As COVID-19 cases and deaths surged last summer amid the worst pandemic in a century, Gov. Ron DeSantis insisted that Florida did not need a statewide mask mandate. Mask mandates â like many other powers â were left up to cities and counties, where elected local leaders could assess conditions close to them and do whatâs best for the constituents who elected them. After all, as Thomas Jefferson, one of our nationâs founders said, âThe government closest to the people serves the people best.â Thus, as Republicans, supposedly liberty-loving conservatives, run this yearâs legislative session, it is striking how much freedom they intend to strip from the local âpeopleâ who know better.