When I was in my much younger college days, there was an 80s heavy metal band called Twisted Sister, who had a mega-hit “We’re not gonna take it”. The band of my youth is now, like me, old and gray, and you can watch a short clip of the refrain here (or the younger full version here)”

This is the new theme song of the Trump and post-Trump version of the GOP, a version that is quite shocking to the progressives who believe that only they have the right to bully people on behalf of their view of the culture wars. But this new party is “not gonna take it–anymore.”

If you’re reading this, you’re probably well aware of the Florida bill preventing the teaching (indoctrination?) of young children about sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. The key language of the bill is this:

“Classroom instruction, by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”

This has been characterized by the left as the “Don’t say Gay” bill, and a huge, hateful attack on those children that live in families that have homosexual relationships at the centerpiece (e.g., two moms), or have struggles with gender identity. We don’t know what most of the conservative Floridians (and many independents) actually think about whether these issues should be broached with very young children, but polls seem to indicate that sizable majorities don’t trust the public school system to be doing this.

“When Americans are presented with the actual language of the new Florida law, it wins support by more than a two-to-one margin.” That’s from a new poll by Public Opinion Strategies. Overall, 61% of people said they supported the “don’t say gay” law, with 26% opposed. Even more notable is the breadth of that sentiment. Democratic voters in the poll support the law 55% to 29%. Among suburban voters, which could be a decisive group for the midterm elections, it’s 60% to 30%. Parents: 67% to 24%. Biden voters: 53% to 30%. Respondents who “know someone LGBTQ”: 61% to 28%. Those figures might come as a shock to Florida’s progressive activists, including those who happen to work at Walt Disney.

There is a strong incentive for political entrepreneurs to understand the public mood well, and arguably Ron DeSantis has the best political instincts around. Over the last two years he has attacked the Democratic consensus with gusto (especially on Covid), on issues where he seemingly was going to shown to be wrong, and yet, like a cat, he has always landed on his feet, standing on the defeated bodies of those who challenged him. There is a reason why he is the current favorite for 2024 if Mr. Trump is not in the mix. What we seem to see in Mr. DeSantis is what most Republicans were voting for in Donald Trump: someone who would stand up to the elite opinion that constantly belittled normal American values. Those defending even the worst aspects of Mr. Trump often did so from the perspective of “we need a fighter.” And Mr. DeSantis is picking his fights carefully, seemingly winning them all.

So we now have Disney’s overreaction in their capitulation to a subset of their employees in opposing Florida’s new bill precluding instruction per the language above, and Mr. DeSantis and the Florida legislature have just punched Mickey in the nose, for sticking it where it shouldn’t have gone. As a pretty libertarian kind of guy, I actually like the special arrangement Disney has had that enabled it to effectively be its own anarchist paradise, yet it was a crony-capitalist exception to what every other business has to do. It was no doubt much more effective and efficient in the delivery of public services for their area compared to what a government bureaucracy would have done. And yet those benefits flowed both ways, with Disney benefitting significantly compared to what a normal business would have.

Given the Republican Party’s long support of free markets and business generally, businesses have felt more able to embrace the left’s view of contentious issues, as conservatives would generally grumble but keep buying their product, whereas radical left groups would incessantly protest and harass corporations. Given the differential public pressure, it was natural that the trend would be in favor of more business support toward liberal values. But the stark acceleration in the last few years is no doubt amplified by the competitive pressures for hiring scarce younger labor talent, which solidly skews left, and in many cases, very hard left. Disney tried its best to stay out of the Florida issue, but Craven Capitalism is the norm these days, with just the slightest of employee pressure (ignoring the many Disney employees who wanted them to stay neutral) enough to force them to completely reverse course and attack the DeSantis-led effort. But Disney and others are not catching the public’s mood well, and Mr. DeSantis is saying “we’re not gonna take it–anymore!”

Part of what has emboldened DeSantis (and other semi-populist Republicans) is the dramatic overreach of the progressive left; indeed, quite a number of key Disney leaders openly say they have the intent of indoctrinating young children.

Make no mistake, when you start coming for their children, mama bears are no longer rationally ignorant–they are going to fight like crazy for their kids. You can say “we don’t teach CRT in school,” but if the mama bear in Virginia sees CRT as the analytic framework for some curriculum, they’re going to come after those politicians pushing that agenda. When schoolteachers are found teaching 1st graders about masturbation, the mama bears (and papa bears) are going to come out in force. These issues may be much more isolated than social media leads us to believe, but then, bills like that in Florida ought not generate much discussion–if this is not part of the agenda. And yet, here we are in the culture wars.

And it is a war–these are not small issues when there are schools that are encouraging vulnerable teenagers to not tell parents about their gender dysphoria issues, that the parents need to “earn the right” to be told about something fundamentally affecting their child’s life. In war time, you know there are some ugly things going to happen as combat has collateral damage. In this case, I share the concern over government attacking Disney for its free speech. And yet if the only thing that is being harmed is a unique special privilege that no other business gets in the first place, then the benefits of large corporations perhaps learning to “count the cost” may indeed be worth it. This is war, and some people aren’t going to take it, anymore.