A few days back, Politico, the foremost among Democrat mouthpieces, carried an article by Matt Dixon, that intended to depict Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as ungrateful and hypocritical.
The piece begins by claiming that DeSantis, despite being a
persistent critic of Biden, still “likes one thing about the president: his
wallet.”
Dixon dedicates highlights the following to make his case:
·
Florida will benefit from billions of
dollars in federal assistance in response to the devastating damage from
Hurricane Ian.
·
DeSantis requested Biden for an
emergency declaration for all of Florida’s 67 counties, which Biden approved,
freeing up federal money for counties devastated by Hurricane Ian.
·
For the past two years, DeSantis’
administration received billions of dollars in federal aid during the Covid-19
pandemic.
·
DeSantis used these fund used to pay
for a wide range of non-pandemic-related programs, programs that Biden is critical
of.
·
DeSantis previously accepted billions
of dollars in federal aid to fund high-profile spending items, despite Florida
having a $20 billion budget surplus.
·
DeSantis used interest from federal
money totaling $12 million, to fund a migrant transportation program from
Florida to Democratic strongholds such as Martha’s Vineyard.
·
DeSantis used $200 million from the
federal coronavirus funding to give Floridians a gas tax break in October.
·
DeSantis used federal dollars to give
teachers and police $1,000 bonuses.
The piece then reveals that almost a decade ago, DeSantis as
a Congressman opposed billions of dollars in relief for Hurricane Sandy, citing
unrelated provisions and unnecessary spending.
The piece is a perfect illustration of the total lack of
understanding of democratically elected governments work and how federalism
works.
When matters have devolved to such ludicrousness,
it is worth revising the fundamentals
When the Revolutionary War ended, George Washington received an offer
to become king of the United States. But Washington rejected the
overture and said that “I did not defeat King George III to become King
George I.”
The founding fathers always the US to be a Democracy
which was defined by Lincoln as a government of the people, by the people, and for the
people.
This means is the people are the stakeholders and the owners of
the government.
The people lend their power to a representative via
their votes to a representative.
The elected representatives do not own the power or the funds accrued
from taxpayers meant for the constituency. The elected representatives are
subordinates to the citizens.
This applies to each and every elected official within America
from the President to the city councilors.
Now for Federalism.
This is achieved by cooperation, collaboration, and coordination
between the federal government and the state governments.
The Federal
Government has certain powers that are given to it by the Constitution
and the 50 state governments have powers that are reserved for them. There
are also powers that are shared by both the state and federal governments.
When the United States was first established in 1787 the country
operated under the system of Dual Federalism where the federal government and
the state governments functioned within their own spheres of influence.
However beginning in 1937, the US moved to Cooperative Federalism
where the federal government exerts more and more influence in the affairs of
the states. The state often has to rely on the federal government for help and
aid.
In a Democracy, every citizen has a right to be unsparingly
critical of the elected representatives. Even elected representatives have the
right to be critical of each other.
However, it is the duty of the elected representatives in the
federal and state government to set their personal differences and work
together for the citizens. This is essential during a crisis.
In a Democracy, the news media also reports to the citizen and
must function as a government watchdog.
So what happens now?
The representatives who have been lent power by the citizen think
that they own power, they look at citizens as subjects and themselves as rulers.
Instead of becoming a watchdog against the powerful, the news
media has become a lapdog for the Democrat party.
Consequently, Politico carries an article calling referring to
taxpayers' money collected by the federal government as the President’s wallet
i.e. federal funds belonging to Biden.
They purposefully conflate a working relationship with a personal
relationship. They attempt to portray DeSantis as a self-centered individual
who only contacts friends in times of peril, but badmouths his benefactors
during sunny times.
The article implies that since DeSantis is critical of Biden’s
policies he has no right to seek federal funds.
The piece also implies that DeSantis should be grovelingly and
personally grateful to Biden for doing his duty and providing federal support
during Hurricane Ian, the COVID-19 Pandemic, etc.
The piece complains that DeSantis used federal funds in areas
other than its stated purpose.
Well, as long as fund were spent on the citizens DeSantis has
committed no offense.
It is hilarious that the Democrat media are suddenly concerned
about government spending.
What about the claim that DeSantis voted against federal aid for
Hurricane Sandy but is seeking funds for Florida?
The Sandy relief cost $50 billion. It dedicated funds for future
mitigation efforts. It raised the debt-ceiling deal by another
$9.7 billion with no plan to offset the spending with cuts elsewhere
is not fiscally responsible. To sum it up, like all Democrat bills, the relief
bill focused on everything besides its stated objective and its name. It
intended to misuse the crisis to further its far-left agenda.
Politico conveniently doesn’t mention that DeSantis has on
occasions rejected
federal funds when his state didn’t need them and used state funds
instead.
In a strange way the hit piece, despite its
intentions end up portraying DeSantis as a capable governor and a principled Congressman.
As Governor, during a crisis, DeSantis places his differences
asides and works with Biden. He is fiscally responsible resulting in a budget
surplus. He astutely funds state programs by rerouting federal funds or using interest
from federal funds. Unlike the Democrats, DeSantis doesn’t spend the
money he doesn’t have on items that the public doesn’t need.
As a Congressman, he wasn’t deceived by the name
of the bill and voted no based on its content.
The Politico piece is an obscenity in its tone, content, and blatant sycophancy of Biden.
As always, the self-righteous are devoid of self-awareness, or
else someone on the editorial board of Politico would have not only rejected
the article but have asked the author to re-read the constitution, the tenets
of democracy, and the principles of federalism.
It reveals the mindset of the Washington Democrat
Establishment that thinks of Democrat leaders as the rulers of the country.
They expect state Governors and citizens feel obliged that a
Democrat-led federal government is doing its job.
They are confusing a duty with a favor.
Also appears on American Thinker
Comments
Post a Comment