pinion Tallahassee to Taxpayers: Get Lost

Write your state legislator, call his office – picket out front. When those don't work, gather upward of a million signatures for a referendum to be put on the ballot and amend our state's constitution by initiative. Be prepared though, you'll still have to go to court to get our ”leaders“ to implement the law you passed, and they'll even fight you with your own money footing much of the bill. Never before has there been such an obvious disregard for the people of this state.

Fair Districts was supposed to put an end to gerrymandering. Lawmakers went on a taxpayer sponsored tour ”collecting input,“ only to come to the table with proposals that failed to respect any of the common pleas the people who had passed the amendment continuously made – most notably, don't break up our communities into fragmented districts that deny us true representatives for the sake of protecting your seats.

First, the House and Senate made a wink nod agreement to accept each other's own self-designed, status quo plan for itself. Someone familiar with the redistricting process would not have had any clue that their convoluted maps – which bore the typical serpentine lines that cut through multiple communities in order to collect desirable demographics and predictable results – were subject to a constitutional law that they be as whole and community-based as possible.

The only thing that threw a wrench in the system was the fact that about half the Senate is looking to keep their seats, while a number of House members are looking to upgrade theirs. So you had groups of legislators openly fighting about how to fairly gerrymander districts in a state that just passed a constitutional law banning the unfair practice of gerrymandering. Only in Flori-duh.

The ray of hope in this session was always the idea the gerrymandering would take up so much time and effort that they'd have little left over for anything else. No dice. The legislature has resumed its full court press on womens' reproductive rights, with 10 bills filed and three which already passed through committee.

Gambling, which was expected to be the other big issue this year, has shown that even one party rule devolves into a simple matter of one special interest's team vs. the other's. The Disney/Chamber of Commerce sponsored portion of the GOP is against any expansion; those sponsored by either Harrah's or the Malaysian gaming industry are for Vegas style resorts; and those with too little clout to be of interest to either have been able to pick up crumbs from the smaller internet cafe and pari-mutuel contingencies. Little intelligent discussion has been had about the real economic and societal issues that will impact the state's residents, because after all, this isn't about them.

The speed at which prison privatization is moving through is even more impressive. The legislature stacked the deck by loading committees with privatization-friendly lawmakers and then keeping the bill under wraps, filing it after the deadline – against its own rules. I mean this isn't something they want discussed out in the open, where real public input can be given. Hell, last year they tried to slip it in as a budgetary measure until the courts confirmed their laughable overreach. I guess we should be grateful that they're even showing the pretense of respecting the legislative process this time.

2010 was supposed to be a year in which ”the people“ revolted. They were sending the pork junkies home and voting in real people. Movements like the Tea Party were said to be "cleaning house." What really happened was that the dominant party benefited from a lot of straight-ticket voting, and while a few outsiders may have slipped by, the insiders are more deeply entrenched an unaccountable than ever.

For their part, the Tea Party activists have busied themselves with the continuous fight to prove President Obama isn't eligible, that Agenda 21 is a secret U.N. plan to destroy American sovereignty while indoctrinating our children to socialism, promoting the lie that net neutrality is the government takeover of the Internet, and debating whether Newt ”we'll have a moon colony by the end of my second term“ Gingrich is a better bet than Rick ”I believe in tort reform unless my wife is suing someone“ Santorum to replace Mitt ”I inspired Obamacare“ Romney, while ignoring the only two candidates whose records demonstrate that they actually stand for what the group says it believes in – Ron Paul and Gary Johnson.

Democrats, well they're busy doing what Democrats in Florida do – calling press conferences to express outrage at what Republicans are doing, while worrying more about keeping what little power they have than giving voters a real reason to give their platform a serious look. So wake up Floridians. Your bought and paid for legislature has sold you out to the highest bidder, while throwing a little bit of red meat to their base. But until you show them with your vote just who has the final say, they'll surely continue to disregard both your wishes and your best interests for just as long as you let them.

Dennis Maley is a featured columnist and editor for The Bradenton Times. His column appears every Thursday and Sunday on our site and in our free Weekly Recap and Sunday Edition (click here to subscribe). An archive of Dennis' columns is available here. He can be reached at dennis.maley@thebradentontimes.com. You can also follow Dennis on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the badges below.

Dennis Maley