Florida Can't Take Four More Years Of Rick The Wrecking Ball
Rick Scott delivered his State of the State speech again today, and we can only hope it was his last, because he used the speech this year as a reelection campaign speech, and in doing so, showed Floridians that, for him, it isn't about them. It's about him, his dangerous, destructive policies, and about keeping himself in power.
That's it.
Sure, he used lots of slogans and the usual platitudes, but the Florida that he described is unrecognizable to the average Floridians who live in the real world as opposed to the fictional one Scott portrays. That's why he's trying so desperately to keep the majority of us from voting.
He used fuzzy jobs numbers and job creation expectations he's repeatedly downsized to fit in line with reality. He called his repeatedly revised and lackluster education funding and policies "historic," when he's only restoring part of what he cut, and promising no tuition raises, turning higher education into lower expectations, resulting in less funding, and therefore dumbed down, cheap bargain basement college degrees in return.
Like many Republicans, he borrowed from President Obama by saying he inherited a mess. (Of course you're only allowed to say that if you're a Republican.) That mess, he would have you believe, is all Charlie Crist's fault, which brings us back to the real purpose of what was supposed to be a State of the State speech: The State of the Rick Scott Reelection Campaign. Make no mistake, that's what this is about. His speech wasn't about the needs of everyday Floridians. It was about painting a fictional picture of Florida under Scott's rule. Once you weed through his speech, (which you can read in full here) take away the cheap shots at Charlie, and Washington, and look beyond the unicorns and rainbows, there was little left that actually means anything to the average citizen in Florida.
So what do Floridians get from all Scott's promises? You can find it all in one sentence from his speech:
If we continue to cut taxes – by rolling back the 2009 tax hike on annual motor vehicle fees so Floridians keep more of the money they earn.
That's your campaign promise folks. A savings of up to $25. Try not to spend it all in one place, should it actually materialize. The rest of "It's Your Money" as he refers to it, will go to corporate welfare as always.
Scott also didn't miss the opportunity to hold out "success stories" of people who have managed to make ends meet somehow in spite of him. But one of those stories actually did more to point out the glaring omission from his speech:
Health care.
It was never mentioned. But Scott chose to use the story of a schoolteacher who fought breast cancer, saying:
...her students saved her life by supporting her and making her stronger
Even when she returned to the classroom while still receiving treatments.
Her students made sure she would sit when teaching and they helped her with simple chores around the classroom.
It's nice that Scott would hold up a cancer survivor, that he would recognize her for a battle so many have fought. But any perceived sincerity is quickly diminished by the fact that he's still refusing to expand Medicaid, and in doing so, preventing millions who might have received a similar life saving diagnosis if they had access to health care, from getting one. By ignoring that simple fact, millions will continue to go without health care, and yes, they will die, thanks to Scott's inaction. "It's your money." Yet he's throwing away your taxpayer dollars that could save so many. Simply because he doesn't care for the President. Simply because he can.
And if that's not bad enough, he's limiting the amount of time those who do get Medicaid can go to the emergency room, even though the law says such a cap is illegal. That's hardly the "Florida dream come true" that Rick Scott claims he's created, but a Rick Scott reality. No, those needing help like that schoolteacher did will just have to get it someplace else, because Rick Scott and the Republicans in the legislature won't be lifting a finger for them again this year.
Finally, Scott ended with his life story, which we've all memorized at this point after hearing it over and over again. (Minus the part about his former company's Medicare fraud fines, of course.) How he was a poor child who grew up in the projects, how he went from starting a doughnut shop, to becoming a millionaire in said health care company, and went on to buy the governor's office, which he's attempting again this year. He implies that, thanks to him, Floridians can climb up from nothing just like he did. But that world is unrecognizable to those who live in Rick Scott's Florida. His policies only serve to keep those who are down right where they are, or worse.
No amount of his campaign jargon is going to change the "State of the State" under Rick Scott.
Reality speaks louder than words.
