Commentary

All opinions expressed here are the views of the commentator and do not necessarily express official views of the Democratic Party.

Plenty of Slogans, Not Many Ideas

Defending BP, Privatizing Social Security, Raising retirement age to 70, Economic policies to to continue the recession. Read what one prominent GOP Senator says. Click here

Who Is Really For Everyday People?

There is a battle over unemployment benefits in DC. We have 2.5 million jobless Americans who haven't received benefits since May.

Democrats want to extend benefits to up to 99 weeks of unemployment without making offsetting budget cuts elsewhere, which Republicans demand. At the same time Republicans want to make Bush's $67.8 Billion per year tax cuts for the wealthy permanent WITHOUT making offsetting budget cuts elsewhere.

Why do Republicans demand offsetting budget cuts for unemployment but for millionaires they don't?

Quoting President Obama - "After years of championing policies that turned a record surplus into a massive deficit, the same people who didn't have any problem spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are now saying we shouldn't offer relief to middle class Americans who really do need help."

Vera Chapman

Find Your Voice, Loose the Gerrymandering

"Residents of South Shore Lack Local Voice" is Earnest Hooper's column headline in the Friday, July 2, edition of the St. Pete Times. He is referring to us in the southern end of Hillsborough County, and how few, if any, of our government representatives live south of the Alafia River, also known as the South Shore.

He points out that our State senators live in Valrico and Tampa while two of our three state representatives live outside of our area. Our county commissioners live either in Tampa or Plant City. School Board representatives are similarly non-neighbors. In short, not one of the 17 elected officials, excluding the governor, U.S. Senators and State Cabinet officers, charged with representing the South Shore could walk or bike to a (local) meeting.

How did this situation develop? Partly it is due to widespread gerrymandering. An example close to home, Sun City Center is arbitrarily divided into two voting districts separated by State Route 674. In this predominately retiree neighborhood one would expect many similarities of opinion about how the county should be run -- or in other words -- a voting block. Splitting the area is a way of defusing a potentially pesty voting group. The Sun City Center is just one small example of how many voting districts have been manipulated all over Florida.

When they appears on the November ballot, the Fair Districts Amendments 5 and 6 will be an attempt to correct this statewide injustice. The amendment, endorsed by nearly all Florida newspapers, will insist that the district drawers, regardless of political party, must make voter districts compact and, utilize existing political and geographic boundaries. Vote for Amendments 5 and 6, but not Amendment 7 which the State Legislature, in an act of self protection, added to undermine 5 and 6.

Another reason for the lack of south shore political leadership is the apparent lack of interest by local residents. Things seem to happen in Tampa and Tampa seems so far away. How many of us know what is really going on in Hillsborough County? Yet it is those County and other local officials that have as great - if not greater - influence on our daily lives than those headliners in Washington or Tallahassee. If you disagree, just check your annual Hillsborough real estate tax bill as Exhibit #1.

To end this sad state of representation of South Shore everyone needs to Get Active. Become part of the local political scene. Join and participate in the SouthShore Democratic Club -- now !

Arnie Frigeri

McCollum's Baggage

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum finds himself trailing a candidate who has more baggage than J-Lo on a camel safari."
-- Carl Hiaason, Miami Herald.

The Legislature and Fair Districts Florida

Thousands of volunteers spent untold hours gathering 1.6 million signatures on petitions to include two constitutional amendments on the November 2010 ballot. Those two amendments, collectively known as Fair Districts Florida, would ensure fair, non-discriminatory, common sense standards for reapportioning Florida's state and congressional districts, as required by law after each census. The state legislators agreed to place an additional constitutional amendment on the November 2010 ballot that would eviscerate the two Fair Districts Florida initiatives and permit legislators ultimate authority to select their constituents. How disappointing the Legislators choose to dismiss the Fair Districts Florida non-partisan movement, the voice of 1.6 million voters, and make such a naked power grab by setting forth a constitutional amendment that makes them the final word on how districts will be drawn.

Self-serving interests continue to try to maintain the status quo. Those who would oppose the wishes of the voters fail to recognize that housing patterns in many places change in a decade. For example, ten years ago what was a strawberry or tomato field or a pasture is now a housing development. The people who live in these developments represent a range of diversity that was not so evident a decade ago. The older neighborhoods have evolved; some have gone more upscale while others have moved in the opposite direction. Representation in our state and federal law-making bodies must reflect the people who currently reside in these places.

How can partisan politics be overcome and the attitude of the few wanting to represent the will of the many?

George Stokes

Racism

Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, notes that when the nation's leading civil rights organization passed a resolution condemning displays of racism by Tea Party activists, leaders of the movement reacted with umbrage so thick you could cut it with a knife -- they demonstrated that the NAACP's allegation was entirely justified Click here to read.

Quote of the Week

"We don't have a lot of Reagan-type leaders in our party. Remember Ronald Reagan Democrats? I want a Republican that can attract Democrats. Ronald Reagan would have a hard time getting elected as a Republican today."
-- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), in an interview with the New York Times Magazine, in which he also said the Tea Party is "just unsustainable" and "will die out."

Joe Speaks Plainly

"I mean this in a literal sense -- it's going to sound partisan, but I mean it literally: I know what the Republicans are against. I have no notion of what they're for."
-- Vice President Joe Biden, in an interview with Politico, on why Democrats will do better in the midterm elections than people now think.

It Is Democracy, Not Tyranny!

By Randy Schultz, The Palm Beach Post

Happy Independence Day. That would be Independence Day 2010, not 1776.

Some self-proclaimed "patriots" want you to believe otherwise. As has happened during every stress point in the country's history, some Americans want to invoke that fiery spirit of 1776 to pit one segment of the country against another. From that perspective, losing a vote in Congress isn't just a defeat. It's an example of the majority's "tyranny." Pushing through a bill amounts to "treason". Click Here To Read Full Column.

Against Health Care Reform?

So who is against health reform law? Surprisingly it is not the traditional interest groups. The A.M.A, many hospital associations, AARP, and even most insurers now support the law. Closer examination of the criticisms points to resistance generated by Republicans for political gain. They see a within this extensive law opportunities for distortion, and cute negative bumper sticker type sayings. Wild charges of "socialism"? and the sky is falling charges simply are not supported by the facts.

Despite Medicare and VA care, both successful government programs, there remains negative feelings toward government involvement with medicine. These feeling are being exploited by people who have a vested commercial interest in fighting the new law.

The challenge for Democrats is to educate the public about all the positive measures in the law. For example, as recent article in the New Yorker magazine points out, the law doesn't pretend to have all the answers. The law encourages local experimentation with ways to deliver better care at lower cost. Children with preexisting conditions can stay on their parents health plans. You will no longer will be dropped from insurance if you get sick. Fro seniors, the infamous drug doughnut hole will eventually be closed. And the list of great features goes on and on.

The health reform bill may be law, but the battle is not over. We can not continue what we have always done and expect different results such as continuous escalating cost.

Your help is needed in arguing that the law is a great first step for the American public.