Robert McClure: Momentum & mandate — Florida should lead the way

For those who regularly exercise at a gym, your favorite day of the year is likely February 17.

This is the day when, according to the “experts” who collect that type of data, 80% of Americans who joined the local gym for their New Year’s resolution fall off the wagon, and the treadmill is once again available.

The reasons for this are almost entirely psychological. It’s called momentum. Momentum is defined as the strength or force gained by motion or a series of actions, and it is extraordinarily difficult to regain once it is lost.

Just ask those telling themselves every Sunday evening in March that, come tomorrow, it’s back in the gym.

This thought has been sitting with me over the past couple of weeks as policymakers and the Governor, all of whom I am big fans of, consider the timing, practicality, and wisdom of convening a Special Legislative Session to tackle some of our nation’s most pressing challenges. Yes, you read that right; I said nation. While traditionally, our legislature convenes the regular session in early March (in an odd-numbered year) to debate and pass laws impacting Floridians, we stand right now at a unique juncture in our history.

With his election, President Donald Trump accomplished what only one other U.S. President in history has – returning to the White House after a prior electoral defeat. That accomplishment, coupled with the unprecedented energy in the run-up to his inauguration, has created momentum for sweeping reforms that can chart a new course in our nation’s progress. That progress requires sober-minded policy not just from Congress but in state legislatures across the country. And there is no Governor in the United States, and no legislature in the United States, better equipped than Florida’s to be the wind that keeps momentum going.

I often speak of Florida as a beacon of liberty and prosperity for the rest of the country. Over the course of the past several Legislative Sessions, our Governor, legislative leaders, and policymakers, under withering national criticism, have accomplished more than any other state in my lifetime. They did this by being single-minded and courageous in pursuit of conservative principles and not wavering as momentum built. They rode it and kept going, reform after reform after reform.

The country pays attention to Florida, and this past November, they voted for a much-needed course correction in Washington. Voters, rightly, in my opinion, decided that the country could not weather another moment of the policies of radical leftism destroying what we all know to be the greatest experiment in self-governance in human history. Driving the point home, Floridians voted for Trump in increasing margins each of the three times he has appeared on the ballot. Trump won Florida by 113,000 votes in 2016, 371,000 votes in 2020, and 1.4 MILLION votes in 2024.

That is more than a win; it is a mandate.

In the flurry of executive orders Trump signed shortly after taking the oath of office, he sent a message not just to every American but to every Governor and state Legislature that we cannot waste a single minute of the momentum we have. There is no state better positioned to not only answer that call but answer it immediately than Florida.

No leaders in the country are better equipped to build upon that momentum than Gov. Ron DeSantis, Speaker Danny Perez, and President Ben Albritton. They should heed the President’s call to act and do so now. The risks of inaction are just too great.

I recognize that we are only a few short weeks away from the start of the 2025 regular session. I also acknowledge that once the Legislative Session train leaves the station, it tends to take on a life of its own.

I have seen 21 of them in my years as CEO of JMI, and not one has passed in which I was not surprised or shocked by something. In any other ordinary year, well, those are the breaks, and I truly value the wisdom of a 60-day window for enacting laws. However, at this truly extraordinary point in history, I admit it is a risk I hope our policymakers do not take. I encourage our legislative leadership to see the opportunity before us as historic, not just for Florida but for the country. I encourage you also to recognize that as strong as the momentum may be, it can whither without warning.

Florida must continue to lead by example and keep the momentum moving. We have that opportunity before us. Let’s not wait.

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Dr. Robert McClure is the president and CEO of The James Madison Institute in Tallahassee.