Start the Revolution

Thomas Jefferson wrote; “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” He’s basically saying if those in charge aren’t doing the right thing then the people they govern have the right to kick them out or change their situation. Whenever I hear about the latest fiasco regurgitated out by Tallahassee it just makes me think, those bastards don’t have our best interests in mind. Isn’t it time we took Jefferson’s words to heart and made a change after all isn’t the state engaging in destructive practices?

They give tax breaks to special interests such as the sugar and bottled water industry among others many of which don’t have an inkling of a presence in Jacksonville. They are going to force us to help pay for high speed rails that connect cities far away. The state government is not only trying to steal home rule but it is already violating the constitution by not funding education and is attempting to do so again by superseding the will of the people by rolling back the class size amendment. They pick and choose what rules they are going to follow, following the rules they like or that benefit them and their friends ignoring the ones they don’t like, like adequately funding education.

The Florida Constitution says “The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require.”

Adequate provisions? Are they doing so by cutting education budgets year after year? Do you think this helps the “paramount duty” to provide a high quality education or harms it? Their mandates requiring algebra II and chemistry interfere with us preparing children to be good citizens which should be the “paramount responsibility” of a good school system. They ignore this part of the constitution daily and as a result haven’t they lost the moral authority required to govern us?

Jacksonville is not only the largest city in Florida size wise but it is the largest population wise to. Now it’s true some metropolitan areas are bigger, but like Orange Park doesn’t give us any kickbacks. cities like Miami and Tampa aren’t getting subsidized by their suburbs either. This means Jacksonville proper has more people paying taxes to the state and much of that money is going elsewhere?

Now through their education bills they seek to wrest even more home rule away from us. They use our tax dollars to subsidize other counties, dole our money back to us and then tell us how we should spend it. For years they underfunded our children saying different kids in different parts of the states were worth more and I don’t think I need to explain what a fiasco the lottery and the f-cat have been.

What kind of job is the Florida state legislature doing too? The state’s unemployment rate is high our deficits are high, they have different priorities than the citizens of Jacksonville, and they siphon monies away from us, so exactly what are we getting out of this relationship. If we broke away from the state could we do worse? If we are going to fail don’t you want it to be on us rather than because some politicians far away who don’t have our best interests at heart gave us no other option.

Jefferson further wrote; when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. How long are we to wait for the state government to do the right thing, and if they are neglecting our children aren’t they threatening our future. How long can we endure a “history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over…” Jacksonville.

Friends and fellow citizens it’s time we recognized the state government is not our friend, for far too long we have been an afterthought an unwanted associate who they could take from and give very little back to. When are we going to wake up and say enough is enough?

There is a social contract between us and them and when they continuously break it or disregard it then it’s time for us to move on. It’s time for us to start having our best interests in mind rather than hoping people far away who have shown us nothing but distain do. Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration says not only is it our right but it’s our moral responsibility to do so.

It’s time somebody in this state got morals. It’s time somebody in this state took responsibility. It’s time we did.

In the last year Ed White high school on the Westside has seen more than its fair share of tragedies. The latest involved the senseless of murder of sophomore Tiphne Hollis just 16. By all accounts she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and unfortunately there have been no arrests in the subsequent two weeks. She however hasn’t been the only member of the Ed White family in the news and perhaps lost in Tiphne’s tragedy is the horror that befell Delores Futrell. She was murdered by Ed White alums Randall Deviney.

Tiphne and Randal were on drastically different tracks while at Ed White. Tiphne’s teachers all say she was a sweet, quite girl who worked hard and had a bright future. Randal on the other hand was a special education student who had quite the reputation for causing trouble. I remember when was hired I was warned to stay away from him and a couple other students too. I thought “stays away, um, aren’t I a teacher.” Randal and my path never really crossed, though I have had more than a few that were just like he was in my classes.

Now Randall Deviney wasn’t a murderer back then he was just defiant and disrespectful, without conscious and remorse. He thought he could behave however he wanted and school was nothing more than an inconvenience to him and if any teacher got in his way they could expect a tirade of foul language as he explained what he thought of them and education in general. In those regards he is like dozens if not hundreds of other students here in the county. Students who I know are on the road to disaster. And we have the same plan in place for them and that’s just to cross our fingers and hope they don’t too many people down with them. In the meantime we try and stay out of their ways as well.

To be honest even if we would have decided five years ago that we as a society wanted to save him I don’t think we would have had a chance. He was far too damaged and angry as close to a lost cause as you can get. Sadly this means Delores Futrell, the 65 year old disabled neighbor that was reported to have been so kind to him that he would call her grandmother, whose throat he subsequently slit, fate had probably already been sealed.

I do however wonder what would have happened had we gotten to him as an eight year old or an eleven year old. If we could have recognized through his behavior and grades which by all accounts were always poor at best, that this kid was in trouble, that he needed help? If we could have gotten him counseling or extra help, something could he and Delores had been saved then? Maybe it’s worse than that, maybe his teachers did recognize his problems but there was nothing they could do, handcuffed by the system of shrinking and hard to get resources.

The truth is I don’t know but I do know that Florida is fiftieth out of fifty on what we spend on education while at the same time we are sixteenth on what we spend on prisons. Maybe if those two stats were switched Delores would still be alive. Furthermore we spend almost three times more on prisoners than we do on students. Prisons where necessary are reactive, education and care are proactive. Chicago Longitudinal Study reports "For every dollar invested in high-quality, comprehensive programs supporting children... there is a $7-$10 return to society in decreased need for special education services, higher graduation and employment rates, less crime, less use of the public welfare system, and better health."

I also know prisons have become big business. There are 139 prison facilities that hold over a hundred thousand inmates within the Florida Department of Corrections. This number does not include count county jails, federal prisons, or people on probation. How many of them could have been saved had we decided we want to invest in children. How many more Delores could have been saved? What about Tiphnes, her murderer is still on the loose but odds say it will be a young man with a history of trouble and poor academics.

The legislature recently gave yacht owners a tax break, joining a long list of special interests that don’t contribute their fair share. At the same time they did this they voted to cut money to education and slash money to other social services including the transition of children from state care to independent living. They are cutting funding to pregnant woman and families too. In doing so how many more Tiphnes, Delores and Randall’s fates are they sealing?