Daniel TilsonI’m grateful Rick Scott didn’t decide to overwhelm our TV and other screens in 2014 with an overly negative attack ad campaign against Charlie Crist.
Okay … take two:
I’m grateful that despite the bottomless pit of corporate money “with a past” that financed Scott’s reelection TV ad onslaught, Florida Democrats and independents almost combined to take him down.
I’m grateful Congresswoman-elect Gwen Graham and her team knew enough to combine a Howard Dean field plan with positive-spirited, locally astute, populist progressive messaging.
I’m grateful for lionhearted progressive Democratic legislators such as Senators Arthenia Joyner and Dwight Bullard, and Representatives Mark Pafford and Dwight Dudley, who consistently speak truth to power, and to the general public.
I’m grateful for issue-specific, nonpartisan, locally focused progressive campaigns and causes (shout-outs to Progress Florida’s Ray Seaman and winning “Yes For Marion Schools” team, Stephanie Porta and Orlando’s Organize Now lawsuit-winning team, and other such efforts statewide), which won broad-based public support and important battles in 2014, setting the tone for future organizing victories.
I’m grateful for Florida Republicans like former senator and state representative turned Pasco County Tax Collector, Mike Fasano, whose passion for putting nonpartisan, pragmatic problem-solving over pointless partisan finger-pointing serves as a role model for statesmanlike public service.
I’m grateful for the dedicated men and women of the Florida press, who work tirelessly to make transparency in government more than an emptily hypocritical campaign slogan.
I’m grateful for the Florida political blogosphere (especially the Schorsch empire) that keeps “traditional” media, elected officials, behind-the-scene power brokers and seekers, and the general public, on their toes and in the thick of the action.
I’m grateful for Florida’s nonpartisan advocacy organizations such as Florida CHAIN (Community Health Action Information Network), which put politics aside whenever possible, concentrating instead on delivering accurate information and invaluable assistance to Floridians in need.
I’m grateful for the legions of senior citizens who remain the lifeblood of so many political clubs and organizations, and who so consistently turn out to vote.
I’m grateful for the growing army of young Floridians finding new ways to organize and be politically connected and active at the community level, without the constraint of political party agendas, and institutionalized inertia.
I’m grateful for teachers at all levels who overcome public school system barriers and remain creative, innovative free thinkers, capable of inspiring their students to be the same.
I’m grateful to connect with all of you out there, here, at Context Florida.
And most of all, I’m grateful for my wonderful wife Lisa, my three wise (or wiseass, depending on the timing) kids, Parker, Molly and Aliza, and all my other family and friends who keep reminding me, there really is more to life than politics…
Happy Thanksgiving, y’all!
