Martin Dyckman, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Martin DyckmanJuly 7, 2014

No matter that the U.S. Supreme Court had ordered it, the state Supreme Court wasn’t going to let a black man attend the University of Florida law school. Writing in 1955, Justice W. Glenn Terrell claimed that Florida’s defiance in support of segregation fulfilled divine intent. “When God created man,” Terrell said, “he allotted each […]

Martin DyckmanJuly 3, 2014

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. … These eloquent and powerful words were composed by a man who owned 600 slaves during his lifetime. The pitiful […]

Martin DyckmanJune 30, 2014

Listen up, Tea Party. I’m going to talk about Rand Paul. Favorably. But first things first. As we all remember from school, the independence we’ll celebrate this week was a revolt against taxation without representation. Although the revolutionary agenda was actually more complex, taxation certainly was the spark. But even today, 238 years later, there […]

Martin DyckmanJune 26, 2014

There are few things worse than a 24-year-old man seeking sex from a 13-year-old girl, or so it would seem. They should lock him up and throw away the key, or so it would seem. But sometimes, things aren’t what they seem. This is about a young man we’ll call by his initials, JFD. His […]

Martin DyckmanJune 23, 2014

Politicians have been known to crack jokes about elections that lacked for any candidates. That’s extremely rare, but it has happened. The likelier event is an election without voters, and there’s nothing funny about it. When qualifying for state offices closed in Florida last week, more than a third of the candidates for the Legislature […]

Martin DyckmanJune 19, 2014

In George Orwell’s classic novel, Animal Farm, the pigs who become tyrants of the barnyard declare that although all animals are equal, “some animals are more equal than others.” He was satirizing communism, but the point applies to our democracy as well. Your “equal” vote may be gerrymandered into uselessness. The politician takes calls from […]

Martin DyckmanJune 15, 2014

Revolutions have a way of turning against their founders and friends. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is the latest victim. Cantor didn’t launch the Tea Party revolution but he did coddle and exploit it. Unlike the leaders of the French Revolution, Cantor still has his head, as well as–until January–the congressional seat he lost in […]

Martin DyckmanJune 12, 2014

It was one of those “There IS a God” moments when Gov. Rick Scott had to cancel a $10,000 per person fundraiser this month because his co-host was to be a convicted tax-evader who couldn’t legally vote for him. With all the lawyers and law-enforcement agencies at his command, how could Scott not know that […]

Martin DyckmanJune 8, 2014

Nothing so clearly shows the difference between theory and practice as the notion that Americans choose their elected representatives. In reality, it’s more often the politicians who do the choosing. Evidence in the congressional gerrymandering — excuse me — redistricting trial at Tallahassee has reaffirmed it. For the politicians to build and feather their own […]

Martin DyckmanMay 27, 2014

Now you know — as if there was ever doubt — why the right wing is desperate to take over the Florida Supreme Court. Why there’s a constitutional amendment on the ballot to let Gov. Rick Scott pack the court if he is re-elected. The Supreme Court itself illustrated the reasons late Tuesday afternoon when […]

Martin Dyckman

Martin Dyckman: Has the Court created a religious-freedom ‘slippery slope’?

Martin Dyckman: Thomas Jefferson rationalized his slaveholding with racist nonsense

Martin Dyckman: Let’s celebrate July 4 by restoring felons’ voting rights

Martin Dyckman: Did the police entrap student during sex sting?

Martin Dyckman: Gerrymandering, campaign money killing Florida elections

Martin Dyckman: In Florida, poor people whose woes are of a civil nature are on their own

Martin Dyckman: Cantor’s loss means political scene will get more rancorous

Martin Dyckman: Scott’s voter suppression snares one of his contributors

Martin Dyckman: Redistricting is too important to be left to the politicians

Martin Dyckman: Right wing is desperate to control Fla. Supreme Court