~Thomas Paine

At least with a tea bagger, some words and phrases can get through that they don’t hear in their right-wing media echo chambers, much like a dog will hear: “Blah, blah, blah, LEASH, blah blah, WALK, blah, blah TREAT!”

The left has little to no say not only in the FL legislature but across this country. The Supreme Court and the right-wing have succeeded in making just about every single thing in politics entirely about money. What we should aim for on the left is a FOOT IN THE DOOR, and that means electing Democrats.

You can vote however you wish in the primary. Those who live in reality know that Charlie Crist will win. Then, after that, those who actually care about people, the environment and the state over petty idealistic purity will vote for WHOMEVER is the Democratic nominee for the general election.

Ralph Nader said that there’s barely “a dime’s worth of difference” between the two parties. Well, that dime’s worth can be a huge chasm for the most vulnerable in our society.

Effete, removed, academic and petty liberals who demand that their democracy is handed to them only as they shall have it on a silver platter are simply anti-democracy, although they’ll never admit that to themselves let along anyone else.

We exist in an oligarchy. Most elections are entirely about money. The Democratic Party hasn’t done anything to stomp on Nan Rich. It’s Nan herself that has done little else but poison the political reality for some on the left who have entirely lost focus.

What has been written about Nan vs. Charlie on this blog has been nothing but poisonous to the exceedingly difficult effort of ridding this state of Rick Scott.

It’s entirely up to Nan, not her party, to get her message out. Thus far since Charlie declared, Nan’s entire message has been “Sniping, not solutions!”

Support and vote for Nan as the “genuine” Democrat, but I kindly and humbly suggest voting for Democrats of any ilk in any general election over Republicans. It does make a difference, and that difference is very important.

We must take back the governorship in Florida. Is Charlie Crist a consummate politician? Yes. That means that he knows which way the wind blows — and he knows that as governor he must act in ways accountable to the people who elected him (aka Democrats), or kiss his political future goodbye. Yes, he has changed his positions on some issues; and what exactly was Rick Scott doing when he flip-flopped to support in-state tuition for DREAMers this year? Politicians reverse their position on issues. All the better when they move in the direction of positive, progressive change.

There is too much at stake in this election to use your decision not to vote as a bargaining chip. Democrats not voting is the very core of the problem — not the solution. Not this election, and not ever.

That’s what will happen if we don’t unify behind a candidate who can win statewide.

Nan Rich, much as we may love her history as a progressive, *cannot* and will not win statewide.

I am fully in agreement that we need a much deeper bench of candidates running — God knows I yearn for the day when we have progressive women candidates running up and down the ballot in Florida. And you know how we can take one important step in that direction? By electing a Democratic governor who will control multiple administrative appointments, thus providing a platform to bolster the political career of future Dems who can run statewide — and who will force our Republican legislature into actual conversation on the issues by wielding a line-item veto (and just maybe asking them to start acting a little more moderately).

We won’t take back the Florida House or Senate till 2022 at the very earliest. The race that we CAN control this year, with LOTS of work, determination and collaboration, is the governor’s race. I am a bleeding-heart, pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control liberal — and I believe we need to see the bigger picture in this election. The enemy is not Charlie Crist — the enemy is Rick Scott. We can’t lose sight of that.