Politics

“Restore Sanity” Then and Now

A slogan born in parody resurfaces as a policy imperative

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on May 24, 2023, with a bullet-pointed statement heavy on re- words: Reestablish, return, replace, reinvigorate, return, reverse, re-constitutionalize. (The last one had some well-informed people scratching their heads. It apparently means “change the federal government to conform with the U.S. Constitution as it was written in 1789” — a transformation that cannot be accomplished without Congressional approval and a lot of wishful thinking.)

Lately, one of the re- words in the announcement — restore — has been elevated to center stage in DeSantis’s public statements and appearances. What does DeSantis pledge to restore? Not civil rights. Not progressive taxation. Not antitrust laws. No, DeSantis wants to restore sanity.

“Cities like San Francisco that have embraced leftist policies have destroyed the quality of life of their citizens and sparked an exodus of productive people to greener pastures,” DeSantis tweeted on June 20, invoking one of the Right’s favorite West Coast targets. What to do about it? “We need to restore sanity across this country.” (Emphasis added.)

The two-word RESTORE SANITY slogan has also appeared as a backdrop to recent DeSantis speeches.