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GOP's Webster struggles to find meaning of democracy

Republicans must really hate democracy. This year, after years of complaints from Jeb! that the people were actually telling him what to do, they managed to overturn a citizen initiative calling for a high speed train system in the state. That effort was led by Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher on behalf of Emperor Jeb!.

They also started to chip away at the citizen initiative process through Amendment 2 on this year’s ballot.

Now, some GOP leaders want to “streamline” the constitution. What they mean by “streamline” is “take power away from the people.”

A state Senate leader said Wednesday he wants to streamline the Florida Constitution to a pure document that only deals with the structure of government and the rights of citizens.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Dan Webster said he presented his idea to Senate President Tom Lee, who responded enthusiastically. Webster told his committee at a meeting Wednesday he wasn't talking about writing a brand new Constitution.

"I don't believe pregnant pigs should be in the Constitution," said Webster, R-Winter Garden, referring to a 2002 citizen initiative that voters approved banning the use of small gestation crates for expectant swine.

Nearly 55 percent of the voters approved putting that in the Florida Constitution, a fact that has caused much angst in the state Capitol. Lawmakers also have been vocal in their disapproval of a class size reduction measure, which voters also approved in 2002.

Hey, you arrogant power drunk bitches: the people have spoken, and it seems to me that if 51 percent equals a mandate for your W, then 55 percent must represent a huge landslide, well beyond a simple mandate.

The citizen initiative is the only way for the people of Florida to directly affect legislation and to send a strong message to “leaders” like Webster. This is the only tool the people have, and it’s still often ignored by those in power, yet it is too much for people like Webster.

The fact that it is often the only way for a grassroots movement to get something done is exactly the reason why “pregnant pigs” are in the constitution. This is one of the GOP’s favorite mocking phrases, and it really does sound ridiculous, and it seems to most uninformed people that something called a “constitution” should be a serious document, so the phrasing works well, but, like many GOP slogans, it is incredibly oversimplified and very misleading.

Bottom line: if the legislature had responded to citizen’s concerns about inhumane farming practices, even in a token fashion, then this initiative never ever would have gotten off the ground.

Last month voters approved eight amendments to the state Constitution, including two the Legislature put on the ballot. Webster said he didn't know which ones might be considered appropriate and which ones unconstitutional in scope.

"Every time these amendments come up, we struggle with what they mean," he said.

Actually, clear ballot language is a strict requirement, and the Florida Supreme Court must approve the wording of ballot initiatives. Oh, and does anyone else see the irony in a guy named Webster struggling for the meaning of words?

To explain his idea, he pointed to guidelines that lawmakers discussed in the spring when they made changing the constitutional amendment process a priority.

Ultimately, the two key proposals failed to make it out of the Legislature. One would have limited the subject matter that could be handled by petition drive to the basic structure of government or fundamental rights of citizens. The other proposal would have required a higher passage threshold for proposed constitutional amendments, which now need only a simple majority of 50 percent plus one.

Sixty percent of the Legislature needs to approve a proposed constitutional amendment to put it on the ballot.

In the House, state Rep. Joe Pickens, a Palatka Republican who has been a leader on constitutional amendment issues, said asking voters to approve a streamlined state Constitution was "certainly an option."

But Pickens said lawmakers in the House are focusing now on prekindergarten and hurricane relief issues expected to come up in a special session later this month.

He said the House would revisit the issue of constitutional amendments in the regular two-month session, which begins in March.

The only things these guys are interested in is raw power and the graft that comes with it. Those pesky initiatives that force lawmakers to actually spend money on priorities that are important to the people really need to go so that lawmakers can get back to the important business of raping the state unchecked and unsupervised.