If, in Florida’s Legislature, you find Democrats and Republicans marching in lockstep, be afraid — be very afraid.
The two parties who could not agree on armoring our schools following the Parkland shootings, have now joined forces to fight a proposed amendment to Florida’s Constitution.
Remember first, the constitutional amendment process was put into place to ensure citizens have a chance to change the form of state government when their elected representatives could not — or would not.
Last year we also saw the Constitutional Revision Commission putting amendments forward. This was created to be a gathering of citizen representatives every two decades to gather information and turn the will of the people into amendment form. It has become nothing but an instrument for the party in power to push through amendments it does not want its fingerprints all over. And, many don’t know, the legislature itself can forward a constitutional amendment (three in 2018), presumably when it doesn’t have the votes or the will to take care of business itself.
This is the time when groups across the state are going all out to gather the required number of citizen signatures to move various ballot initiatives forward.