Forget insurance and education. Florida lawmakers obsess over pride flags, pronouns, Confederate statues. | Commentary
Here we go again.
Florida is facing scores of serious issues, including insurance rates that are sky-high and SAT scores that are in the toilet. Yet what are Florida legislators obsessing over? Confederate statues, Pride flags and what pronouns people use in private workplaces.
I’m not sure whether Tallahassee’s current leadership doesn’t care about addressing serious problems or whether they’re just incapable of doing so.
Either way, recent headlines paint a clear picture of Florida politicians once again focusing more on culture wars than problem-solving as next week’s legislative session begins.
There was this headline: “As cities take down Confederate memorials, Florida bill seeks to stop them — and put the statues back up”
Yes, GOP lawmakers not only want to preserve Confederate statues, they want to replace ones that were previously moved. And they want the right to remove local officials from office if some mayor or city council dares to get in their rebel-reveling way.
Imagine leaders in modern-day Germany crusading to bring back statues of Nazi commanders that country long ago removed for obvious reasons. Also, think about what any of this will do to help your insurance premiums: Nothing.
Florida’s homeowner’s rates are triple the national average. The average premium has increased 102% over the last three years and continued to soar after lawmakers promised earlier “reform” that mainly provided relief to insurance companies. Seniors are being squeezed out of their homes. A disturbing number are forgoing insurance altogether.
Yet, as the Tampa Bay Times wrote last week, GOP leaders have offered little in the way of insurance legislation this year. The best they’ve come up with so far is a tax break proposal from Gov. Ron DeSantis to maybe trim 2-6% off your bill. That’s like going to the ER with a pencil jammed through your hand — and the doctor offering to shave off part of the eraser.
After insurance ‘reform,’ Floridians still face high bills, 100% rate hikes, go ‘naked’ | Commentary
But Confederate statues? That issue they want to thoroughly address.
Here’s another headline for you: “Lawmaker refiles bill to ban pride flag from government buildings.”
Sure, Florida may now rank 46th in SAT scores. But why worry about public education when you can draft legislation targeting rainbow flags?
And pronouns. Another GOP bill attempts to crack down on preferred-pronoun usage within the walls of some private companies.
Then there’s the “Kamala Harris Truth in Slavery Teaching Act.”
These are not serious people.
By this point, some readers might be saying: Aw, Scott, you’re just picking on conservatism. No, I’m picking on stupidity. And divisive extremism. Most of this stuff doesn’t even represent true conservative values. It represents gaslighting. It’s an attempt to pander to a base and distract the public — from other bills meant to serve lobbyists and special interests. And from an unwillingness or inability to deal with real problems.
Look at the issues they’re pushing here — like government trying to tell private companies what kind of pronouns their employees can use. That doesn’t fit any sane conservative’s definition of limited government.
I know plenty of true, sensible conservatives. I hear from them all the time. But that’s not who Florida voters keep putting in office. And frankly, if you’re an otherwise sensible conservative who keeps voting for the extremist gaslighters, then you’re part of the problem.
See, if you keep making a stew that always ends up tasting vile, you need to start using different ingredients.
Floridians will be asked to choose the ingredients for a lot of electoral stew this year. And most of these candidates telegraph whether they’re gaslighters or problem-solvers right up front — including this month’s special election in Orange and Osceola counties to select the next state House member.
In that race, Democrat Tom Keen has said his top issues include affordable housing, environmental protection, reproductive freedom and free speech. Contrast that to Republican Erika Booth’s campaign web page, which lists her top two goals as: “Fight Joe Biden’s Woke Agenda” and “Protect Our Children from Indoctrination.”
These candidates are clearly telling you whether they care more about issues or culture wars.
Some sensible conservatives run for office in Florida. Heck, I sometimes promote them — as was the case when former Orange County Commissioner Ted Edwards ran for Congress last year.
But GOP primary voters rejected sensible in that race, opting instead for Cory Mills — a guy who immediately made headlines for handing out hand grenades to fellow House members and cracking jokes about the bloody hammer assault of Nancy Pelosi’s husband. Those primary voters are getting precisely what they asked for. The problem is the rest of us are as well.
An irony is that Republicans know serious issues matter to voters. In the ongoing special legislative election, Republicans are running TV ads against Keen, a former flight officer, that somehow try to smear him with Florida’s property-insurance mess.
That one ad sums up this insanity. We have Republicans — who aren’t doing anything meaningful on insurance and are instead screaming about Pride flags — going after a guy who’s never been in office on the very issue they refuse to seriously address. The Mad Hatter would be proud.
If you care about sky-high insurance premiums, bottom-of-the-barrel SAT scores or any other serious issues, you should vote accordingly in of this year’s elections — for the people who are clearly telling you where they’re problem-solvers vs. culture warriors.
Because if you keep using the same ingredients, we’re all going to keep eating heaping helpings of stink stew.
