The 2011 Legislature was one of the most conservative and reckless in modern history, as the veto-proof Republican majority ran roughshod over reasonable policy and treated compromise as a dirty word. In just 60 days, it reversed decades of bipartisan efforts to manage growth, protect consumers, improve public education and encourage voting. This radical agenda does not reflect mainstream Florida
QuoteAverage Floridians were, at best, an afterthought. New measures stack the deck against consumers who seek damages from a doctor after medical malpractice or a car manufacturer whose vehicle's design contributed to an accident. Homeowners will find that property insurers can more easily raise annual premiums up to 15 percent or deny a sinkhole claim. And Floridians who have the misfortune to lose a job in a state with 11 percent unemployment will now receive three fewer weeks of compensation, the maximum of which is $275 weekly, so lawmakers could provide an $18 per employee tax break to businesses.
Women who seek to exercise their constitutional right to an abortion will now be forced to pay for an expensive ultrasound, whether they need it or not. They will have to sign a piece of paper if they do not wish to view the image or have it described to them. Restriction by restriction, lawmakers are whittling away the rights of women to make the most personal of decisions.
But perhaps nothing reflects this Legislature's disregard for the electorate as much as its effort to suppress voting by shrinking the window for early voting and embracing other limits that particularly discriminate against young voters and minorities. Voters seeking to notify the supervisor of elections at the poll on election day of an address change can be forced to vote on a provisional ballot â€" which is far less likely to actually be counted. And groups seeking to register voters or collect signatures for constitutional amendments will face onerous and unnecessary regulation.
This was also the session where lawmakers slashed public school funding by 8 percent, a stunning shift in priorities that would have been unthinkable under governors or Legislatures of either party in previous times. The cut comes in a budget that already was balanced on the backs of schoolteachers, law enforcement officers, firefighters and other government workers who have not had raises in years but will now have to hand over 3 percent of their pay for pension benefits.
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1168216.ece
In Florida as in the rest of our government it is now officially:
QuoteOf the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation’s incomeâ€"an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret.
http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105
Bye, bye Democracy Of the People, by the People, for the People!!!
Those with their Take Back America bumper stickers seem to want America to become more totalitarian (small government regime), but there are many more voiceless Americans who want to restore REAL Democray Of the People, By the People and For the People!!
On the Passive nature of Americans today...........we no longer bother fighting for economic justice, and a level playing field!!!
QuoteGet Up, Stand Up: Uniting Populists, Energizing the Defeated, and Battling the Corporate Elite
Author Bruce Levine describes how government-corporate alliances have created a passive populace, and how Americans can recover dignity, unity, and the energy to do battle.
May 13, 2011 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ?
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� The following is an excerpt from Get Up, Stand Up: Uniting Populists, Energizing the Defeated, and Battling the Corporate Elite (Chelsea Green, 2011) by Bruce E. Levine.
How many Americans believe that their voice matters in determining whether giant banks, insurance companies, and other “too-big-to-fail†corporations get bailed out? How many Americans older than twelve believe that they have any influence over a decision by the US government to invade another nation?
There are a slew of books and articles out there providing analyses of the profound problems of American democracy and offering recommendations aimed at improving matters. However, these analyses and recommendations routinely assume that Americans have sufficient personal energy to take action. Instead, what if many Americans have lost confidence that genuine democracy is possible? When such fatalism sets in, truths about economic injustices and lost liberties are no longer enough to set people free.
While a charismatic politician can still garner a large turnout of voters who are angry with whichever party is in power, the majority of Americans appear resigned to the idea that they have no power over institutions that rule their lives. At least that’s what I see. I was curious if what troubled me also was troubling others, so I wrote an article titled “Are Americans a Broken People?†It was republished on numerous Internet sites, and I read more than a thousand reaction comments (some of which are included in this book). I was swamped with e-mails and received several media interview requests to discuss the article, which had apparently touched a nerve among those who identify themselves as progressive, libertarian, or populist. They too wondered why so many Americans have remained passive in the face of attacks on their liberties and their economic well-being. Some of the questions that I first raised in that article and will answer more fully in this book are:
• Has “learned helplessness†taken hold for a great many Americans? Are many Americans locked into an abuse syndrome of sorts in which revelations about their victimization by a corporate-government partnership produce increased anesthetization rather than constructive action?
• What cultural forces have created a passive and discouraged US population? Have so-called right-wing and so-called progressive institutions both contributed to breaking people’s resistance to domination?
• And most important, can anything be done to turn this demoralization and passivity around? Is it possible for people to rebuild their morale and forge the connections necessary to support a truly democratic populism that can take power away from elite control?
Elitismâ€"be it rule by kings or corporationsâ€"is the opposite of genuine democracy. It is in the interest of those at the top of society to convince people below them that (1) democracy is merely about the right to vote; and (2) corporations and the wealthy elite are so powerful, any thought that “regular people†can achieve real power is naive. In genuine democracy and in real-deal populism, people not only believe that they have a right to self-government; they also have the individual strength and group cohesion necessary to take actions to eliminate top-down controls over their lives.
If people lose sight of what democracy really is, or if they lose hope of the possibility of attaining it, then they lose their energy to fight for it. The majority of us, unlike the elite, will always lack big money, so we depend on individual and collective energy to do battle. Without such energy, the elite will easily subdue us.
Get Up, Stand Up is, in large part, about regaining that energy. There exist solid strategies and time-tested tactics that people have long used to battle the elite, and these will be detailed. However, these strategies and tactics are not sufficient. For large-scale democratic movements to have enough energy to get off the ground, certain psychological and cultural building blocks are required. With these energizing building blocks, it then becomes realisticâ€"and not naiveâ€"to believe that large numbers of people can take the kind of actions that will produce genuine democracy. The belief that their actions can be effective provides energy to take actions, taking actions strengthens the faith, and an energizing cycle is created.
http://www.alternet.org/story/150494/get_up,_stand_up:_uniting_populists,_energizing_the_defeated,_and_battling_the_corporate_elite?akid=6961.233391.Hz8W2D&rd=1&t=2
QuoteReal-deal populism is hurt by those self-identified populists who ignore the reality that the US government is the juniorâ€"not the seniorâ€"partner of the corporate elite in the corporatocracy.
The corporate elite relishes the role of the US government being seen as the tyrant. Every tyrant wants to demonize some other entityâ€"be it an institution or a peopleâ€"so as to deflect rebellion against itself.
In reality, one major role of the US government in the corporatocracy is to serve as a scapegoat to deflect rebellion against the corporate elite.
All anti-elitists need to realize that what they share bonds them much more than anything that divides them. It is true that not all anti-elitists have the same views of human nature or the same exact solutions to self-government. In genuine democracy and real-deal populism, people will continue to disagree on issues. However, if we want to defeat the elite, we must come to realize that listening to one another and ironing out differences can be individually strengthening as well as galvanizing for us as a whole. I encounter real-deal populists across the political and ideological spectrum, and I believe it is quite possible for us to learn from one another and work together.
QuoteThe most significant divide between populists has to do with their views of the US government.
Libertarians see the US government as the tyrant, and they seek to drastically eliminate the government’s power so that “We the People†can regain liberty.
Left populists see giant corporations as the tyrants, and short of eliminating this corporate elite, they seek freedom and social and economic justice by taking back control of government and using it to ensure that the corporate elite will not tyrannize them.
While some self-identified libertarian populists rail only against “governmental tyranny,†and some self-identified left populists rail only against “corporate tyranny,†other populists get that, in the corporatocracy, Americans are being ruled by a corporate-governmental partnership.
(http://www.pinksliprick.com/sites/default/files/Screen%20shot%202011-04-13%20at%203.59.02%20PM.png)
You can get your bumper sticker at http://www.pinksliprick.com/stickers?source=fbaddrs (http://www.pinksliprick.com/stickers?source=fbaddrs)
Quote from: FayeforCure on May 14, 2011, 11:06:52 AM
QuoteAverage Floridians were, at best, an afterthought.
This was exactly the reason why our HSR needed to be TEMPORARILY killed and rerouted, but in EVERY OTHER DETAIL I agree with Faye!OCKLAWAHA