On Wednesday, May 24, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis formally announced his intent to seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States, and to run for that high office.
And arguably underreporting could be a factor--which is itself a problem pertaining to crime. The police can't address crimes that go unreported, so if the public is as you say "demoralized" and inured to property crimes, then that, too, is an issue that must be address.
Something to consider: If I was committed to an ideology, or hostage to it, and I encountered inconvenient facts, I would hide those facts and/or re-categorize them. The last thing I would do is abandon my ideology.
Ideology is never where we can meet. Ideology does not work that way.
People are going to defend their ideology. They are going to advocate for their ideology. That is exactly as it should be.
But whether that ideology is human rights, civil liberties, libertarianism, or even--God forbid--fascism, socialism, statism, or any other flavor of authoritarianism, the way to advocate for an ideology in ways to which other people can connect is with the facts.
Robert F Kennedy Jr's. speech announcing his candidacy was extremely ideological, perhaps more so than DeSantis'. Yet the way to appraise what he is saying, the way for someone who does not share his ideology to interrogate his positions, is to start with the facts.
For myself, someone who tries hard to conceal inconvenient facts, or attempts to suppress inconvenient facts, is not someone who's going to be all that persuasive. Someone who is unable to respond to inconvenient facts while still remaining true to their ideology is certainly not going to be persuasive.
That's all well and good. But who are the gate keepers of the 'facts'? Who pays for the facts? Who measures them? Who categorizes and catalogs them? Who has access to them?
These aren't trivial questions. And the answers matter as much as the facts do.
These questions are only relevant when the answer to the last one is something other than "everyone".
If the data is available to everyone, then the focus rightly shifts to what's in the data. If the data is not available to everyone, then someone needs to be pushing hard on the question "why the hell not?"
Either you missed my broader point (my fault because it was implied rather than stated), or you understood it but reject it. That point being: In our Post Modern epoch Truth does not matter. Nor do facts. Unless, of course, they happen to champion Liberalism, Democracy, Progress, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. Otherwise, truth and facts be damned!
I'm surprised by this move. He's King of Florida. What was the rush? Why not let the Donald Trump ship sail? Why be put through that slug fest with him?
He's a hot political commodity right now. COVID was a fairly easy way for a governor to make his bones, plus he got reelected so he's got the ultimate political endorsement right there.
If he waits out Trump and Trump loses in 2024, then he becomes a GOP scapegoat.
If he waits out Trump and Trump wins, by 2028 he could very easily be a fading political star.
Not to mention going after Dementia Joe is a fairly obvious strategy.
Good! Donald Trump wasn't a politician, at least not at that point.
Good ol' Rob, as Trump calls him, is the standard politician. He's been gearing up for this and to quote Sundance (the best view of politics), "Them bugs are pretty good (not).".
The property crimes stat doesn't make any sense. Perhaps citizens have become so demoralized that they don't even bother reporting. Idk. Seems fishy.
It does seem counterintuitive.
And arguably underreporting could be a factor--which is itself a problem pertaining to crime. The police can't address crimes that go unreported, so if the public is as you say "demoralized" and inured to property crimes, then that, too, is an issue that must be address.
Something to consider: If I was committed to an ideology, or hostage to it, and I encountered inconvenient facts, I would hide those facts and/or re-categorize them. The last thing I would do is abandon my ideology.
And, imo, that's where we are at today.
So relying solely on 'facts' isn't always wise.
Just something to keep in mind.
Ideology is where we always begin.
Ideology is never where we can meet. Ideology does not work that way.
People are going to defend their ideology. They are going to advocate for their ideology. That is exactly as it should be.
But whether that ideology is human rights, civil liberties, libertarianism, or even--God forbid--fascism, socialism, statism, or any other flavor of authoritarianism, the way to advocate for an ideology in ways to which other people can connect is with the facts.
Robert F Kennedy Jr's. speech announcing his candidacy was extremely ideological, perhaps more so than DeSantis'. Yet the way to appraise what he is saying, the way for someone who does not share his ideology to interrogate his positions, is to start with the facts.
For myself, someone who tries hard to conceal inconvenient facts, or attempts to suppress inconvenient facts, is not someone who's going to be all that persuasive. Someone who is unable to respond to inconvenient facts while still remaining true to their ideology is certainly not going to be persuasive.
That's all well and good. But who are the gate keepers of the 'facts'? Who pays for the facts? Who measures them? Who categorizes and catalogs them? Who has access to them?
These aren't trivial questions. And the answers matter as much as the facts do.
These questions are only relevant when the answer to the last one is something other than "everyone".
If the data is available to everyone, then the focus rightly shifts to what's in the data. If the data is not available to everyone, then someone needs to be pushing hard on the question "why the hell not?"
Either you missed my broader point (my fault because it was implied rather than stated), or you understood it but reject it. That point being: In our Post Modern epoch Truth does not matter. Nor do facts. Unless, of course, they happen to champion Liberalism, Democracy, Progress, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. Otherwise, truth and facts be damned!
I'm surprised by this move. He's King of Florida. What was the rush? Why not let the Donald Trump ship sail? Why be put through that slug fest with him?
Timing.
He's a hot political commodity right now. COVID was a fairly easy way for a governor to make his bones, plus he got reelected so he's got the ultimate political endorsement right there.
If he waits out Trump and Trump loses in 2024, then he becomes a GOP scapegoat.
If he waits out Trump and Trump wins, by 2028 he could very easily be a fading political star.
Not to mention going after Dementia Joe is a fairly obvious strategy.
This is his best time to take the plunge.
Starting 40 points down. His handlers won't even let him do public events is Florida (his home state)!
And, if it has not been said, he has no chance against any Democratic candidate and their Dominion voting machines and ballot harvesting tactics.
I guess he can pray that Donald Trump will be ruled ineligible because of instigating an "insurrection."
He may win Florida, then again, he may not.
Donald Trump was even farther back in 2015, and he crushed the GOP field.
There's a whole lot of politics between now and November 2024. I make no predictions.
Good! Donald Trump wasn't a politician, at least not at that point.
Good ol' Rob, as Trump calls him, is the standard politician. He's been gearing up for this and to quote Sundance (the best view of politics), "Them bugs are pretty good (not).".