Ron DeSantis calls himself a “conservative.” However, it’s telling he’s stopped talking about being a “free market conservative.” Why? Because quite frankly his ideology now is a mixture of culture fascism and leftist state control of private industry and the economy.

Last week, The Governor posted the above graphic claiming wanting responsible public health standards and protecting private business was “Faucism” (a shot at Dr. Anthony Fauci) on his Twitter feed.

Governor DeSantis has opened the door to a new Republican ideology of anti-Capitalist Populism. That’s what we are calling it. Two weeks ago we asked if DeSantis had defined a new Republican Party ideology around statism.

The core tenants of this new DeSantis-defined GOP ideology are now clear.

• Businesses are not allowed to govern themselves accordingly to protect customers nor are they permitted to put in place basic public health standards in order to attract customers. They are not free to practice business in Florida unless they play by the state’s rules. This is effectively Communism or Fascism depending on your preferred term.
• Tech companies are not allowed to regulate the platforms they own in accordance with user standards every customer signs if it conflicts with the agenda of politicians. This is effectively state control of mass media.
• Businesses are strongly discouraged by the state from being “woke” or promoting things like Pride Month or African- American History since it conflicts with the new ideology of the DeSantis GOP. Keep in mind, the free market is the reason companies promote “wokeness,” because it HELPS business. DeSantis’ reaction to “wokeness” and “cancel culture” will potentially drive businesses out of Florida (As I have pointed out consistently on Twitter, Cancel Culture is merely an expression of the free market and the purest form of conservatism around – it has ZERO government influence and should be actually embraced by real conservatives).
• Educators must teach a sanitized mythical version of American History, one which not only is based on out-of-context views of events but one which also discounts Florida’s own role in shaping the real history of this country.
• The state defines the sexual orientation of an individual and what gender they must play sports in. This is not a personal decision or a family one, but one that is to be made by Government.
• Local Governments cannot control law enforcement budgets for its own police departments if it conflicts with the state’s view of what that department should like. This is top-down statism to say the least.

So where do actual free market capitalists go? And will DeSantis’ move attract leftist anti-capitalists who already disdain the Democratic Party for being “too corporate,” to his side. Or does DeSantis’ views on social issues prevent that from happening?

For all the huffing and puffing many Bernie Sanders supporters did the last few years about being economics-focused, it’s been noticeable many have folded back into the Democratic Party, despite the GOP being far more willing to crush private industry the last few years than the Democrats. After all the Biden Administration merely wants to regulate and tax private enterprise, so obviously according to some on the left they corporatists. Therefore, perhaps DeSantis gets some of them, if in fact they really are as anti-corporate as they claim? (This whole paragraph is a bit of parody but thrown in there to demonstrate how absurd the GOP shift really is)

In all seriousness the long-standing alliance between big business and Republican Party of Florida might be in serious jeopardy if DeSantis continues this way. Time will tell how this plays out.