By: JOHN HALLMAN – Guest columnist for the Sunshine State News
The technical meaning of draining a swamp is to keep mosquito populations low to combat malaria and removing dangerous reptiles. Draining the swamp is an appropriate metaphor for Washington D.C. and state capitols.
Washington D.C. and state capitols have become cesspools where some feed off others living outside of the swamp. The swamp creatures prosper inside the swamp but their harm is spread far and wide. If you get near the swamp, you will probably get bitten by a swamp creature.
The increasing power of government has created the swamp. A government that can own property, take taxes out of our paychecks and regulate us has too much power.
When government has that much power, it creates a perverse incentive for certain interests to take advantage of it for their own benefit. Large, well-financed special interests will seek to benefit, including pushing for regulations that only serve to cut out competition from small businesses. Entrenched government bureaucrats seek job security and more money.
You cannot drain the swamp when you have lived in the swamp too long and when you plant to stay or move on to bigger swamps. The prospects of power and influence create incumbent swamp dwellers that lose focus of who they are serving. They begin to serve themselves and their personal interests instead of those of the people who elected them.
Career politicians, no matter how conservative, will not be able to effectively drain the swamp. They soon realize that the swamp is what keeps them in office. You cannot drain the swamp when the special interest swamp creatures donate millions of dollars to your political committee.
On August 28, Republican voters will have a choice for who they want to be our next governor. There are two major candidates and both have some conservative street cred. However, neither will really be able to drain the swamp. Both Adam Putnam and Ron DeSantis have shown a desire to make a career in politics, always seeking the next highest office.
Then there is Bob White who is also running in the Republican gubernatorial primary. White has never served in elected office and has been the chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida.
White has traveled to Tallahassee for years to advocate for conservative policy. During those trips, White realized how deep the swamp is in Tallahassee. White is not running for governor as the first step to higher office. Instead, he wants to really drain the swamp, end the special interest control of public policy and to reign in the power of entrenched government bureaucracy. White does not have a political committee that takes in six figure donations like the other two candidates. He will not be beholden to anyone except the citizens of Florida.
If we want to really drain the swamp and restore the voice of Floridians, Bob White is the only choice.
John Hallman is an active, longtime voice in all levels of Florida politics and is a veteran of advocating issues of liberty in the Florida legislature. John also has served as the state director for FreedomWorks; the pro-free market organization as well as deputy director of Florida Stop Lawsuit Abuse. While in Tallahassee, John has represented such groups as Florida Taxpayers Union, Cut Property Taxes Now, the Second Amendment Coalition of Florida and the Florida Campaign for Liberty. Besides his work in Tallahassee, John teaches activists training schools, is a frequent guest on radio talk shows and has written numerous articles promoting the cause of individual liberty.
