OPINION

Why I Prefer DeSantis

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

America has never been an absolutely perfect country.  We've always had some bad people. There's always been thieves in America, we've always had murderers, we've always had adulterers and sodomites and liars.  There has always been an underclass of lawbreakers; no society in human history has ever escaped that.  It is true of America as well.   And that is why we have to have government.

Our Founding Fathers knew all of this, of course, and created a government to secure our rights, to protect our natural God-given rights from those who would encroach upon them.  As James Madison said, “if all men were angels, we wouldn’t need government.”  But unfortunately, not all men ARE angels, and in order to protect us angels against the demons that exist, some government is necessary.  It’s the way of the world.   

As I have been writing extensively in my articles on Townhall, the more virtuous a society is, the less government it needs.  This is the testimony of all wise people down through history.  I quoted James Madison, Edmund Burke, and Benjamin Franklin in a recent series of articles on “No Freedom Without Virtue,” but it's an obvious truism that the more virtuous a people are, the less they're going to need government.  The virtuous take care of themselves.  They won't abuse others, they won't steal, lie, commit adultery, sodomy, or murder other people, etc. Virtuous people don't do those things, and for most of American history, that is the kind of people the majority of Americans citizens were—a virtuous citizenship that didn't need much government. But that has definitely been changing in the last 60 years or so.  And not for the better.

America has moved decidedly away from its traditional Judeo-Christian moral foundation.  The country has more and more rejected God, this movement especially being led by the Democratic Party, the mainstream media, andacademia. Being led by these elements of society, the country has become increasingly debauched, progressively decadent and “unvirtuous,” and thus in need of bigger, more intrusive, government.  The Democratic Party has built anentire coalition basically on evil. Just look at what the Democratic Party has recently given us.  Some examples.

There is that occurrence within the Senate with the homosexual making a pornographic video.  This is utterly disgusting to any decent, virtuous human being.  Why would he even THINK of doing such a thing, that he could get away with it?  One reason—the Democratic Party.   There was theDemocratic Virginia state Senate candidate who streamed live sex acts online.  Then somebody—and we all know who—brought cocaine into the White House.  Remember the White House “transgender party” where some pervert exposed his fake breasts?  What kind of moral atmosphere would encourage people to commit such repulsive acts?  The answer is simple:  The Democratic Party. 

Abortion, child mutilation, rampant crime, illegal invasion of the country—all of this created by an immoral environment supported by the Democratic Party—and too much of the Republican.  We are getting more and more examples of it in the Democratic Party and the Republican Party isn't much better.  We have left the virtuous traditions that made this country great, and have increasingly turned the nation into a great big sewer of decadence and depravity.  Virtue is outmoded—and outvoted. 

America’s problem is not political, folks, it is moral.  All the politics in the world won’t save us if we don’t stop this degradation, if we don’t crush this immorality that is destroying America from the ground up.  A rotten people will produce a rotten country, and politics won’t save that.  We are rotten at the core of the apple—Washington, D.C.—and that rot is spreading to consume the whole nation. 

Now, maybe I’m 100% wrong about this, but I support Ron DeSantis because it appears to me that he is a better human being than Donald Trump. I think Mr. Trump did an outstanding job, for the most part, as President. He was easily the best President America has had since Ronald Reagan, and if he wins the Republican nomination, as it appears that he will, I will support him. I supported him in 2016 and 2020, and I'll back him again if he's the nominee. He will certainly be better than Joe Biden or anybody the Democrats nominate.   But I am not confident in Donald Trump as a moral, virtuous person. He does not have a history as a paragon of moral virtue, and we need exemplars of morality leading our country today. His recent attack on Chip Roy was revolting. Again, I may be completely wrong about this but—from Thailand—Ron DeSantis appears to me to be a better, more moral human being. And that is the main reason why I support Ron DeSantis over Donald Trump.   

DeSantis, historically as governor, is also very conservative, perhaps even more trustworthy in his conservatism than Trump.  I certainly approve of many things Mr. Trump says, but again, politics are empty and vain without moral virtue behind them.  And I simply believe DeSantis would be a better moral leader than Donald Trump. That is what America desperately needs. We need leaders who will point us back to virtue, to God, to the traditional Judeo-Christian moral standard upon which this country was founded.  Otherwise, the country is finished.  I do not believe Donald Trump is the person to do that.  He had four years to do it and didn’t.   It appears to me the best choice we have for the restoration of required virtue is Mr. DeSantis.  And that is the main reason I support him.

I may be dreaming.  DeSantis may be as rotten as most other politicians seem to be.  Trump would no doubt do some good things as President.  But will he lead the country back to virtue?  That is extremely doubtful.

Frankly, I’m not sure anybody can.

Check my substack mklewis929.substack.com  for recent articles and podcasts.  Lots more on the Founding Fathers there.  Follow me on Twitter:   @thailandmkl.   Read my western novels, Whitewater , River Bend,  Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma all available on Amazon.  And God Bless America!