Throughout this election cycle, candidate after candidate has championed the growing movement of democratic socialism. It doesn’t help that this increasingly vocal movement is backed by roughly 240 Democratic Socialists of America chapters across the country — nearly two dozen of which are, unsurprisingly, in California. But the real surprise is that the state with the second-largest number of DSA chapters is the Sunshine State.
Thirteen DSA chapters stretch across Florida, from Pensacola down to Miami-Dade County. A state that has become a beacon for free-market solutions is also emerging as fertile ground for the DSA agenda. Since COVID, Florida has proven time and again that it is no place for the socialist movement.
Except, apparently, now.
Florida is not immune to DSA-backed candidates looking to overthrow moderate and conservative incumbents. Those 13 chapters highlight one thing: The DSA intends to become a major political player in the Free State of Florida.
One of the most concerning aspects of the modern socialism movement is that many young Americans who embrace democratic socialism seem to lack a concrete understanding of what the ideology actually entails. To the average young American, socialism sounds appealing. It promises a utopia where everyone works toward some subjective notion of the “collective good.” Unfortunately, that vision of social collectivism hinges on one fundamental premise: that prosperity can be achieved by redistributing wealth; taking from those who have and giving to those who don’t.
The problem is that people are not collectively perfect. Human nature is inherently self-interested, and no political system can simply wish that reality away.
This system has been tried and has failed… repeatedly.
Venezuela, for good reason, is frequently cited as a cautionary tale of socialism. Few examples better illustrate the devastating fall from prosperity that can occur when economic freedom gives way to government control. When a nation blessed with extraordinary natural resources and economic potential squanders those advantages, it should come as no surprise when it becomes a textbook example of what not to do.
The seeds of Venezuela’s decline were planted long before its ultimate collapse. Under President Carlos Andres Perez, the country nationalized its oil industry and established the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela. Decades later, Hugo Chavez accelerated the country’s downward spiral by further stifling private enterprise, expanding government control, and disregarding market forces. Nicolas Maduro then compounded the damage by continuing Chavez’s disastrous policies, driving the economy deeper into ruin, and cracking down on free speech as Venezuelans took to the streets in protest.
The common denominator? Too much power concentrated in the hands of one government after another, with corruption and economic mismanagement following close behind.
Free healthcare, defeating corporate bogeymen, rent control — it all sounds like helping the less fortunate by putting everyone on equal footing. But these promises come with a cost that extends far beyond dollars and cents. As the government assumes greater control over healthcare, housing, finances, and other basic necessities, individuals surrender more freedom to make decisions for themselves. And the hardest pill to swallow is that the government promising to solve everyone’s problems is often the one that ultimately fails you.
History is filled with examples of government failing the people they were supposed to serve. After all, our nation was born out of the rejection of government overreach.
Florida did not achieve its success by giving socialism a chance. Quite the opposite. Florida has become a national model for what is possible when policymakers prioritize economic freedom, individual opportunity, and policies that allow businesses and families to thrive. Those successes were not inevitable, and they are certainly not guaranteed to last.
THE KEY DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA AGENDA ITEM TO KNOW AS MIDTERM ELECTIONS APPROACH
The growing DSA movement is a reminder that defending those principles is never a finished job. While it may feel repetitive to revisit socialism’s disastrous history, each new generation needs to understand why economic freedom matters and what is at stake when government power goes unchecked. This is not a question of whether we can try socialism again and achieve a different outcome. As the old adage goes, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Other nations have repeatedly demonstrated the dangers of concentrating too much economic power in the hands of the government. Florida should not volunteer to become the next experiment.
We’ve worked too hard to become the Free State of Florida to gamble that freedom away.
Steve Crisafulli is a scholar in residence at the James Madison Institute and also serves as chairman of the Republican State Leadership Committee. He served as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 2014-16.