Sunshine State Stasi

Ron DeSantis Goes All In On Florida Fascism.

Two years ago, the compliant and supine Florida Legislature funded the Office of Election Crimes and Security at the behest of Gov. Ron DeSantis, creating a quite real police organization to overcome a very imaginary problem. Voter fraud in Florida is exceedingly rare for a state with around 15 million registered voters. However, that didn’t stop Ron DeSantis from empowering himself and his party with a new way to intimidate voters.

You were in good company if you could smell the potential civil rights violations coming a mile off just from its name. The first efforts of the OECS were directed against black men who had in the past committed felonies and who were told in good faith they could vote again by their local elections offices. 20 black men were arrested, not to address a real problem, but pour encourager les autes.

Fast-forward to today and Amendment 4.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been showing up at people's homes who signed petitions to put Amendment 4 before Florida voters. Amendment 4, a ballot initiative meant to reverse Florida’s draconian 6-week abortion ban, was signed with far more signatures than needed to place it on the ballot and has been polling in the 60% range.

Now, DeSantis has directed his election police as part of an effort to intimidate voters.

Just as the OECS’s first big foray mysteriously targeted black men, so too have the visits in this crude effort to frighten voters out of supporting Amendment 4. In a rising number of incidents, OECS, under the aegis of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, isn’t just showing up at people's homes asking about their signatures; they’re coming in with folders containing various personal information about their targets.

In some ways, this comes as no surprise. When the Florida GOP saw the massive surge in petitions for the amendment — well over the signature threshold — a sense of panic set in. Amendment 4 wasn’t just moving Democrats; it was moving more affluent, more educated Republican women and complicating the prospects of Republican candidates from the state legislature up to the Republican Presidential campaign.

In Florida Politics, Peter Schorsch looks at the most recent polling on Amendment 4, and the numbers show why it’s got Republicans in a frenzy:

"Despite the long-standing national debate over the issue of abortion, this proposal garners 76% overall support, with enough support to pass among nearly all demographics. Not surprisingly, its largest support comes from Democrats. But perhaps surprising is just how many Democrats are on board — a staggering 97%. Meanwhile, 78% of no-party voters support the abortion amendment. Even Republican voters are largely on board. Republican women support the amendment at a level high enough for passage and then some, at 67%, while a clear majority of Republicans overall support the amendment, at 57%.

Among genders, women are most supportive, at 83%, while 73% of men support Amendment 4. There is also broad support among all age demographics, with those 65 and older actually posting the strongest support, at 82%. Younger voters, those 18 to 44, are just behind, at 80% support, while 73% of those ages 45 to 64 are also supportive.”

Their response? Ron DeSantis has directed many state agencies to actively engage in the electoral battle to defeat Amendment 4. We’ll set aside the moral and legal implications of using taxpayer money to defeat the initiative, at least for the moment, but suffice it to say that the government of Florida is spending millions of dollars to intimidate the voters of Florida.

You’ll be shocked to learn the DeSantis Election Police are only focused on Amendment 4 while a total of six ballot measures are before voters this year. It’s ideological and political for him and the Party.

This is precisely what nascent authoritarian statism looks like.

The Sunshine State Stasi is taking a lesson from its German forebearer.

The East German Ministerium für Staatssicherheit—Stasi, for short—had files on almost every East German, 5.6 million people before the Wall came down. They had a pervasive snitch culture, always watching, listening, and using their networks of informers to ensure compliance with the will of the GDR.

They used that snitch culture and the intelligence it gathered to intimidate and punish East Germans who dared to cross the Party. In this day and age, Nazi comparisons are all the rage, but the Stasi is a better analogy for Florida today. It’s more technocratic — for now — than terror, more bureaucratic than Buchenwald.

Imagine being an ordinary voter who signed a petition for any ballot issue and suddenly finding armed cops at your door, holding a dossier about you. It's intimidating, to be sure, and that’s the entire point. Ron DeSantis wants you to know if you speak out, stand up for something you believe in, and vote against his wishes that the Stasi is watching.

Again, this is what authoritarian statism looks like in its early days.

Far from the “Free State of Florida,” we have DeSantistan, where the will of the voters is secondary to his ideological predicates, and his abuse of power is largely unfettered. He may be term-limited, but his wife Casey (R-gentina) is planning her run in his place to keep the power in the family.

His government officials are a pack of contemptuous trolls, eager to tell Florida voters their boss will crush anyone—citizen, legislator, or journalist—who stands in his way. He’s consistently used his government office and officials to raise money for his campaigns, both for re-election and his cursed failure of a Presidential campaign. Last week, DeSantis suffered a rare and temporary setback when it was discovered he planned to sell off vast parts of Florida state parks to let a major campaign donor build golf courses. He backed down, but it was a tactical retreat only.

The Dear Leader, backed by a husk of a legislative body so obedient they may as well be slaves, gets his way on outrageous bills that create government organizations loyal only to him for ends that will inevitably cross the line by violating the rights and liberties of citizens.

You can see this in DeSantis's behavior across the board: a contempt for any Florida citizen not entirely in line with his views, the use of government power for his personal and ideological ends, and rampant political favoritism.

If you’re wondering how fascism slips past democracy’s defenses, look no further than Florida.