Florida is one of the fastest-growing states in the entire country, but just because Americans are attracted to the Sunshine State for its high quality of life does not necessarily mean new residents are going to vote for the conservative policies that made it that way in the first place. On Tuesday morning, Gov. Ron Desantis’s (R-FL) press secretary Christina Pushaw expressed her frustration with a progressive on Twitter for announcing his decision to move to Florida despite the state having “worse politics.”
In an essay titled, “The American Dream is on Life Support in the Bay Area,” Hari Raghavan announced he was moving his family away from San Francisco for eight big reasons, abbreviated below, and found in full here:
1. It’s hard to feel safe
2. The political animus, bureaucracy, and incompetence
3. As a result, the environment is hostile to business — small business most of all
4. Constant reminders that tech and success are unwelcome
5. It is exhausting to live here
6. You have to believe in where your taxes are being spent
7. Virtue signaling over virtue seeking; neuroticism over optimism.
8. Add it all up: merit, achievement, and success are becoming a lost cause
Because of those reasons, Raghavan astutely argues that the American Dream as he sees it — which is a rather conservative view of the American Dream — can no longer be attained in the Bay Area:
This is a bold statement, so I’ll start with my definition of the American Dream: that you have mobility and opportunity, that you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps, that with hard work, luck, and smarts, anyone can succeed.
On the one hand, I think any rational individual would acknowledge that privilege has made for a rigged system. But on the other hand, in the spirit of deconstructing those imbalances, we’ve dismantled upward mobility for everyone — not just the underprivileged.
Instead of a definition of equity that raises the floor (a rising tide floats all boats), we’ve adopted a definition that institutes a ceiling on achievement: if everyone can’t have it, no one can have it. We’ve adopted the philosophy of a petulant grade school bully. This is an unfortunate trend across the country, but it really feels like California and the Bay Area specifically are at the bleeding edge of this philosophy.
Despite understanding that progressivism has failed in San Francisco and other blue states, Raghavan lamented on Twitter that his new home of Miami has “Worse politics (from our perspective), its own superficiality, weather issues, critters, guns… but lots to love about food, warmth, service industry, vibrancy.”
To that extent — via her personal Twitter — Pushaw slammed Raghavan for his “incredible virtue signaling.”
“You’re fleeing California to live in a conservative state because the policies here are better,” she added. “If you truly thought Florida’s politics are bad for you and your family, you could move to Denver, Seattle, Portland, or any other Democrat-run area.”
“I try to be welcoming to everyone who moves to Florida legally, I am from California myself,” she continued. “But it really is frustrating to see Democrats destroy California and move on to Florida, where they vote for the same idiotic & evil policies they fled in horror.”
In a statement given to The Daily Wire, Pushaw emphasized that most Florida residents seem to understand that GOP policies have helped the state’s success, but added that she will continue to work to prevent transplants from turning the state blue:
Based on the info about voter registration that is publicly available, it’s safe to assume most of the people who fled Blue lockdown states for a better life in Florida understand why they had to leave their home states — and will not vote for the same policies that destroyed cities like San Francisco and New York.
With hundreds of thousands of new arrivals this year, Florida has more registered Republicans than Democrats for the first time in modern history. Most Floridians, whether newly arrived or lifelong residents, appreciate Governor DeSantis’ commitment to law and order, economic opportunity, and freedom.
As a transplant from Southern California, I certainly do, and I will continue fighting to ensure that the progressive policies that destroyed my home state do not gain a foothold in Florida.
Pushaw’s comments echo Florida’s Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who warned new residents that if they voted as they did “up north,” then Florida would lose what makes it such a great state.
“So we only want to share one thing as you move in hundreds a day,” Judd said at a news conference celebrating DeSantis’ newly signed anti-rioting law. “Welcome to Florida. But don’t register to vote and vote the stupid way you did up north, or you’ll get what they got.”
This piece was updated after publication to include a comment from Christina Pushaw.