In Brief: DeSantis Is Right to Fight Disney
Woke corporations that wage war on families and target children should expect to be targeted in turn by GOP lawmakers.
As we noted Friday, Florida’s legislature sent a bill to Governor Ron DeSantis stripping Disney of its special tax status in Florida. It’s not just special tax status, either — Disney essentially operates its own “independent special district” within the state of Florida. There’s debate over whether that’s the right strategy for Florida Republicans. John Daniel Davidson, for one, says it absolutely is and it should be a model nationwide.
Disney is reaping its just reward for inserting itself into the political debate about Florida’s parental rights bill, which Disney lost in spectacular fashion. Republican governors and lawmakers across the country should be taking notes.
This is how you deal with big corporations that try to throw around their weight and force woke policies on voters and families. You punish them, not just because they deserve it, but also, as Voltaire famously put it, pour encourager les autres.
Disney was no doubt betting that DeSantis and Florida Republicans would do what Republicans have almost always done in the face of woke corporate pressure: simply back down.
Davidson lists examples: South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem on a “transgender” sports bill. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson on a “transgender” treatment bill. Even then-Indiana Governor Mike Pence on his state’s religious liberty law.
Since when do Republicans actually wield power against the enemies of their voters and defend ordinary families from powerful woke corporations? Almost never.
By breaking that mold, DeSantis has set a clear example that other GOP governors and state lawmakers should follow. If a corporation like Disney wants to insert itself in a political battle that has nothing to do with its business — in this case, a fight over whether to prohibit classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity to children in kindergarten through the third grade — then it should be prepared to pay a heavy cost.
Simply put, corporations that do what Disney did, publicly lobbying against the rights of parents to have a say in whether their young children are exposed to sexually explicit subject matter, have marked themselves out as enemies of a free people and should be treated as such. If Disney wants to make war on families in Florida, then the proper role of a democratically elected government is to go after Disney with every power at its disposal.
Davidson concludes with a rally cry:
For many years now, only one side in this war has been crying “no quarter” before every battle. The other side has pretended not to believe it and surrendered time and again, with predictable results. Finally, DeSantis and Florida Republicans have taken the enemy at their word, and responded in kind. Republicans everywhere should go and do likewise.
