House Obstructionists & The Free State of Florida Lives On – Top 3 Takeaways – October 4th, 2023
- Obstructionists. Florida’s Matt Gaetz and his ego proceeded to press the vote to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy with almost exclusively Democrat-based support. This was ironic given that Gaetz based his decision to file the motion to vacate on the decision by McCarthy to work with Democrats to gain support for a 45-day continuing resolution to continue government spending. In the end it worked. For the first time in American history a House Speaker has been voted out. And now here we are mired in a mess. While we wait and watch the spectacle to be... Here’s what isn’t happening. Any investigations into the Biden Crime Family or the Impeachment Inquiry into President Biden. Ironically, a partial government shutdown wouldn’t have stopped investigative work by the House Republican Committees. The only action that can truly stop all functions of the House is what happened yesterday...and that will continue today and who knows for how long. While House Democrats are as happy as can be...the biggest winner of all is President Biden who’s currently not under congressional investigation. Each day lost in their investigative work is a day won by team Biden. There’s obviously also not any legislating for that matter and there are now just 41 days before another looming partial government shutdown deadline. As I said earlier this week. I respect the “no” vote on Saturday’s CR. I don’t respect the move to hand the Democrats the biggest possible victory they could have hoped for and that they voted for. There’s always a right way and a wrong way to do things. What we’re witnessing now isn’t the right way – unless you want to serve the interests of the current President of the United States. Evidencing the point... In the end Gaetz was only able to win the support of seven other Republicans. He was successful in winning over 209 Democrats. Gaetz and these seven Republicans aren’t conservative standard bears. As I’ve evidenced, their actual voting records don’t reflect that reality. They were obstructionists last Friday. They sunk spending bills advanced by the House Freedom Caucus because they weren’t interested in conservatively legislating. They were only interested in obstruction and destruction of the House under McCarthy. These are selfish people, not heroes finally standing up for conservative values. We’re spending more in this country today because of what they blocked last Friday – not less. Matt Gaetz and his ego won out. The country, most especially actual conservatives, lost out. Btw, not one member of Florida’s conservative Republican delegation voted for McCarthy’s ouster. And no, Matt Gaetz isn’t a conservative.
- The Free State of Florida lives on. Born out of the pandemic but still relevant to this day. The “Free State of Florida” moniker lives on in education. While the whining and gnashing of teeth by teacher’s union leaders and their allies in news media tends to get all of the hype. But the reality on the ground in the state of Florida educationally according to the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, is that there’s no freer state in the country. The annual ALEC evaluation of educational freedom scores states across five metrics: 1) Funding and financing 2) Charter school performance 3) homeschooling 4) virtual learning options 5) Open enrollment options. Florida’s overall score for education options for Florida’s families, a 95 out of a possible 100, was greater than double the national average of 43. That’s right, the Free State of Florida has greater than double the performance of the average other state when it comes to educational freedom for parents and students. Florida is tied for #1 with the funding and financing of K-12 education programs and we’re also tied for 1st with Florida’s Virtual School performance and #1 with open enrollment options (which means having access to school choice beyond the assigned district school). Florida’s tied for #13 in charter school performance and tied for #12 in homeschooling performance. Digging in a little deeper into the state-by-state analysis and seeing where Florida really shines in education freedom compared to other states there are...
- Five standout programs. Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options Program (or universal school choice), Florida’s Hope Scholarship Program, Florida’s Tax Credit Scholarship Program, the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program and the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities. No other state offers more school choice than Florida. No other state funds more school choice than Florida. And with all of these options come ever-improving results as well. Florida was already named by US News and World Report as the top state for education for the first time ever this year. And that was prior to the impact of universal school choice options for the just started school year. Florida’s story continues to be one that in most ways just continues to get better with time. That’s especially true when it comes to educational choice, educational freedom and most importantly education outcomes. And it’s no coincidence that as Florida has progressed to the point to where we’re #1 for educational freedom, we’re also number #1 for education overall. Quoting Governor DeSantis on the back of this news: This new ranking further proves that Florida is the national leader in education. By focusing on academic achievement, expanding school choice, and empowering parents, Florida continues to see unprecedented success in our classrooms. As always there are two sides to stories and one side to facts. Those are the facts.