Tallahassee’s values are democratic values
Democrats in Tallahassee are united by a common goal: to defeat Donald Trump, to preserve our quality of life in Tallahassee, and to protect the democracy that preserves the freedoms we all cherish in our country.
Another Trump term, emboldened by a right-wing Supreme Court, would be even more devastating to our interests than the inability of state Republicans to control insurance premiums, the reckless oil drilling currently planned in the Apalachicola River, and Governor Ron DeSantis’ callous vetoes of local arts funding.
Repealing marijuana prohibition and giving women the right to choose freely, free from the dictates of manipulated state politicians, will be on the ballot in 2024. Many people in Leon County support these initiatives and the Leon County Democratic Party agrees with them.
An increasingly authoritarian Republican Party is trying to take away these basic freedoms. But we will win once again at the ballot box, just as we did on passing medical marijuana and a higher federal minimum wage.
The party of Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama remains the party of Leon County’s values - and our best tool for fighting back.
Without the efforts of our Leon DEC leadership, a Republican school board member endorsed by Moms for Liberty would have been unopposed. Instead, we will return this important seat to the Democrats – and build a government that aligns with our city’s values.
I don’t expect Democrats to agree on everything. Our strength, after all, lies in our great diversity and our passionate internal debates. But we can agree that standing up to MAGA extremists who want to enrich billionaires at the expense of the rest of us is the right thing to do.
Whether you are a fiscal conservative fed up with lavish giveaways and no-bid contracts to contractors, a progressive Democrat or a Blue Dog, or an unaffiliated voter understandably fed up with the antics of cynical scribblers on both sides, I ask you to join us in supporting grassroots Democratic candidates who have a vision for reform for the future – the antidote to the backroom deals of the bad old days in Tallahassee.
Just last week, elections in the UK and France showed the world that people are fed up with far-right authoritarianism. Let us continue the global momentum against fascism and greed and for a better world order that works for people at home.
Ryan Ray is chair of the Leon County Democratic Party, an advisor to Councilman Jeremy Matlow, and host of the Florida affairs podcast Tropical Depression. He can be reached at [email protected].
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