Daniel Tilson
If you or folks you know are tuning out Florida’s 2014 midterm elections and don’t plan to vote, we need to talk.
No worries, there’ll be no scolding.
No finger wagging or whining about your civic duty.
No repetition of the “If you don’t vote, don’t complain!” line.
Far as I’m concerned, you never lose your right to complain.
I’m not about to lecture anyone about how our American ancestors fought and died to gain and protect our voting rights, or about how many other people worldwide have fought the same fights in their homelands.
This isn’t about knowing or honoring history.
This isn’t about fire in the belly to rock the vote.
This is about fire in the belly to rock the boat.
This is about taking simple, self-serving action to change the current course of history in Florida.
I get that some of you think the current course of history is actually an improvement over what came immediately before it – the Great Recession – and so you may not feel urgency about voting for change.
But without weighing you down with scary statistics or trying to rile you up by calling the prevailing powers-that-be nasty names, let me just point out…
Almost every leading indicator and any objective analysis of Florida’s socioeconomic status in recent years shows dangerous, deepening trends that point to “recovery” as a setup for middle-class failure.
Our salaries and average household incomes have been stuck in the mud for years, even as our wealthiest residents and biggest businesses keep breaking records for income growth and wealth concentration, over and over again.
We’re still stuck paying billions of dollars annually for poor folks forced onto public assistance because Gov. Rick Scott and Republican state senators and representatives combined to keep the minimum wage under $8 an hour.
We’re still stuck paying billions for poor folks with no health insurance because Scott and Republican state senators and representatives combined to thumb their nose at President Barack Obama rather than accept $50-plus billion to expand health care.
And we’re stuck in recent years with big banks, insurance companies, utilities and developers getting new, improved and legalized ways to threaten and price-gouge us, because Scott and Republican state senators and representatives combined to pass laws that let them do it.
Those aren’t liberal distortions of recent history. Those are verifiable facts…OK, with some populist anger mixed in. You can look up the facts for yourself, or drop me a line and I’ll send you relevant links.
Forget partisan politics. Remember your family’s future.
Whether you’re a non-voter because you’re disgusted with politics and government, or just disengaged and uninterested, consider this.
Given worsening trends for the middle class in recent years, wouldn’t it feel good to deliver electoral slaps to those putting us on the path to fight over scraps?
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.
