Is there anything left in Florida in Gov. Desantis?

I couldn’t help seeing Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday and delivering his national address.

DeSantis has sustained some of Florida’s biggest failures, from politicizing public health to incompetence in governance. It was a brave display of revisionist history and self-collection. And in less than two years left before he left his job, Desantis showed that he has not touched on the diverse and evolving state and pathos of people struggling with concerns at the kitchen table.

“Florida is the leader of the state because we are leaning towards the challenges, tackling big issues and bringing results to people.” What is he talking about? Floridians have long pleaded lawmakers to address the surge in property insurance costs. DeSantis and his fellow Republican lawmakers have long condemned lawsuits against premiums against insurance companies. But last month, Times/Herald revealed that state reports they had never seen before claimed that insurers claimed they were losing billions of millions. The report was prepared in March 2022, a few months before lawmakers met in an emergency session, to make it difficult for insurance companies to sue.

Or this line: “The limits on government power are essential to maintaining freedom.” This is from the governor who redefines the executive in the worst possible way, from expelling elected officials who do not want to govern the coup at the state’s honorary university. Far from respecting power restrictions, Desantis is moving systematically to expand the scope of government. During his tenure, the state prevailed local government, targeted university courses, dismantled diversity and inclusion programs, and reduced voting rights and public government. Government restraint is a topic of Tallahassee, not state policies or practices, but why Floridians have less freedom than they do today.

We can go on, but the point is that DeSantis has a distorted view of where his leadership took us. To be fair, these annual nation addresses are freebies and used by the governor to buff and shine the political heritage. But Tuesday’s speech was about things that are less important than doing so.

DeSantis, for example, spoke about Florida being a “sane” shelter during the pandemic. He portrayed the government as a breakwater against government waste, street riots and “harmful ideologies,” but his party has dominated national spending and Florida’s political direction for nearly 30 years.

He said that Florida has “the lowest number of state government workers per capita in the country,” without mentioning the chaos created when it came to providing basic public services, including providing eligible benefits to poor children and unemployed children. In that sense, the governor wasted this speech by recycling bogeymen and complaints rather than providing clear direction for the remaining two years.

This means that Congress is likely to lead the way in reforming property insurance, apartment ownership and other front burner issues. The House has already expressed its intention to investigate insurance companies and address the financially burdensome condo associations they face when they fulfill their legal obligation to finance repairs to expensive buildings. But it leaves behind many pressing concerns, ranging from climate and tax policy to the environment, education and care for the elderly.

The address on Tuesday was a retrospective snapshot of it cherry-picked. DeSantis looked forward to it in a surprising way, highlighting his wife Casey’s work by linking his wife Casey with the poor Floridian with a nonprofit, in speculation that she might run to take over him as governor. Floridian is increasingly superior from the incumbent who has many unfinished pieces on his plate. As the governor himself said Tuesday, “The people of Florida are watching.”