My FL House rep came to my door canvassing with a big smile. Of course I was friendly and truly happy to meet him. He asked what concerns I had and my reply was "Save democracy". I could see his face sink a little so I knew immediately that he was a black Republican. I took his flyer, gave him a little fist bump goodbye and then looked at his website. I sent him a DM via Facebook. I let him know it was a direct message instead of a comment on Facebook, because I didn't want to appear antagonistic. But I let him know that I realized I had voted for him because I like prosecutors (true) but I would not vote Republican again until they cleaned house. I said I felt both the Florida legislature and the GOP were going down the road of fascism. He thanked me for the feedback and said he hoped he would still earn my vote but I replied I was still firmly committed to democracy.
This morning I got a
golden opportunity. I don't know why but I looked further into his record and discovered he was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and before the idiotic pet eating propaganda started, he had written a bill that to appoint courtroom advocates for animal cruelty cases. It died in committee so I wrote to him directly again to suggest he might want to revive the bill to let people know he wasn't going to eat their pets
. I told him he must be aware of the dangers of hateful and divisive rhetoric. I plan to keep up the friendly pressure.