Florida Republicans Are Going to War Against Small Government

[TexasTowelie]

Miami state Rep. Jose Oliva, the current speaker of the Florida House, is a hardcore ideologue who believes, generally speaking, in Koch FBrothers-style, pro-business, libertarian-esque Republicanism. Oliva believes America's economic system is inherently fair and that successful people "earned" their money, which is rich, since before he went into politics, he was a cigar-company owner who got rich off a tobacco-growing business his dad had set up decades ago.

This year's legislative session was Oliva's first as House speaker. For years, he's said he supports the state's right to "preempt" towns from making their own laws as a way to stop local governments from, in his mind, improperly interfering with business, the economy, or people's lives. And, under his leadership, the Florida GOP in 2019 made good: It pitched a slew of preemption laws to hamper local towns' rights to regulate everything from plastic straws all the way to job responsibilities, work hours, and employee benefits.

This is not exactly a new phenomenon: Numerous articles have outlined how Republican-dominated state legislatures across the U.S. are increasingly working to stop left-leaning towns and cities from governing themselves. But, at least in Florida, the practice now seems to be going into overdrive. Despite Oliva's promises that he doesn't believe in the concept of "corporate welfare," Tallahassee's preemption bills are exactly that — bills that, in virtually every case, protect harmful or controversial business industries that local governments want to regulate, monitor, or outright kill.

The Florida GOP is, in a nutshell, using the larger powers of the state to restrict small governments everywhere — actions that expose the party's "small government" platform as a flat-out lie. Here's a list of bills that explain why.

Read more: https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/florida-republican-preemption-laws-in-2019-legislative-session-fight-against-small-government-11169504

[lark]

1. Small government is just another canned repug lie.

They don't give a damn about small governments, they just want government that gives everything to the wealthy and nothing to the workers. That is their only goal, all power to the rich, everyone else are just serfs to be used, abused and let die.