In one term as Governor, Ron DeSantis has resurrected the state of Florida.
America’s Governor has turned the Sunshine State into a model for all other states to follow.
And now DeSantis is smiling ear to ear after learning about this new ranking.
Freedom in the 50 states
Every year, the libertarian CATO Institute ranks all 50 American states in a variety of freedom categories.
Along with an overall freedom ranking, CATO also looks at things like: fiscal freedom, economic freedom, personal freedom, regulatory freedom, lawsuit freedom, land-use freedom, educational freedom, occupational freedom, health freedom, labor freedom, gun freedom, and more.
Under Governor Ron DeSantis’ leadership, Florida performed particularly well in CATO’s 2022 rankings.
Florida receives top marks
In the just-released rankings, the Sunshine State took the top-spot in three categories, including fiscal policies, economic policies, and cable/telecom policies.
It also ranked second in educational freedom, largely on the back of DeSantis’ Parental Rights in Education law.
The only state that ranked higher than Florida in the education category was Arizona, which has state-wide Education Savings Accounts that follow students, allowing parents to decide how their education tax dollars should be spent on their children.
Those high category rankings were enough for CATO to name Florida the second most overall free state in the union – behind only New Hampshire, the Live Free or Die State.
Florida’s high rankings are ironic given California Governor Gavin Newsom just purchased airtime in Florida markets trying to convince Floridians to move to California where they’d supposedly experience more “freedom” – like keeping your thermostat above 78 degrees and not being able to charge your electric vehicle the government forced you to buy after banning gas powered vehicles.
According to CATO, California ranks 48th out of the 50 states in overall freedom.
And that near-bottom ranking is despite the Golden State taking home the top spots in the marriage and cannabis categories.
But under Newsom, California ranks dead last in regulatory and labor freedom, and second to last in both occupational and fire-arm freedom.
DeSantis vs. Biden
DeSantis took to social media to celebrate Florida’s freedom rankings.
The high marks for economic and fiscal freedom in the Sunshine State under Gov. DeSantis really come as no big surprise.
There is no state income tax for individuals in Florida.
Meanwhile, Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to a historic low of 2.7 percent in July – 0.8% lower than the national unemployment rate under President Joe Biden.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) July 28, 2022
Biden and DeSantis are potential opponents in a 2024 Presidential election matchup.
DeSantis has been more than willing to compare his economic resume against the President’s.
“U.S. GDP dropped for a second quarter in a row, which is the definition of a recession,” DeSantis tweeted last month. “While the Biden Administration and its legacy media cheerleaders are trying to gaslight people about the economic slowdown, we have seen Biden’s poor economic stewardship and the negative impact it has had on families.”
