Daniel TilsonThink of state government as Florida’s medicine cabinet. Inside should be whatever basics we need to keep chugging away day to day, along with assorted treatments and remedies to address more difficult or chronic conditions.
Then there’s that mirror on the front. While plenty falls outside its field of view, whatever it does capture and reflect about us is worth taking a long, hard look at from time to time.
What’s reflected now is a state still struggling with transition from a culture of white-dominated power and privilege to … whatever comes next. Only as people of color grow into a “Florida New Majority” and change that culture are we likely to see our government’s carefully engineered balance of powers start shifting.
Until then, we’re putting up with a government that not only reflects but leans into the racism that still grips a large chunk of white Florida — the Christian, hardcore conservative base of the Republican Party.
They’re a minority of Florida’s overall population, maybe 20 percent of us. But because they already feel threatened and frustrated by forces they believe beyond their control, they’re easy pickings for political opportunists to motivate and manipulate.
The unwritten rules are straightforward. Conservative, white, wealthy Republican officials controlling the government carefully perpetuate public policies that disproportionately hinder and harm black Floridians. In return, their base stays loyal and active, turning out in force to make campaign contributions, vote in every election and do whatever else is asked of them.
The sad irony is that most of these folks are so stuck in their anger and sold on unquestioning allegiance to politicians who pander to it, they’re easily distracted from the fact that those same politicians keep selling out their economic best interests. You’d think years of stagnant middle-class wages and household incomes plus the profound lack of opportunity for upward mobility would all be strong clues something was wrong. But such is the power of personal prejudice to cloud people’s perceptions.
Florida’s arch-conservative officials and banner-carrying grassroots activists communicate in code, a requisite layer of political correctness thinly veiling an inherently racist agenda. “Government” usually means “welfare state.” When government helps the poor, it’s a “handout” or “entitlement.” Any ongoing hardship or new burden placed upon the poor is their “personal responsibility.”
It’s that alliance-building and code-whispering that empowered House Republicans to cast aside commonsense and refuse to close the Florida Coverage Gap for three years running now, rejecting federal funding to insure an estimated 850,000 people. The House’s recent on-the-job walkout and government shutdown wouldn’t have happened without the support of lots of loyal white folks back in gerrymandered home districts.
Knowing Florida’s uninsured population was very poor and disproportionately black (Hispanic, too), the unspoken agreement was to sacrifice them for the sake of … well, for the sake of sticking it to America’s first black president. Kind of a two-for-one deal.
It’s not just wise, fiscally responsible healthcare policy that falls victim to such prejudice.
Think about the flood of guns into inner city neighborhoods, where death by gunshot is the leading cause of death for black males aged 15-34. And think about the “Stand Your Ground” law that sacrifices relative innocents such as Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis.
Think of the scandal that is our overcrowded and murderous prison system, bloated as it is with people of color too often incarcerated for minor drug possession offenses. And think about how little Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature have done to remedy the situation.
Think about a public school system where black students are assigned a separate, significantly lower set of academic standards than white students. And think about all the taxpayer millions being diverted from inner-city public schools to private and religious schools.
Now think, “Big Picture.” What our government-as-medicine cabinet reflects about Florida, is that we, the diverse and growing majority, have allowed a racist minority to prop up a government that reflects their values rather than ours, for far too long.
No effective medicine in the cabinet to fix that either. We’re going to have to heal ourselves.
Daniel Tilson has a Boca Raton-based communications firm called Full Cup Media, specializing in online video and written content for non-profits, political candidates and organizations, and small businesses. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
