Candidates for Governor of Florida Deserve More Attention

 

In America, the race for President of the country is so consuming we tend to overlook our other elections, even the race for Governor. As Governors are presidents of the states, they deserve quite a bit more attention. A disparaging Facebook message concerning one “frontrunner” for Governor of Florida motivated me to do a bit of research. It turns out there are some amazing candidates for governor in Florida!

With the help of private investors, Michael E. Arth turned an infamous crack town in DeLand, Florida into a vibrant historical district by buying crack houses and renovating them. Calling the War on Drugs “a war on the poor that ultimately harms everyone,” Arth offers a plan to cut down on the spiraling cost of prisons – building cost effective shelters for the homeless. Arth’s “Village for the Homeless” would relieve the swollen prison population and add millions back to Florida’s budget by providing cheap housing for the homeless, many of whom end up in prison without anywhere else to sleep.

Farid Khavari is an economist with plans to revitalize Florida’s economy. Similar to the Bank of North Dakota which has created thousands of jobs, Khavari proposes creating a Bank of the State ofFlorida. Managed properly, a state bank could make billions providing credit and low-interest mortgages to Floridians while taking business from predatory Wall Street banks and credit card companies.

Farid also claims that green-lighting certification for solar technologies will create thousands of jobs and lower electric costs across Florida. Khavari has invested in solar technology, and may personally benefit from this policy, but so would the rest ofFlorida. Solar power is clean, cheap power, and removing bureaucratic barriers will certainly create jobs, though perhaps not the 100,000 claimed by Khavari.

Here’s the biggest problem – Arth and Khavari are nearly invisible to the public.

Both Arth and Khavari wanted to run as Democrats, but were pushed out by the party establishment. The Republican Party operates in the same way. They bankroll and anoint the “frontrunners” – typically party insiders with corruption charges and/or unsavory corporate connections – while good candidates are pushed to independent status and ignored by the media.

If we want our public billions to benefit the public and not “special interests,” then we need to vote for politicians with great plans rather than the lesser of two evils. We can fight the party politics forever, arguing which football team is better, the Republicans or Democrats. But the truth is both parties have the same owners.

Arth and Khavari may not win in 2010, but until we start analyzing the potential of our political candidates they way we analyze our football teams, there won’t be any winners. Except the league owners. So get off the couch America.

Get out the vote.