DeSantis Pursues The Natural State Of Man

When Ron DeSantis got elected Governor, he stood behind a billboard which branded him as a candidate: “VETERAN PROSECUTOR LEADER”. This may seem like a small detail, and typical of a US Congressman which DeSantis was. But comparing it to the slogans of past Presidential candidates, provides insight into the state of the Republican Party and the future of our nation.

What we are looking at and comparing, is politicians who offer optimistic programs, versus politicians who say they are good, and others are evil. And the world can be improved by removing the bad people.

President Trump’s slogan was “Make America Great Again”. It is very Reaganesque and inclusive. For contrast, Hillary Clinton’s bumper stickers said “I’m with Her” – very divisive – and simply “Hillary”. Trump’s headline did not refer to Trump himself, but general principles. You had to go further down the page to find the idea that some people are better than others, such as Americans being better than Mexicans. It was more a program than a cleansing.

Trump’s slogan was clearly a program, when put in the context of previous President Obama’s program to “change” and transform the nation. Trump was saying my program is not to undo “evil” America like Obama, but to restore “great” America, to restore whatever traditions and institutions Obama said were evil.

Trump was sort of a hybrid of Reagan, saying capitalism is better than communism and brings out the best in people. But also adding there are some people who will bring it down, who have no best to bring out. But still, Trump advocated a way of life first – institutions, traditions – and improving the world by removing certain people second.

Trump trashed leftist politicians and media talking heads all day, and said they were evil and needed to be removed. But Trump never trashed the man on the street. Trump never said the streets were full of common folk, US citizens who were bad people. These are the people who watched Trump’s TV shows and pageants, and visited his casinos, and he loves them.

Bill Clinton wrote a book “Putting People First” and ran on the slogan “Building a Bridge to the 21st Century”. These are both fluff. But they don’t directly say that there are good and bad people. There is a suggestion of Clinton’s moral superiority compared to those who don’t “put people first”. This meant the evil corporations, which at that time were healthcare providers serving the aging baby boomers. Clinton certainly didn’t say people were the problem. Clinton said “100 days to healthcare”. These are clearly programs, not attacks on certain classes of citizens.

Failed Presidential Candidate Al Gore wrote his own book “Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit”. This pretty much comes right out and says people are the problem. All people are bad. All people need to be removed. There is no best to bring out, and therefore Gore offered no optimistic program to bring out their best. His program was to defeat the human spirit and elevate “the planet”. And Al Gore lost despite being well positioned in most ways.

DeSantis reversed the process of offering any program to improve the country, where Bill Clinton offered three. DeSantis simply said he is a better person. And from there we can only infer what the program is, mostly defeating the bad people.

“Veteran” means I share your values and love of country. And specifically I am more virtuous compared to the bad US citizens who don’t. “Veteran” has become a classist term, where veterans are presented as a superior class of citizen. And it also means I am willing to take up arms to protect the country against bad people. I am part of a collective of good people, where common factions are less virtuous.

“Prosecutor” suggests a program of being tough on crime. This is a playbook which was successful for Republicans in a different era. And this might make a great top issue for a big-city mayor. But putting the removal of the bad people from society, the undesirables, at the top of the list of programs, is unusual for a national candidate. For DeSantis, the first order of business is not 100 days to healthcare, but removing the bad people.

DeSantis is clearly bad-people centric. Historically, the significance of this sudden change in tack of the Republican Party cannot be understated. Economist Thomas Sowell documented how for 200 years, those on the left thought there were good and bad people. While those on the right thought there were good and bad policies and economic systems, which produced better and worse results from the same flawed raw material of human beings.

In the past, Republicans thought those on the left were not evil, but misguided. Or government itself was flawed and corruptible, and needed to be designed carefully and with great restraint. Whereas leftists though they were cartoon superheroes, saving the world from evil Republicans. Now Republicans in Florida are some of the most vain and self-important people in history, who cannot imagine themselves as doing bad, no matter what law they break or whom they harm.

Today Republican thought leaders such as Ann Coulter and Tom Cotton speak purely of replacing the bad people with the good people. They want to replace “Soros prosecutors” with Republican eugenics-oriented prosecutors, and round up those who might commit some future crime and hold them with no bond. Strangely those on the left are now more likely to advocate changing the rules not the people, as misguided as their prescriptions may be.

The natural impulse of man, is that the world can be improved by removing the bad people, who are seen as the reason the world is not perfect. Never mind whether this is correct or incorrect in specific situations. It is the impulse in all situations. And that is why the natural state of man is war.

People who have not lived in war, forget that the natural state of man is war and misery. And the primary role of government is to redirect the natural impulse of man, from destroying his neighbor, to producing for his neighbor. People do not recognize the source of and conditions for their prosperity. Defeating the first impulse to attack and torture strangers, is a prerequisite before the price system can work its magic.

When Ron DeSantis runs on and promotes a program of improving the world by going on offense against the bad people, he will be pleasantly surprised with how resounding and easily amplified his message is. The results will exceed all predictions, and lead not to the promised utopia, but to war. And his faction will lose that war to the mob he despises and be utterly destroyed, ushering in decades of darkness.

War is not self-attenuating, where each victory and defeat wins the necessity of progressively smaller defeats. This is the DeSantis idea to “punch the bully and he will back down”. War is self-escalating, where each victory sets up the need for a new bigger victory. It only ends through catastrophic climax. Welcome to the beginning.