• Sadly, this is the state of our state in 2012. The ambitions, sacrifice, sweat and labor of millions of fellow citizens have been hijacked by a group of right-wing Republicans who have been in charge for the last 14 years. The priorities of working and middle class families, the “99%” – good jobs with fair wages, decent homes, quality public education, affordable health care, safe and clean neighborhoods – have all been ignored while the special interests have prospered.
• These same politicians have pushed laws to allow guns on college campuses, impose their morality on women and families, attack the ability of unions to function, and Floridians to vote for the candidate of their choice.
• What was once a budget surplus under the last Democratic governor was squandered as tax cut after tax cut was doled out to big corporations and the very wealthy. And, as the economy deteriorated and the jobs disappeared, so too did state dollars for education, health care safety nets for the critically ill and elderly, unemployment benefits, infrastructure improvements and the service of thousands of dedicated public servants and teachers. But the tax cuts remained.
• Don’t just take my word for it. Ask your local police officers, your firefighters, your teachers – all those on the front lines getting pink slips – and then ask yourselves: What have Tallahassee Republicans done for me lately?
• Fourteen years after the attack on the middle class began, what is the solution Governor Scott is now proposing to balance the state budget and put Floridians to work? A billion dollar false choice pitting our hospitals against our teachers. The Republican solution to solving the economic crisis in Florida has actually come down to grandparents versus grandchildren.
• Enough is enough.
• As Democrats, we believe that turning Florida around should mean just that.
• It starts with a real future for our children and the dollars to make that happen. Their success is a product not only of parental involvement but also a first rate public education system.
• As Democrats, we believe that hard work and personal responsibility should be rewarded, and that everyone should pay their fair share for the public services they use, from police and fire protection to good roads and clean drinking water. Large corporations should share the same sacrifices and the same financial responsibilities as the Floridians who helped drive their success. Their tax loopholes shouldn’t come at the expense of educating our children, caring for our elders, or protecting our communities.
• As Democrats, we believe that our senior citizens earned the right to remain in their own homes, and that doing so is not only practical, but economical. And if a nursing home becomes the last resort it should be a safe, affordable haven.
• As Democrats, we believe that the true job creators are the small businesses that have been ignored. Our tax incentives should be re-focused so that Florida’s real economic engine gets the shot in the arm it so badly needs.
• One year ago, as Governor Scott teamed up with the Republican legislature to repeatedly stop Florida from getting hundreds of millions of dollars – hard earned tax dollars we sent to Washington and now desperately needed for jobs, education and health care - I called on him to “get real.”
• It seems he still hasn’t gotten the message.
• And so today I’m asking you to join me and remind Governor Scott and his fellow Republicans who they actually work for.
• Let them know that the 99% is still waiting for fair representation from Tallahassee and that a devotion to right-wing issues is little help when your house is in foreclosure, your job is outsourced, your business folds, college is out of reach, or you’re choosing between prescriptions and food on the table.
• Remind Governor Scott that it takes more than just claims that jobs are being created or education is important. Most of his jobs are minimum wage. And the billion dollars he’s proposing for education doesn’t begin to cover the $1.35 billion the Republicans cut from our school children last year.
• In times like these, true leaders are defined by moving the people forward despite seemingly overwhelming odds. They do not pit one vulnerable group against another to protect just the 1 percent.
• One of this country’s greatest leaders understood that. In the grip of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt said to the American people: “These unhappy times call for…plans that…build from the bottom up and not from the top down, that put their faith once more in the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.”
• As 2012 begins, we will once again hear the Republican leadership talk all about the need for shared sacrifices as an army of well-paid lobbyists defend indefensible tax loopholes for special interests. We’ll once again face more laws to control women’s bodies and other attacks on personal freedom. Politicians will continue to run against government instead of running it well, public servants will be recast as the public enemy, and deregulating laws that protect us from unscrupulous companies will resurface. And before the year is out, Florida will once again find herself at the center of the battle for the presidency where the rules have been changed to put Democrats at a disadvantage.
• But I still believe in Florida’s promise, and the ability of Floridians to really turn the state around. We don’t suffer from a lack of work ethic; we suffer from a lack of jobs. We don’t have a lack of ambition; we have a lack of investment in the real job creators: education, infrastructure, and innovative products stamped “Made in America” again.
• As this new session gets underway, and the Republican Governor and his friends in the legislature set about putting bad right wing politics above good economic policy, join me once again in urging them to “get real.”
• Remind them of the faith in the hardworking people a courageous leader like FDR once steadfastly held.
• And remind them that you will not be forgotten.
• Thank you.
Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich State of the State Response January 10, 2012
1 comment:
The state of the State of FL is indeed grim but don't try to co-opt Occupy by slipping the 99% language into your speech. If you spend any time really talking to occupiers instead of just watching them on tv (what little gets covered, and usually from a manipulative, biased perspective), Occupy is just as angry and fed up with Democrats as Republicans. You would do well to remember that, especially if you're up for re-election. We will no longer support any politician who cow-tows to corporations and the 1%. You're either with The People, or you're out.
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