Joe Henderson
This is a site devoted to getting deep into the weeds of Florida politics, so we try to avoid going national too often — unless it has direct statewide impact.
With that in mind, I know the best Christmas present Florida lawmakers could give to all 21 million residents of the best state in the country.
Study the dysfunction in Washington, and when they start to work on the people’s business do just the opposite of what we’re seeing now.
For all talk about two decades of Republican control of Florida politics, most of the statewide elections have been extremely close. Neither major party is completely right or completely wrong, so the best leader is one who represents all the people — not just those who voted for them.
Actually, the early signs from Governor-elect Ron DeSantis are encouraging. He agrees with Democrat and incoming Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried that it’s time to right a grievous wrong and pardon the Groveland Four.
He promises to be a champion for water and the environment after eight years of neglect by outgoing Gov. Rick Scott.
Excellent.
That’s not a word we can use often about what’s happening in the nation’s capital.
This is supposed to be the season of hope and cheer.
For many, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of someone who told the world that love mattered more than might, that we are to live lives guided by charity and compassion.
Those principles particularly apply when dealing with what that person called “the least of these.”
There is a bit of work to do on that one. The basic disconnect between the leaders and those they are leading has never been wider, as we have seen in the throwdown over President Trump’s money to build a wall along the border with Mexico.
There was a time when Ronald Reagan, standing at the Brandenburg Gate, pleaded with Soviet General Secretary Mikael Gorbachev to “open this gate … Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
Now, just 31 years later, Trump gleefully shut down the government because Democrats won’t give him that wall.
What’s more disturbing is how some members of his party and his loudest supporters don’t understand, or maybe just don’t care, about the cost to those Americans who provide essential government services.
“It’s actually part of what you do when you sign up for any public service position,” U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows said.
“And it’s not lost on me in terms of, you know, the potential hardship. At the same time, they know they would be required to work and even in preparation for a potential shutdown those groups within the agencies have been instructed to show up.”
No one, particularly the 6,200 federal employees in Meadows’ North Carolina district, ever, has gone, “Sure, I’d love to take a federal job and be told I have to work for free because you idiots have no idea what it’s like to live from paycheck to paycheck.”
On that point, the ever-charitable U.S. Rep. Scott Perry told POLITICO, “Who’s living that they’re not going to make it to the next paycheck?”
Well, Congressman, that’s a lot of people.
Then again, who has a net worth of $891,508, as OpenSecrets.org estimated for Perry?
That’s what happens, though, when you start thinking of someone with different ideas as something less than human. That’s dangerous ground, but we’re walking on it — both parties. Just pay attention to the ironically named “social media” feeds.
People are mimicking the garbage they’re seeing.
So, leaders, worry more about the human solution than the political one.
Set a tone.
Denounce what we’re seeing in Washington, then show how to do it right.
Get along.
Make Florida politics the model for the nation. You are the only ones who can.
Are you up to it?
Merry Christmas.
