The newly painted Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
We believe political freedom and economic freedom are indivisible.
When political freedom and economic freedom are separated — both are in peril; when united, they are invincible.
So read, in part, the 2016 Republican Party Platform.
That, of course, was then.
This — BACKGROUND: Disney government dissolution bill signed by DeSantis — is now.
That’s right, the Republican Party, which wants you to believe that they are against cancel culture and are staunchly pro-business; are for freedom of speech and against excessive government intrusion into the economy, has now completely abandoned those principles in order to use the power of the state to target a single business.
It was Republicans in the Florida legislature who passed the anti-Disney law without a single Democratic vote.
It was Florida’s Republican Governor who wasted no time at all signing the bill into law. Political and economic freedoms be damned.
We’ve illustrated before the numerous ways in which the Republican Party in Wisconsin has become the party of big government. Turns out, this is not just a Wisconsin thing.
And the fact that Florida Republicans anti-Disney law is on shaky legal ground, and may not actually be enforceable, does nothing to detract from what this entire episode illustrates.
Republicans are not actually against “cancel culture.” They just really don’t like it when anyone disagrees with them.
Republicans are no longer the political party of small government and limited intervention in the economy.
Republicans are willing to use the power of the state to target individual corporations for exercising the very political and economic freedoms they used to hold dear.
Whatever their motives, no matter the rationale, Florida Republicans have wrapped their party inextricably around the notion of a big, powerful, government.
You might even say it’s indivisible from who Republicans have become.
Author
Politics
Wisconsinites get relief as Biden cancels nearly $5 billion more in student debt
The Biden administration on Wednesday announced that it approved the cancellation of nearly $5 billion in additional federal student loan debt for...
Opinion: When Republicans Were The Progressive Party. What happened to their values?
Wisconsin resident reflects on the history and values of the Republican party. The term “progressive” is perhaps the most frequent insult that...
Local News
Chippewa Falls teacher and students keep the memory of a Pearl Harbor hero alive
A son of Chippewa Falls was mourned after the attack. Later, he was all but forgotten. A local teacher and students are making sure that doesn’t...
How where you’re from influences who you are
Can the state you call home influence your most prominent personality traits? Science says yes, and these maps from Atlas Obscura show how. It’s...
