Ron DeSantis -- Can Anything Good Come out of Sicily?

by Mary W Maxwell, PhD, LLB

According to Wikipedia, all of the great-grandparents of Ron DeSantis were born in Sicily. I never really thought about Sicilians, but probably absorbed some bad feelings about them as being the source of the Mafia.

As for DeSantis being a current candidate for the 2024 election, I haven't had time to pay attention, but vaguely heard some negatives about him.

So consider my surprise when I attended his Town Hall in Concord NH yesterday, in a roomful of about 130 people, at the Grappone Center. I was stunned. That's the only word for it -- stunned.

I have never seen a candidate do such a good job. He strode out onto the stage looking all of his 45 years, accompanied by his 5-year-old son. Dad's hair is as black as coal -- I'm not sure if he colors it, but I'm sure he doesn't wear make-up.

Wait, I am not really interested in DeSantis's physical being. I just think it will help him win against the elderly presidential candidates, of which I am one. (Age 76, an unrepentant baby boomer, on the New Hampshire January 23 ballot.) I was mainly stunned by his articulate and thoughtful coverage of every issue that interests us Republicans.

DeSantis spoke for almost two hours without drawing breath. There was no repetition, no bullsh*t, and no emotional manipulation of the audience as far as I could tell. (OK, the opening moment with his little boy, but so what.)

The audience, including an eighth-grader named Alex, asked many questions and Ron did not sidestep any of them. Have you ever heard of such a thing? (Granted, his argument regarding Palestine sounded a bit convoluted.) At this December 15th Town Hall, DeSantis explicitly called for an end to the UN, and a controlled demolition of the IRS. Jeepers!

Parchmentarianism

This fellow is extremely knowledgeable. One thing that particularly grabbed me was his easy understanding of the relationship between the structure and spirit of the US Constitution. Honest, I was beginning to think my view of that was unique, but along comes this governor of Florida, spitting it out like there was never any doubt about it.

I'll concede that Ron has a better basis than I have for "feeling" the structure of the parchment. He not only is a current member of one of the five constitutional entities -- the States, as governor -- he's also been in the Legislature, having done three terms as a Congressman. At a stretch you could even call him a Judicial person, as his Navy service (Lt Commander) was in the role of a JAG.

Of the two remaining entities in the Constitution, one is the Executive where he might well land, and the other is The People. Regarding that last one, he is all for hitting us with our responsibilities. DeSantis' speech in Concord was not about promising a lobster in every pot. Heck, he doesn't even promise justice and freedom. You have to work for it. "A Republic, Ma'am, if you can keep it."

On the Ground

The man has a track record. Governor Ron was mean enough to point out that in the 2024 campaign, Trump is making promises of what he will do, which are the same ones he made in 2016 and then didn't deliver on.

As governor, DeSantis has done the following (he didn't advertise all of these; I knew of some from the Internet):

1. He has removed the tax-free property status of Disney World. (Can you imagine!)

2. He stood up against the pandemic authoritarianism. (Yo, Ron!)

3. He has asserted the right of parents against the schools' sexualization of children. (He did mention that one at the Town Hall.)

4. DeSantis has banded with other southern governors to establish a state's right to close the border. (I believe that's legal anyway, per Article IV section 4 of the US Constitution.)

5. He has written a book called "The Courage to Be Free." (I have not yet seen it.)

6. He has a magna cum laude degree from Yale, but was a member of a secret society there -- so he'll have to expiate that one to win my trust.

7. In Congress, he introduced a bill to devolve the process of college accreditation from the feds to the states. (How did it ever become federal? This is one of our unheralded scandals.)

8. DeSantis is AOK with requiring proof of identity at the polls, and is not OK with hiring illegals.

9. I now hear that he has braved a $17 million dollar campaign of negatives against him (which are always a good sign, by the way).

10. Reportedly, DeSantis recently wiped the floor with California's communistic governor, Gavin Newsom.

The Truth Will Out

My guess is that the black-haired 45-year-old is "white-hat Intel." I suspect this, partly on the grounds that he served two tours in Iraq. I'm all in favor of white hats, including Robert David Steele whose death in 2021 was probably arranged by the other kind of "hats."

If there is a hidden team of white hats giving Ron DeSantis his unusual and very welcome level of self-confidence, I say thank God.

I say thank God for Sicily.

When I got home from the above adventure at 4:30pm, Friday, I tried to ring NH Secretary of State Scanlan's office to inquire about withdrawing from the race myself. Luckily that office was closed, so I've got a while to think about it.

-- Mary Maxwell's website is www.ConstitutionAndTruth.com