Are special interests ruining Florida?
I finally awake, just as the people are erecting a guillotine in front of Tallahassee’s old state capitol to deal with talented and ambitious people who have not yet made their escape.
Tomy great relief, I realize Florida does not yet resemble Paris during the Reign of Terror. In fact, it doesn’t even resemble present- day California, and I pledge to do my best to help keep it thatway.
In the accompanying column, my dueling colleague Stephen L. Goldstein tells us he also suffers from a recurring nightmare. I can sympathize with his travail, and his concern over the influence of special- interest money and influence on the governing process. The question is, what constitutes a special interest?
Public- employee unions certainly qualify. Their unholy alliance with politicians, mostly from the political left, has helped to drive Detroit and other cities into bankruptcy. The quid pro quo:“We’ll grant you unsustainablewages and benefits in return for your votes that return us to power.” The same quid pro quo applies to teachers’ unions, which are doing their best to block educational reform.
The environmental movement also qualifies as a special interest, with a large swath of it having morphed into a racket.
Whoreallywould have benefited from the high- speed- rail boondoggle between Tampa and Orlando, a project dubbed by environmentalists as “green?” The people, or the Orlando theme park operators, the engineering firms, the rolling stock companies, and union membersworking for inflated, “prevailing” Davis- Baconwages?
Power corrupts. And it does so whether concentrated in the hands of a single individual, right- wing special interests, leftwing special interests, or in the people themselves.
consider going to DisneyWorld, think about howit puts its profits above the interests of its sick employees. It got the Legislature to pass a sick- time bill that prevents Orange County from adopting paid- sick- leave requirements for businesses. Disney andDarden Restaurants opposed the measure because it could have added to their costs. Republican lawmakers feared efforts to help sick workers might spread to other counties.
No matter howhard I try, I can’t get to sleep, knowing that on the balance sheet of state government, filthy lucre chalks up win after win, and I can’t think of a single initiative coming out of Tallahassee in recent years that has favored the interests of “the people.”
Inmy recurring dream, however, the balance of power has shifted in favor of average Floridians.
Don’t ask me how, but they have discovered that next to the power of “no money,” $ 120 million or more is chicken feed.
In otherwords, they have called for boycotts of Florida companies that support legislation against their best interests. Women no longer tolerate efforts to take away their reproductive rights. The LGBT community tells same- sex couples nationwide not to honeymoon in Florida until its ban against gay marriage ends. Between my nightmare andmy dream, there is the cold light of reality, where, ifwe restore our democracy, we’ll all sleep a lot better. But if the past is prelude to the future, don’t count on it. Too many of us refuse to wake up from our self- delusion.