Let's do it the Florida way

by Emanuele Mastrangelo

The midterm elections in the United States have been surprising. Beyond the opacity of the results, on which weighed a plethora of voting methods that diverged from place to place and disturbing doubts about the reliability of postal and electronic systems (which more than a few would like to introduce in Italy as well...), what is striking is the disconnect of the final result from the factual reality of the States' problems.

The "red wave" that many predicted was not there. Although nearly 70 percent of Americans have a harsh judgment of the direction the country took under the last Dem administration, voters did not reward the Republican opposition to Biden. In addition, in determining the non-defeat of one of the worst administrations in American history, a series of ideological arguments dictated by the globalist agenda and far removed from the most pressing material problems of U.S. society and the U.S. as a world superpower: abortion and "new rights" seem to have weighed in.

Indeed, providing an unexpected crutch for the "lame duck" has literally come out of nowhere a segment of the electorate - that of "Generation Z" - galvanized by global agenda issues on fourth-wave feminism and LGBT "rights." Voters between the ages of 18 and 23 who put issues such as "gender-fluid" bathrooms or the guarantee of being able to have an abortion up to a minute before giving birth at the top of their concerns. Unreached in the policy debate are the very serious issues opened by the Biden administration: the management of the so-called health care "emergency," with vaccination requirements appearing in many liberal-leaning states; the war between Ukraine and Russia; inflation and the crisis in the automotive fuel sector; the gradual isolation of the U.S. on the world stage (with the historic and strategic Saudi ally in the process of freeing itself from the cumbersome star-spangled patron, the expansion of the BRICS bloc and the end of the dollar's monopoly in international markets); and finally, the never-so-likely risk of a nuclear war with Russia.

The "Generation Z" vote was thus entirely ideological, and went so far as to have the liberal constituency bring 20 times as many transgender people into the Capitol as the actual percentage of this sexual minority in U.S. society and succeed in getting a ... deceased candidate elected. Better a dead Democrat than a Republican in the legislature, in short.

The "Generation Z" has thus lived up to the memes that would have that "Z" as short for Zombies: fanatical militant kids of the buzzwords provided by social media, ultra-liberal TV programs, and a faculty and university body totalitarianly aligned with woke ideology: "I support the current thing," whether it is mandatory vaccination, sending weapons to Ukraine, or "transgender rights."

Bringing the clash to the terrain of abortion, a subject as heartfelt as ever in America, with the Supreme Court ruling and subsequent developments in several states, thus seems to have penalized the Republican Party. But the "seems" is in order, because while it is true that in many cases the call to arms on "rights" has indeed mobilized the liberal electorate and particularly young "Z" voters, on the contrary - where there has been a patient and tireless campaign to galvanize public opinion in the opposite direction - the opposite result has been achieved: in Texas and especially in Florida, voters wholeheartedly supported the Republican leadership, which not only succeeded in imposing its political agenda (security , personal freedom against health dictatorship, freedom of families on educational issues etc. ) but has also managed to challenge and beat the liberals on the ideological field that has seen them victorious elsewhere. Even, in the case of Florida, the open clash between Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney (which has long since become one of the battleships of the woke front) proved devastating for the Mickey Mouse company, which finally had all the tax privileges it had enjoyed for decades in the Sunshine State wiped out.

Ron DeSantis has thus demonstrated that "starving the beast" is possible and that the position rents enjoyed by organizations, NGOs, corporations and individuals in the name of LGBT ideology are by no means untouchable. The outcome of the Florida elections corroborates how an open-field confrontation with the globalist agenda and woke ideology is not only possible and can be won, but that it is also the only possible path in the medium to long term for a conservative, national front. Ignoring the issues posed by the global agenda or pandering to them in the hope that they will be perceived by the voters as secondary in the face of seemingly more cogent topics - such as inflation, foreign policy or security - is ultimately losing, because the ability the liberal front has to mold the consciences of the very young generation is obvious.