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To Debbie Wasserman Schultz, from one Floridian to another, you lost in NH, too

Wed, 10 Feb 2016 12:30:00 -0500

Although I am an active Republican in Florida, it has been a pleasure to have a friendly and respectful relationship with many democrats, including Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Like many Americans, the stories about how Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill worked together for the good of the country inspire us about the way politics should be.

Today, though, the problem is that the Party of Reagan and the Party of Tip O’Neill have never been farther apart.

While the Grand Old Party still seeks to follow Reagan’s vision of lesser government and a strong America, the Democratic Party is unrecognizable from Tip O’Neill’s tenure in the 1980’s. Tuesday night’s crushing victory by Bernie Sanders can attest to how far to the left they have gone.

As much I do not want to pick a fight with my former Congressman from District 23, Debbie Wasserman Schultz clearly holds much of the blame.

Let us review Rep. Wasserman Schultz’s damning record:

Her tenure as DNC Chairwoman would be bad enough if it were just her hard left turn and being out of touch with even her liberal-leaning congressional district. But, far worse is the chaos and destruction that she is leading not just her party, but our country towards — radical left-wing policies that are sure to impoverish and endanger America.

These policies comprise an agenda utterly antithetical to the interests of those in the 23rd Congressional District here in my home state of Florida, and are void of the cornerstone principles that Americans have cherished since its founding.

As the leader of the Democratic Party, she is pushing for increasingly anti-capitalist policies -- the very ones that have made Venezuela and Cuba economic basket cases.

After 18 years, Venezuela is proof of the destruction democratic socialism brings. That country is in economic shambles as the nation's wealth has been completely destroyed.

Shortages abound in today's Venezuela and these shortages include staples such as medicine, toilet paper, food, and bread. Inflation is over 700 percent.

Ironically, the socialist policies that were supposed to help the poor, have only served to hurt them the most. Those of means and forethought have left--many live now right there in her District.

Why would Democrats — feeling “the Bern” — advocate for policies that would import the same miserable agenda that others in our own hemisphere are fleeing right at this very moment?

In the recent Democratic debate, Sanders and Clinton clashed on the all-important question-- who was the real progressive? Progressive is a code word for socialist.

Sanders is at least authentic- he is a self-proclaimed socialist. As for Clinton, well she'll say or do anything necessary to be president, and so she has chased Sanders to the left.

Hence, the Democratic Presidential candidates sound like Bolsheviks versus Mensheviks in their rhetoric on taxes, profits and the free enterprise system itself. These positions are out of the mainstream across the U.S. — again, just ask any Venezuelan translated into Rep. Wasserman Schultz’s Florida Congressional district.

It should also be noted that as a result of the destruction wrought by Cuba’s pursuit of the same policies Rep. Wasserman Schultz has been pursuing by way of reign as DNC Chair, there is a growing Cuban refugee crisis in Florida. Rep. Wasserman Schultz is nowhere to be found.

None of this even mentions the fact that Rep. Wasserman Schultz gave her imprimatur to an Iran deal opposed by Floridians -- including many in her heavily Jewish and Democratic district -- that will give its Holocaust-denying regime billions of dollars with which to spread its terror and enable it to build nuclear weapons that could destroy Israel and devastate the United States.

Conversely, Rep. Wasserman Schultz’s fellow Democratic Florida Congressional colleagues including Reps. Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel and Alcee Hastings all had the good sense to cross their party’s leader and oppose the deal on behalf of their constituents.

Under Party Boss Wasserman Schultz’s strong-armed authority, the Democratic field was to be cleared for Hillary Clinton. Left-of-center Democrats need not apply. But, these heavy-handed tactics caused a rebellion on the left and gave us the greatest potential of a socialist president for the first time in our history.

Not only has Rep. Schultz prioritized her own interests over those of Democrats nationwide, but she has also prioritized her party’s interests over those of the very people who elected her in the first place, the people of Florida’s 23rd Congressional District.

I am happy about one thing though and that is that I no longer live her district. But, sadly, I still cannot escape the scary place she intends to take America if she succeeds.

She must be stopped before she does so.

Five reasons why Florida matters (a lot) in 2016

Mon, 13 Apr 2015 15:28:07 -0400

With Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio shouldering into the race alongside his onetime mentor former Gov. Jeb Bush, the state now boasts two favorite son candidates. This rivalry only highlights how critical the Sunshine State has become in U.S. politics.

Fans of the NBC classic "30 Rock" will remember that episode that pictured the 2012 election as hanging on the whim of… Jenna Maroney. In the show, she commanded the votes of a key constituency in Florida, whose electoral strength would decide the entire election: Margaritaville-addled beach bums. As it turned out in the real world, Florida went for Obama, and so did the election.

Those of age will recall when the 2000 election really did hang upon some dangling chads in South Florida, famous for its “butterfly” ballots and having the greatest concentration of election lawyers ever assembled.

By most accounts, Jeb is already the Republican frontrunner, with a solid prospect of winning a general election. The fact that he governed Florida successfully for eight years is rightly seen as a strong presidential credential. Indeed, having “Florida cred” is increasingly a huge political bonus. The state is more than a bellwether: It is a snapshot of the future, which makes it a game-changer today. Here are five reasons why:

1. Florida is an economic powerhouse. Florida is one of the fastest growing states in the country both economically and demographically. While the state was hit harder than most by the 2008 recession, it has recovered more completely, boosting solid economic growth year after year. Economically Florida has no state income tax, and Florida under Gov. Rick Scott has followed the same script as Texas, reducing business taxes to attract new employers from high tax, wintry northern states that traditionally vote Democrat. Will the new workers who have flocked to take these new jobs bring their old politics with them—or shed them as they see the pro-business model working? That’s just one of the questions that makes Florida the state to keep an eye on in 2016 and after.

2. Our diverse population is a glimpse into America’s ethnic and electoral future. The state's racial and age distribution serve as a bellwether for the coming America: millions of elderly white retirees, and a large surge of younger Hispanics. Florida boasts the highest percentage of people over 65 in the U.S. (17.3%), a ratio that the aging Baby Boomers will soon appear across America. Florida is experiencing America’s changing ethnic composition, but at fast-forward speed: The state was almost 83% white as recently as 2000, but that ratio has dropped to 65%, and will continue to sink, as new immigrants arrive and start families. Almost 5 million Floridians speak a language other than English, according to the U.S. census.

But diversity doesn’t necessarily mean disorder, as Jeb Bush can boast. Even his opponents concede that Bush’s school-choice and other educational reforms boosted academic performance of minority students. As I wrote in The Daily Caller, “In 1998, before Jeb Bush’s reforms, nearly half of fourth-graders in Florida were functionally illiterate. By 2011, in an international reading assessment, Florida fourth-graders finished second in the world.”

3. The state is a hub of international trade. Florida is America’s pipeline to the world economy, via the Caribbean basin. It is fifth out of 50 states in the number of workers employed by foreign companies, and hosts more than 80 countries’ consulates. The state actively aids entrepreneurs from other countries to gain EB-5 “investors’ visas,” so they can relocate to the U.S. and create jobs. In 2013, $158 billion in trade passed through the state, much of it from Central and South America. Florida hosts the second-largest Foreign Trade Zone Network in the U.S.

4. Foreign policy issues hit home here. Foreign policy battles of the next few years will resonate even more loudly in Florida, such as Obama’s controversial “deal” with Iran that stoked battles between American Jews who support Netanyahu, and J Street-style “peace Zionists” who oppose him. The state boasts deep-red, Tea Party counties rich with Evangelical Christians, others with entrepreneurial Cuban exiles, and still others with retired, prosperous liberals from New York and New England. If trade with Cuba really does revive, and helps to transform that repressive country, Florida will reap the benefits first and the likely launch pad for such transformation of the island nation.

5. The challenges posed by the state are a true test for any politician. To win a statewide election, a candidate has to travel across a huge state with ten distinct media markets (compared to just four in Pennsylvania). It is a grueling process full of potential trip wires that can sink a candidate’s chances. Florida’s sheer scale battle-tests any candidate, and survivors can apply those skills in a general election.

Harkening back to 2000 and Broward County, the population of the state grants it a hefty share of Electoral College votes. Florida boasts five times (29) the electoral votes of Iowa (6) or New Hampshire (4), suggesting that it’s better test of a candidate’s electability in November. Its late placement in the primary calendar means Florida voters will face limited choices. But they might well decide the race.

Florida elections are close, and unconventional. In what other state would you see a nail-biter governor’s race between a former Reagan Republican-turned Obama Democrat, and a business-savvy conservative—like the one between Charlie Crist and Rick Scott in 2014? How many states have elected advocate pro-second amendment, pro-life, conservative Jeb Bush, and the anti-gun, unrestricted reproductive choice progressive, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schulz?

As New York City is to show business, Florida is to politics: If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.

Now that Republicans can choose between two strong Floridian candidates, the race has become even more interesting.