The Strange Failure of Florida’s Medical Marijuana Initiative--
I know. Hometown Democracy and the Medical Marijuana initiatives don't have anything in common, but...you pot loving folks did it to yourselves when this initiative lost on Tuesday!In the early 2000’s under Gov. Jeb Bush, the GOP legislature and its patrons, Big Sugar, the Florida Homebuilders, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida and big time lobbyists, began demonizing a citizens ballot initiative rising to the forefront: Florida Hometown Democracy.
All Florida Hometown Democracy wanted to do was to provide citizens the opportunity to vote for or against changes to community and municipal master development plans, required by state law to protect quality of life and the environment. And what did you all do along with the Florida Chamber of Commerce and special interests? Florida’s lobbyist class representing deep-pocketed campaign contributors mounted a countermeasure. They did it with 58 percent of the vote in 2006 when 2.6 million voters approved putting brakes on ballot initiatives by requiring not a simple majority to pass a ballot item, but a supermajority: from fifty to sixty percent.
That’s the history and the fact behind the reason why on Tuesday, the will of 3.3 million voters … a higher percentage than voted to legalize marijuana for adults in Oregon — failed in Florida. Ironically, both the medical marijuana amendment and the 2006 requirement of a supermajority passed by fifty eight percent of the popular vote in Florida. Only the marijuana amendment failed.
Read about it... and ALAN FARAGO's article and how you potheads screwed yourselves!
Personally, I believe in a Super Majority when changing the State Constitution that affects our laws and that belief also applies to our Charter in Lake Worth. On a local level and the supermajority initiative, most people who voted against years back were members of the Chamber of Commerce or were heavily influenced by their anti-supermajority campaign, spending over $100,000 in Lake Worth to defeat it. It lost by 119 votes. It's extremely difficult for the grassroots to win anything against the powerful. Politicians sided with special interests and needed to keep a simple majority in order to easily win the vote from the dais.
Residents never came to commission meetings and never saw the waivers and the constant changes to our Land Development Regulations that were given out like M&M's. All the commissioners wanted was to do what they wanted to do and when they wanted to do it and they conjured up the money from the "big boys" and their influence to defeat it. Lake Worth commissioners played on the politics and were in favor of a simple majority when it came to theirs and developer interests. Read about it... and the Supermajority that was endorsed by the Palm Beach Post back then.
5 comments:
Lynn, you really need to print the article in full so people can read it, if you are able to . It really is tragic/comic that Jeff screwed himself and the rest of the people in Florida by being one of the rabid anti-Hometown Democracy idiots.Way to go Jeff ! How does it feel to bite your own ass ?
"It's extremely difficult for the grassroots to win anything against the powerful". Because Lake Worth is just loaded with power hitters from top to bottom. The only people that could possibly think there's anybody "powerful" in Lake Worth must be in piss poor shape.
Most people have the ability to click on the link and read the one-sided article. What a bunch of crap. Does anyone remember adding a provision in our State Constitution regarding pregnant pigs? While a worthwhile proposition it may have been, it had no place in our Constitution. It was such a lame amendment the politicians decided that it needed to change the law regarding Constitutional Amendments.
Nobody has complained about the LAW requiring CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS be passed by more than a simple majority until their pet amendment is narrowly defeated.
I wish they could name one person arrested for using marijuana to alleviate cancer treatment nausea.
I think if they had not tried to be so arrogant with their real objective (legalization)many people would have supported it. Now that the legislature can see that a majority of people favor some type of legalization, they may realize they don't need a Constitutional Amendment. Just legislate. That's what we pay them to do.
2:49--we are in piss poor shape because those in power make the decisions for all of us some of which are well, just plain PISS POOR. When you sit on the commission, you have a lot of power as long as you are in the majority. So, your snide comment is just plain well, SNIDE. :(
Right, anonymous at 3:42. legalize it and allow the entire state's people to become high on marijuana which leads to addiction of hard drugs. then all of us will be in jeopardy and have to start "packing."
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