Governor Ron DeSantis has proven himself to be bold, self-disciplined, and capable. His reputation has reached European shores, and his successful governance has piqued the interest of many. Leaders throughout the old Continent are already turning to what he has accomplished in the Sunshine state as a blueprint for Europe.
Supply side economic principles have once again turned out to be a recipe for success in Florida, just as they had been during the Reagan administration. Tax cuts, deregulation, balanced budgets, incentives to invest, hire and produce have resulted in an unemployment rate of 2.5 percent as of December 2022, the lowest since 2006, a labor force growth of 3.5 percent (more than double the American national growth rate) and an increase in the overall population. Freedom, prosperity and expanded opportunities are the natural consequences of the traditional conservative policies that President Ronald Reagan brought into the mainstream, empowering individuals, and families to fight for what they believe in – their customs, traditions and communities.
On the cultural side, he has not shied away from fighting against a new reincarnation of the old foe of civilization – communism. Wokeism and cancel culture are two notions that do not manifest in society as a need of the many, but rather an imposition of the few for political and financial gains. In front of this top-down forceful imposition, the silent majority remains often alone. Few are the leaders who stand up to what constitutes as madness.
The left, throughout its history, has tried in various forms to segregate people into groups antagonistic with one another, and impose upon them the necessity to turn to the state for salvation. By presenting the governmental machine as the only entity capable of keeping a society together, the left increases its powers and influence immensely, effectively controlling many aspects of everyday life. The right on the other hand lets the wisdom accumulated over centuries, tradition, family and community guide the individual, instead of the state.
DESANTIS TOUTS ACCOMPLISHMENTS, PAVES WAY FOR FUTURE IN STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS
By exposing this modus operandi of the left, Governor DeSantis has shown ideological clarity, discipline and immense political will. Historians and unbiased observers noticed the same traits in President Reagan’s fight against communism. It is exactly this fusion between supply side economics and cultural common sense that is the key to his success.
In Europe, we can distinguish and appreciate the Florida model better, because the economic model of the European Union suffers from the opposite policies applied in the Sunshine state. I have highlighted on many occasions that Europe has been laid low by a heady brew of bureaucracy, over-regulation, over-taxation and debt. A crisis of political leadership has in turn produced a deficiency of bold, innovative ideas, a shortage of vision and a huge expansion of government intervention.
The entire EU economic model is based on cheap energy obtained from Russia, and low input costs used to create high-quality products exported to the world. This model was aided by extremely and unnaturally low interest rates, which had the effect of increasing structural imbalances and debt, while the tax burden remains elevated and the economy as a whole centralized.
In all effects, Europeans have become addicted to government and Quantitative Easing, with individual freedoms at the mercy of bureaucrats, who have the same propensity as their American counterparts to enforce wokeism, cancel culture, and green policies for which our economies are not ready.
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Government interventions and Keynesianism produce only secular stagnation and erosion of individual freedoms, as we are seeing federally in the United States with trillions of dollars in packages approved by Congress that are not translated in growth or new jobs. The same was observed during the Obama administration, which ended with a one percent growth rate, while the following administration’s supply side policies produced the best economy in decades, and at the supposed end of an expansionary period.
In Europe, between 2014 and 2019, the Juncker Plan involved €439 billion on investment projects. The return on that huge debt financed package was a mediocre +0.9 percent uptick in the bloc’s GDP and just 1.1 million extra jobs. Currently, the EU is plagued by stagnant wages, slow growth, and inflexible labor markets.
The Florida model applied in large scale in the United States would give the world’s superpower a much-needed boost economically and socially and perhaps could serve as an incentive for Europe to reverse its declining path and ensure the balance of power remains in the West for decades to come.
