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When it comes to swamps, Washington can’t compete with Tallahassee.

When one spends any time in Tallahassee observing the sausage being made that is the legislative session, one finds a concentrated ecosystem of special interests, lobbyists, scoundrels, and legislators fueled by big money and gossip. This ecosystem is ruthlessly efficient for those at the top of the food chain.

Simply stated: Our swampy system protects its self-interests and ignores and fails anyone outside the system.

Alex Patton
Alex Patton

In the past few years, two citizen-driven issues were vehemently opposed by the collective swamp to the point of retaliation, lawsuits, and the attempted implementation of additional hurdles like poll taxes. More than 60 percent of our friends and neighbors across the state voted to support these measures, and yet our legislature attacks them with every tool at their disposal, without regard for the rule of law or the will of the people.

As it stands, the ballot initiative process is daunting and expensive. To be a successful citizen-driven initiative, a sponsor must collect over 766,000 valid signatures from registered voters in Florida approved by 67 different counties’ procedures in at least 14 different congressional districts; undergo a financial impact review by the Financial Impact Estimating Conference (FIEC); and, be reviewed by Florida’s Supreme Court — and then and only then do the voters have their say. The initiative must finally get the approval of 60 percent of voters. The failures have out-numbered the successes, especially when there is organized opposition to a proposal.

The increased use of the expensive ballot-initiative process is a clear indicator that people are increasingly frustrated and willing to stand up to the swamp and make their voices heard. Rather than listen, the swamp fights back by implementing new hurdles to prevent common-sense changes.

In the latest example of the swamp fighting back are several bills seemingly fast-tracked through the Legislature seeking to implement additional hurdles for uppity, pesky citizen groups that dare challenge Tallahassee’s powerful elites. The swamp, backed by monied special interests, proposes to make the ballot process so incredibly difficult, expensive, and cumbersome that it will effectively kill the ballot process in Florida.

The proposals are to raise the hurdle of passage of initiatives from 60 percent to 67 percent, restrict workers’ rights, and place additional requirements on the signature gathering process. In fact, the legislation specifically changes the rules in mid-game for the ballot initiatives currently in the process. Unfortunately, taken together, this repeated pattern of shameless behavior is an assault on fairness, free speech, and the right to participate in government.

The fix is in and the lesson is crystal clear: the status quo does not quietly relinquish power nor accept defeat well. The swamp fights back with spasms of petulant behavior demanding that you green-fly citizens just be silent.

These types of attacks on our democracy aren’t new for those in power, they’ve been taking similar actions for a long time; yet time and again, Florida’s courts have ruled their efforts destructive to our democracy and in violation of our Constitution and rights.

Sadly, Tallahassee may be as broken as Washington. The current efforts underway to silence citizens are just plain wrong and an affront to our values. For our Republic to work, citizens must retain the faith that they can affect their government and elected officials. With the possibility that the swamp may not acting in our best interest, we must retain the ability to check and balance their actions with our own.