I feel like this article is more relevant than it was before given our current state of affairs

[In It to Win It]

This was written back in 2018. I posted it on DU around that time and I couldn't help but think about it considering the fuckery that's happening. It's gotten worse than it was when this was written. This was written right after the 2018 midterms and Amendment 4 was approved, getting about 65% of the vote, giving former felons their voting rights back. I don't know if we have any remedy for the nonsense. How do you fix an unresponsive legislature when it's near impossible to vote them out?

Orlando — Florida legislators have a clear track record when it comes to doing what voters tell them.

They don’t.

You passed the “education lottery.”

They turned the funding into a shell game and left Florida schools among the worst funded in America.

You passed Fair Districts.

They spent more than $10 million of your taxes on lawyers, trying to fight your will.

You passed an environmental amendment.

They ignored you again — and then acted surprised when toxic green algae choked the state’s waterways.

You passed a medical marijuana amendment.

Yet two years later, you have a better chance of scoring a dime bag at any local high school than a chronic-pain sufferer has of getting smokable weed at a legitimate pharmacy.

Basically, Florida legislators follow orders about as well as a pet rock.

They don’t care what voters say. They don’t care about the Constitution. They just do as they please … and usually get re-elected.

So it’s not surprising that, on the heels of yet another voter mandate — to restore voting rights to former felons — there’s concern that lawmakers are once again dragging their feet.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-ne-amendment-4-florida-felons-voting-scott-maxwell-20181210-story.html

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. That is such a sad read.

Thanks for reposting.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. Backwater politics of Florida.

Nothing will change until we break through the hold that the GOP has on this State.

Good post, btw.

[In It to Win It]

3. Absolutely!

I think specific office that we need to win is the governorship. I could be wrong but I just don't see anything starting to change within the state unless we win the governorship. Politics in Florida is ridiculously complicated. I don't understand why that is the one office we can't seem to win. We've won other statewide elections before so we know it's not impossible for us to win statewide... but the governorship just slips away every time.

I thought 2018 would have been our year for winning the governorship but we know how that turned out. Winning that one office above anything else would have shifted the tide toward Democrats in such a huge way, considering that was the critical election for redistricting. The GOP legislature doesn't have a veto-proof majority. They would have been forced to compromise on the maps. We could have appointed judges that would have an incumbency advantage when they stand for elections. Winning that one office is hugely transformational. Yet, it seems so elusive to us.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. At least the Dems are adjusting and tackling it from another angle.

Not sure it will matter this election, but if we lose, we’ll have another term to make the most ridiculous governor in America list.

[towerbum]

5. don't matter ! Floriduh will be in the near future under water !