will say this is great and “it’s about time.”
But I can also tell you that these people and just about every other Floridan regardless of party affiliation is scared shitless about the insurance situation.
What exactly is being done about it?
Governor DeSantis, should this not be the hill you plant your flag on?
Find a sustainable answer, and you would immediately become a hero to all Floridians.
The thing is however, you decide to pursue other areas that have absolutely no chance of bringing you success on a national level.
Yes, you received a mandate of sorts (and no, I know it is not a gay thing, to paraphrase Biden’s joke at the DC Correspondent’s dinner), but here is the truth: your Republicans have held the Governor’s mansion since 1999, a majority of the Florida State senate since 1995 and a majority on the Florida State legislature since 1997.
You cannot blame the Democrats for this one.
But I am equally curious, why hasn’t Moms for Liberty given a darn about rising insurance costs?
I mean, the more we pay, the less we have to spend on our children, right?
On the flip side, and I get it, the more we pay for insurance, the less money we have so we can take our kids to a drag queen show.
So perhaps this is quite a quandary.
Fact remains however, Floridians pay almost three times the national average for insurance and since the governor has been in office, on average home insurance premiums have gone up from (rounded off) $2,000 to $4,200.
Perhaps the Democrats can use this as a talking point sometime in the future, but I won’t hold my breath.
Extremism runs rampant in the state in which I still wait for the governor to publicly blast the acts of antisemitism, the unfurling of Nazi banners over public highways, and /or support Sheriff Mike Chitwood, who has publicly condemned these acts only to get death threats.
The brand that Florida is pushing is much like the surströmming or fermented herring that many people are curious about and often are willing to give it a taste.
But once they do, whether by curiosity or some “challenge” they realize it was not quite as good as their Swedish family or friends skillfully led them to believe.
In fact, the smell, once the can is opened, is gag producing. One may even retch by looking at it.
Scarily, in Florida, that rancid fish in a can has already been opened.
David Magnusson is a retired police chief with 36 ½ years of law enforcement experience having spent 30 of these years with the Miami Police Department retiring as an assistant chief.
He was chief of the Havelock Police Department in the Marine Corps City of Havelock, North Carolina, home to Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station. He returned to South Florida as chief of the El Portal Police Department.
A historian, Magnusson has written on military and presidential history topics. He is a diehard baseball (St. Louis Cardinals) and boxing fan. Magnusson resides in South Florida with his wife. Their children and grandchildren are never too far away.
