Name: Florida’s GOP-controlled Legislature often resembles the regimes they condemn | Commentary
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Florida’s GOP-controlled Legislature often resembles the regimes they condemn | Commentary

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AdvertisementBy Orlando SentinelApr 22, 2021 at 9:00 amRepublicans in the Florida Legislature loudly proclaim themselves to represent the party of freedom and the working class. This legislative session, Florida Republicans have revealed again, through their actions, what an absolute, shameless lie that it is.Through bills that crack down on first amendment rights, to bills that make voting more difficult, and bills that punish students for what they might choose to study, the Florida GOP majority more closely resembles the regimes of countries like Cuba and Venezuela, countries they claim to oppose. As we might say in Spanish in this case, el elefante hablando de orejas.AdvertisementDuring the 2020 elections, voters were told repeatedly that if they voted for Democrats, Florida would become the next Cuba or Venezuela. This year, Florida continues to have a Republican-controlled majority and, in a cruel irony, it is these same individuals now proposing unfair and undemocratic legislation that resembles that of authoritarian regimes.Take for instance the notorious anti-protest bill, HB 1. This legislation essentially undermines this country’s greatest democratic legacy — that of free speech and freedom of assembly.AdvertisementGovernor Ron DeSantis and the GOP want you to think this bill was a result of the insurrection that took place on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol. But make no mistake, this bill was presented in September, way before that attack on our government, as a response to protests around the George Floyd murder and issues of police brutality around the country.WeeklyGet latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. &gt; Instead, Republicans here had scant words to offer on the former president and his most hardcore supporters’ shameless attempt to stage a coup. This is what we see in countries such as Venezuela, where those in power want to stay in power, no matter what.Let’s be clear: the anti-protest bill, HB 1 was done for political gain, to silence the voice of the people — specifically, the already-marginalized Black and brown community. This is not the only piece of legislation that the governor has proposed for his own political gain.Just last year, the governor touted our exemplary election system; but now, he is making claims of non-existent voter fraud to improve his chances for re-election. SB 90 is a threat to our democracy.Instead of encouraging our citizens to vote, the GOP is trying to make it more difficult. Suppressing the vote, of course, is textbook authoritarianism. This bill originally would have required voters to request mail-in ballots more frequently, ban the use of drop boxes for voters to turn in ballots and allow only immediate family members to collect and deliver ballots to and from voters. Do we not want our citizens to vote?Another example is SB 86, more commonly known as the Bright Futures bill. It aimed to control what college majors our students can and can’t study by cutting financial aid for majors the state government deemed less employable. Imagine if the government tried to tell you what you could and couldn’t study in college? What’s next, a no-fly list for certain college majors? It is the transparent politicization of something that should not at all be political.I’ve always thought that you judge people not by their words, but by their actions. Based on the legislation Republicans have filed and supported in the past year — perhaps in the next round of elections — if voters want to move Florida away from authoritarianism and from government intervention in our basic rights, consider voting for leaders who will actually stand up for the guiding principles of freedom and democracy that distinguishes our country from despotic regimes.Annette Taddeo is a Democrat representing a portion of Miami-Dade County in the Florida Senate. Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Orlando SentinelApr 22, 2021 at 9:00 amRepublicans in the Florida Legislature loudly proclaim themselves to represent the party of freedom and the working class. This legislative session, Florida Republicans have revealed again, through their actions, what an absolute, shameless lie that it is.Through bills that crack down on first amendment rights, to bills that make voting more difficult, and bills that punish students for what they might choose to study, the Florida GOP majority more closely resembles the regimes of countries like Cuba and Venezuela, countries they claim...

Florida’s GOP-controlled Legislature often resembles the regimes they condemn | Commentary

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