Republican 2024 presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touted his victories over "woke" ideology in Florida during a stump campaign speech in Tennessee on Saturday night.
"At the end of the day, the left's religion is woke ideology and leftist ideology," DeSantis said during the 46th Annual Tennessee Republican Party Statesman's Dinner in Nashville. "They want to establish that as our country's orthodoxy, so they would say you have the right to practice your faith, say as a Christian, but only insofar as it doesn't conflict with their agenda. That is not religious liberty. That is toleration."
In addition to religion, DeSantis said that the rights of parents are also under attack by the left's ideology, pushing him and the Republican State Legislature to pass laws ensuring parents have a say in their children's education.
"We also see the family and parents are under assault by leftist ideologues," he said. "Parents have a fundamental right to direct the education and upbringing of their children. That's the law in Florida. That needs to be the law in every state in this country."
He said the state "had to take a very strong stance" against critical race and gender theory being taught in K-12 public schools.
"We had to stand up against critical race theory, and we have eliminated that from our K through 12 schools," he said. "We stood up against gender ideology in our schools, it is wrong to tell a second grader that she may have been born in the wrong body or that her gender is a choice, yet that is what the left wants to impose in schools across this country."
DeSantis said that despite being told he could not stand up to the Disney corporate empire in the state, he took on the "800-pound gorilla" when it opposed his efforts.
"I did not take an oath of office to subcontract out my leadership to a woke corporation based in Burbank, California," he said. "That's not leadership. That's not what we're doing. We're going to put our kids first."
He said that you not only have to be right on the policies you enact but must be willing to deal with the inevitable "blowback" from the left and corporate America to lead the country out of its decline.
"You can be right on policy, and, Lord knows you have to be right on policy, because what the Democrats want to do is disastrous," he said. "But being right on the issues is not enough. In this day and age, when you step forward and you stand for what's right, and you speak the truth. Whether you're a governor like me, whether you're a school board member, whether you're a parent who's concerned about your kid's education, you are going to face blowback."
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