John Milton — 5th Florida Governor
“History affords political wisdom.” — John Kay (1510-1573) English physician and humanist.
Many people across the country, including this man in Northwest Montana, have been following Donald Trump 2.0 in one Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with a certain degree of high trepidation. This state of Montana is in the control of Republicans at this time, and the extremism witnessed elsewhere applies equally to the Republican Party in this state. Politically, I might propose that this state of only over a million residents, is somewhat a northern cousin to Texas. Although we still have a rather liberal state constitution governing the state, there is certainly a push to dismantle it among the far right.
Our Governor is a far right evangelical Christian, and a man of about $500 million (ND, WY, MT & ID all with very rich governors) in net worth with his starting place not in Montana but in New Jersey. He certainly seems not as neofascist as DeSantis, but let’s say that many are uncomfortable with the vision he might have in mind for this large state. So I certainly do not wish for Ron DeSantis to be perceived as the model to emulate by Republicans in this state. Hence I watch what is happening in Florida very closely, hoping for his brand of extremism to fail in the nest in the state far away from my home.
It is my opinion, one which is not unique, and has been written before, that the adoption of the Southern Strategy in Republican politics starting back when I entered high school has overtaken the entirety of this political party. What was a strategy to pick up votes has been adopted fully, culturally. The redneck cowboys of my youth were usually very conservative, but I would suggest they might not have been as prejudiced as they may be now. This is my observation, there probably isn’t data to back it up. My impression of the “conservatives” even of this far northern state resemble the culture of Dixie I lived in for a time. This is my general impression, from people I grew up with, that they are different than they once were. Radicalized perhaps.
The Republican Party has been infected with the far right racial politics and evangelical leanings which were the norm which I witnessed in my three years in the southern state of Mississippi. I recall one fellow decrying the sin of abortion at the workplace, this when Ronald Reagan was president. I thought it rather odd, and perhaps not the right of a man to condemn, but did not comment on this. The man from Arkansas was known to be very pious, rather outspoken and most of us, even other southerners, thought perhaps somewhat radical in his ways. I never would have guessed what would become of such talk of the time.
I found some quotes to perhaps show that the language of Ron DeSantis compares to other southerners, all the way back to 1862. This is not a profound finding on my part, and will not surprise anyone, but I see value in showing this, not necessarily telling it.
“Freedom lives here, in our great Sunshine State of Florida! When other states consigned their people’s freedom to the dustbin, Florida stood strongly as freedom’s linchpin. In captaining the ship of state, we choose to navigate the boisterous sea of liberty rather than cower in the calm docks of despotism.” — Ron DeSantis (46th governor of Florida) inaugural address January 2023.
“Let us rise to the call for freedom-loving blood that is in us and send our answer to the tyranny that clanks its chains upon the South” — George Wallace (1919-1998) 45th Governor of Alabama
“...of the citizens of Key West, in this state and that portion which is cursed by the. Tyranny and pressure of Lincoln’s Vandals, have made their escape sacrificing homes and property…but feel confident of the great citizens of this state with generous donations under proper appeal will meet the needs of their fellow citizens, who have thus been made to feel the iron heel of despotism…”
— John Milton, (1807-April 1,1865) 5th Governor of Florida, who shot himself rather than rejoin the Union.
So what is in Florida hopefully will stay in Florida. And hopefully the extremism will die down a little. A sound rejection of Ron DeSantis can only help.
Finally, DeSantis’s attack on learning of history serves among other things, a defense against “political wisdom” gained by his (and future extremist) future constituents. Perhaps this neutering of history will be stopped. I know there has been talk by Republicans in this state of Montana of the evils of “Critical Race Theory.” It seems even more ridiculous to hear this here.
My 4th Substack writing, February 6, 2023.