Throughout Friday, the White House made an incoherent mess of its news about COVID in America today.  Eventually, I lost track of whether the White House wants to mandate masks, vaccines, lockdowns, or any combination of those three.  First, it was yes; then it was no because we misunderstood a study; and then it was just nonsense, capped by Joe Biden eating food off his own face.  Meanwhile, in Florida, a clean, composed, and eminently sane Governor Ron DeSantis made it clear that while he's in office, Florida will be a free, traditionally American state.

DeSantis didn't just make a nice, puffy speech about liberty in his state.  Instead, he signed an executive order protecting children from masks:

He signed an executive order Friday saying that making children wear masks 'may lead to negative health and societal ramifications ... could inhibit breathing, lead to the collection of dangerous impurities and adversely affect communications in the classroom and student performance.'

The governor's executive order also said that 'there is no statistically significant evidence to suggest that counties with mask requirements have feared any better than those without.'

His edict, which is effective immediately, also stressed that 'all parents have the right to make healthcare decisions for their minor children,' - such as whether to mask them up. 

Speaking at a Cape Coral event hours before signing the order, the GOP lawmaker said: 'We want to be able to choose, and we want to be able to teach our children without our faces covered. We think that's the most fair way to do it.'

The decision about whether a child should wear a mask, he said, is one "that falls squarely within the concord of this Parents' Bill of Rights that I signed."  And, putting his actions in alignment with his values, DeSantis said his kids haven't worn masks and will not wear masks.

Not only does DeSantis's stance regarding children and masks align with the science — masks harm kids, who are at minimal risk of COVID — but it also aligns with liberty.  Even as the Biden administration makes plain its desperation to impose nationwide vaccine and mask mandates, DeSantis is espousing limited government.

Moreover, at the same signing ceremony, DeSantis said he will not reimpose any COVID restrictions despite the delta variant's arrival in America: "In Florida, there will be no lockdowns, there will be no school closures, there will be no restrictions and no mandates in the state of Florida."

So far, the data show that he's right not to panic.  While there are more cases of COVID, the death rate is de minimus (at least according to the chart that Bing displays when one search "COVID mortality United States:

Whether this is because the delta variant is less deadly, because more people have some protection from vaccines, because the most vulnerable have already passed on, or because doctors are finally treating patients before they're on death's door (something made almost impossible during Trump's presidency) is less clear.  What's certain, though, is that we're now seeing something similar to an early flu season, an annual deadly disease that is never treated as a dangerous pandemic justifying increased federal powers.

DeSantis represents the traditional view of the relationship between Americans and their government.  The Biden administration represents the left's effort to turn America into a nation without a Constitution or individual liberties.  Instead, it will start out as a soft(ish) tyranny and end up as a very hard one.  Venezuela is the logical endpoint of the leftists' destruction of the American economy on their path to total power.

For Americans, it's time to decide: do we allow the federal government to expand endlessly, along with the governments of various Democrat-run states, or do we just say NO?

Image: Gov. Ron DeSantis says “no” to masks.  YouTube screen grab.

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