Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the country’s decline is a choice but is not inevitable in a speech Wednesday to the American Legislative Exchange Council.
“This country is in a state of decline. Economic decline, military decline, cultural decline, and if we look at states that are governed by leftist politicians, wielding leftist ideology, those states are symptomatic of the larger decline in our country,” the Republican candidate for president said at the organization’s annual gathering in Orlando.
DeSantis noted that states that have imposed anti-freedom policies are hemorrhaging businesses, residents and wealth.
“We see crime going through the roof in many of the urban centers in these areas, and their education system have declined dramatically as those policies have taken hold more and more,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis pointed out that Florida has experienced the opposite over recent years and has continued to grow, despite the situation around the nation looking dire.
“The decline of our country, though, is not inevitable,” DeSantis said. “The decline is a choice. It’s a choice we as Americans will be making in the ensuing months and years. I believe that Florida shows the way to reverse our nation’s decline, restore sanity to our society and usher into this country a new birth of freedom.”
Since taking office in 2019, DeSantis stated that almost 25% of Florida’s total debt has now been repaid and that the Sunshine State has the lowest tax burdens per capita in the country.
“We have in Florida shown the way on how to have a strong, robust economy. Our economy is now ranked number one in the nation by U.S. news and world reports overall…We have a large budget surplus, a AAA credit rating,” DeSantis said, adding that through Florida’s Debt Repayment Program, around $400 million in debt had been recently paid back.
Ranking highest for economic growth, Florida is also tops in business formation, unemployment rates — especially amongst the largest states — and education.
DeSantis noted that all of the success that has been achieved since 2019 would not have been possible if Florida had not bucked the trend when it came to COVID-19 measures and restrictions.
“We fought for the people of this state, when nobody else was willing to do it,” DeSantis said, adding that this is why he won his reelection by a 1.5 million vote margin.
“If people see that you’re willing to fight for them, if they see that you’re willing to take arrows for them, they will come out and support you…they just wanna know you’re willing to fight for them,” DeSantis said.
