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‘The Courage to Be Free’: A Book Review
“The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is to be gravely regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite. It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system – ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.” — President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address, January 17, 1961
This is a quote that Gov. Ron DeSantis chose to place in his new book, The Courage To Be Free, and sums up the contents of this book.
I happened to catch the last few minutes of an interview by Mark Levin of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Levin commented that he read the book and found it was not your typical political read. He said to DeSantis that the governor doesn’t attack his competitors in the upcoming race in this book. It is a snapshot of how he grew up and how he came to make the choices he’s made. He wants to give people a picture of who he is — as a person, a governor, a husband and father, and a candidate for president of the United States. If Levin was impressed, I wanted to read it, and I am also impressed.
The title The Courage To Be Free is a book about a boy, born and raised in Florida, of working-class parents in a small town. He dreamed of being a baseball player and achieved a rise to the minor leagues. His parents stressed good values and a strong education like so many, and DeSantis went on to the Ivy League worlds of Yale and Harvard, completely out of his element from small-town Florida. He talks about his introduction to the elite world of privilege and liberalism. He worked while in school and became an attorney. Then 9/11 happened, and he felt the call to serve. He became a Naval officer and enlisted to go to Iraq. Ron DeSantis’ journey into politics and as Governor of Florida is a story that goes way beyond politics.
While reading it, right from the first chapter, I felt a validation that I am not crazy. In just the last few years, I really lived through a pandemic that changed the world. I have witnessed my prosperous country during the Trump administration be reduced to high inflation, record debt, supply chain and fuel shortages and escalating prices, the indoctrination of young children and teens being spoon-fed a distorted racial and sexual toxic soup, broken borders, surging crime and drug use, a new European war, a disastrous exit from a prior war, low motivation to work, and that is just for starters. What happened? How did a candidate that hardly ever left his basement win the presidency, and now here we are!?
This book, no matter your political preferences, is a history lesson of what doesn’t work in the real world, and a blueprint for what is good and what works for our country or even just your state. I have been a resident of Florida since 2003. I am surrounded by new neighbors who have fled the East and West Coasts. All during the pandemic, I heard visitors in the grocery stores whispering it’s so normal here! Everyone is so happy – everything is open! People kept their jobs. They had access to alternative treatments. We didn’t “defund the police.” Kids learned and played sports. It didn’t occur to me that other states did not have this normalcy.
His chosen title is spot on. The courage to be free (or not) has never been more urgent, as we witness a rush into AI, the organized sidewinding of our former president as he campaigns for another run, one bad decision after another coming out of the Oval Office as we spiral into uncontrollable debt, yet courage remains. This is a book that will reinforce your resolve that it is possible to turn things around if you say no to bad policies, vote with your feet, hold policymakers accountable, have faith in yourself, your fellow citizens, and our country and its founding laws.
There are still people with common sense and good business skills who can govern and bring us back from the disaster we are now in. This may or not be DeSantis’ time to be president. Trump still holds a tremendous lead and remains very popular. We’ll see from the debates what other candidates can offer. No matter who you support, this book will, at the very least, inspire that all is not lost, and will give you courage, even in the middle of what seems to be insurmountable odds by unscrupulous characters who distort truth for power.
I leave you with this final quote that DeSantis offers in his opening pages:
“Courage is rightly considered the foremost of virtues, for upon it, all others depend.” — Winston Churchill
Published in General
I had no idea at all of DeSantis’ background. He has had a great deal of appeal for me because of how he handled the COVID situation. My tiny isolated county in No Calif also handled the COVID matter rather loosely.
So at times, I too heard people saying “It is so normal here.” That was on account of various hardware/lumberyard businesses, feed stores. Plus independently owned cafes and bar and grills. People in rural areas totally understand that all of us have immune systems that offer up much wonderful protections so if combined with Vit D from the sun, our bodies can handle an infection.
I am wide open to all candidates. Perhaps this is because in 2016 I decided not to vote for Trump, because I’d been influenced by the media insisting he was racist.
I regret my acting that way. The election in 2024 is still one year and 11 weeks away. I do wish the Trump team would not go negative on DeSantis and vice verse.Why can’t each side simply play up their strengths?
It was pleasant to hear that his autobiography is about his life and times, and was not used to attack Trump. Good for him!
Apparently DeSantis knew he was running for president even before he ran for governor in 2022. And it appears that Trump knew it too.
Great comment Carol – and here’s something I know you will enjoy reading….it’s Naomi Wolf’s recent post. She was invited to a private Trump gathering by the Jewish community to give Trump an award. Her conditioning she said, made her squeamish about attending, as she didn’t like him either, but decided to go. Her revealing story is worth reading:
https://naomiwolf.substack.com/p/on-hearing-president-trump-in-person?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=676930&post_id=136073363&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
That is an excellant essay. For example The observation about the class-bassed dog whistles used against Trump is spot on.
It seems that over the last year several influencers have turned their backs on the idea that Trump is a vile stupid and crass individual who is dog whistling his way through history hoping to incite a White Supremacist take over of America.
Russell Brand now falls in this category. Jimmy Dore has partially been in this group since 2017. I have to hand it to him: even back when still identifying as a liberal, he has never been concerned about whether the cancel culture Dems would cancel him. Whenever he wanted to talk about achievements that he noticed Trump making, he went ahead and talked about them.
It is good to know that Wolf has joined this club.
End of Part One
Part Two
I am halfway through her piece.
Immediately I was struck by how much she likes the Donald Trump who she witnessed in person.
Apparently this Trump is more human, less irritated looking, less pompous and remarkably less orange than the Trump she had experienced through the filter of Lefty propaganda rags.
Apparently it never dawned on her that photoshop and similar techniques have been used to taint the way that the guy looks. I noticed from Jan 2017 on that the way he looked and moved and sounded was one way when I viewed him live at events and that his appearance was a full 180 degrees different from the way the odd photo of the week published by the establishment portrayed him as being.
Yes – he was never that orange – haha!!
I just want to thank you all for your comments so far and to tell you that this book is an important read beyond DeSantis. I don’t know what will happen with 2024 elections, with the Trump indictments or the debates or candidates.
I will tell you that DeSantis put together this book to help us understand what each governor, state, citizen and our country, is experiencing – and it is a full-on assault. Familiarize yourself with the issues that Florida has gone through, and the country in the last four years (I know you have, but the media is hoping you have a short memory), and remember while these debates and 2024 commence. God bless Trump -DeSantis, JFK Jr. and all those that are standing against the slings and arrows for all of our sakes!