The Patriot Post® · Leftmedia Dumps on Florida

Is there a better-run state in the Union right now than Florida? The Sunshine State has long been a destination for retirees and beach lovers, but it is increasingly attracting a growing population drawn by its growing economic opportunities, quality of life, and embrace of Liberty.

Indeed, few states weathered and bounced back from the COVID pandemic as well as Florida. And the state’s residents have the wise and capable leadership of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis to thank for this.

But DeSantis’s record in Florida is far from merely ensuring that its residents are taken care of. Rather, under his leadership, conservative ideals have progressed, and as a result, the state has flourished. DeSantis has shown Republican leaders across the country how to both govern well and successfully counter the radical Left.

It is for that last reason that the Leftmedia has continuously and disingenuously attacked DeSantis and Florida as somehow bad in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. A recent anti-DeSantis hit piece from NBC News is a case in point. Its title? “They came for Florida’s sun and sand. They got soaring costs and a culture war.”

The story relies mostly on anecdotes of individuals complaining about everything from the weather to armadillos. For instance, one individual who moved to Florida from Kansas and then back again after spending roughly a year in the state complained: “For me, it was very falsely promoted. Once living there, I thought, you know, this isn’t all you guys have cracked this up to be, at all.”

It’s true that Florida is not for everyone, but the notion that it was falsely advertised has more to do with an individual’s expectations. No state can possibly meet everyone’s individual expectations. That’s called life.

However, as the article goes on, the clear gripe that NBC News raises with Florida has little to do with the hot weather, soaring insurance costs (thanks to hurricanes), or worsening traffic. Rather, NBC News’s problem is the state’s “hostile political environment.” In other words, it’s become a bastion of Republican politics.

The article paints this as people constantly arguing over politics. The story quotes one individual who self-identifies as a “middle of the road” Republican. “You cannot engage in a conversation there without politics coming up; it is just crazy,” this person says. “We’re retired, we’re supposed to be in our fun time of life. I learned quickly, just keep your mouth shut because I saw people in my own community break up their friendships over it. I don’t like losing friends, and especially over politics.” Welcome to America. There is not one place in this country where that sentiment doesn’t apply. Most of this is thanks to mainstream media outlets like NBC News, which have made pushing leftist politics their daily bread and butter — just as they have in this article.

Another humorous anecdote involves one of the Leftmedia’s hobby issues: guns. The article points to a law passed last year that allows people to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. Thanks to the Second Amendment, this should, in fact, be the law of the land. Good on Florida for doing its part to defend this constitutional right. Of course, with the Left’s dubious “gun violence” narrative, which sees guns as a primary cause of violent crime rather than a protection against it, the article quotes another supposed “conservative” originally from New York who was moving out of Florida to North Carolina. He cited the law’s passage as one of the reasons for his leaving. He says, “Everyone is walking around with guns there,” adding: “I consider myself a conservative guy, but if you want to carry a gun, you should be licensed. There should be some sort of process.”

Other political issues the article notes are Florida’s six-week abortion ban; the state’s ban on teaching diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); and its crackdown on illegal immigration. Some obviously left-minded longtime resident who was moving out said, “It breaks my heart, it really does, because Florida was really a pretty great place when I first moved there.”

The article then describes a woman who grew up in Oklahoma and considered herself a Republican, “but as Florida’s politics shifted to the right, she said she began to consider herself a Democrat. It wasn’t until the past several years, though, that politics started to encroach on her daily life — from feuds between neighbors and friends to neo-Nazis showing up at a Black Lives Matter rally in her small town.”

Well, for all true Republicans in Florida, the fact that she elected to move out is welcome news. The truth is that Floridians have embraced conservative values because the Democrats have increasingly been exposed as radical leftists who have abandoned individual Liberty and instead pushed woke values that are antithetical to American values.

While 500,000 residents moved out of Florida last year, 700,000 more moved in, making Florida the top destination state behind Texas for net migration. A whole lot more people see DeSantis’s leadership as a good thing and Florida as somewhere they want to live. The same cannot be said of blue states like New York and California.