conservation wilderness
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">belated/ generic term</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see apostates</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">just refers back to GOP TR heritage of preservation vs Muir, famously</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">note period efforts to revive/reclaim mantle, but often short-lived, [name and shame?] PR stunts? structually ($ F) ideologically small gubmint so doomed to fail</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/alarm-grows-as-florida-gop-advances-plan-to-gut-ballot-initiative-process/</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong>citizen initiative process</strong> that gave Floridians the power to <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/05/success-15-minimum-wage-measures-huge-win-working-people-florida-and-portland-maine" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">raise</a> the<b> minimum wage and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/06/repealing-one-countrys-worst-jim-crow-laws-florida-restores-voting-rights-14-million" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">restore voting rights</a> is under grave threat</b> after the state's House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday advanced a Republican proposal to dramatically limit the scope of future ballot measures.</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Led by state Rep. Mike Beltran (R-57),</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> House Joint Resolution 1127 would alter Florida's constitution to limit citizen initiatives to "matters relating to procedural subjects or to structure" of the government—a restriction that likely would have </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ACLUFL/status/1483514614025498629" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">blocked</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> $15 minimum wage, voting rights, medical marijuana, and</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_Water_and_Land_Conservation_Initiative,Amendment_1(2014)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">conservation</a> amendments.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Lawmakers should respect the will of the people and Floridians' right to participate in our democracy."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Having passed out of the GOP-controlled judiciary panel, the proposal is soon expected to receive a vote in the full state House of Representatives. If the Florida Legislature passes Beltran's resolution, voters will have to approve the amendment for it to be added to the state constitution.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Final approval of the resolution would effectively spell the death of the state's citizen initiative process, the<b> ACLU of Florida warned </b>in a <a href="https://www.aclufl.org/en/press-releases/aclu-florida-denounces-passage-joint-resolution-obstructs-citizen-initiative-process" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">statement</a> Tuesday evening.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"These proposed changes to the citizen initiative process are not about fixing problems—they are about interfering with the will of Floridians," said Kara Gross, the group's legislative director and senior policy counsel. "Through ballot initiatives, citizens have been able to improve the lives and well-being of Floridians."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Gross characterized the Florida GOP's attack on the citizen initiative process as part of a <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/12/21/gop-tidal-wave-voter-suppression-set-intensify-2022-analysis-warns" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">broader trend</a> of "politicians trying to rewrite the rules because they do not like it when voters use their power is a trend that must come to an end."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Florida lawmakers should respect the will of the people and Floridians' right to participate in our democracy through the citizen initiative process," Gross added. "They should vote no on these proposals and end the crusade of sabotaging the right of the people to be heard."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Joint Resolution 1127 is hardly the Florida GOP's first attempt to gut the citizen initiative process, which empowered voters to enact broadly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/04/florida-amendment-2-minimum-wage/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">popular policies</a> that would've gone nowhere in the GOP-dominated state Legislature.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">In 2020, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis <a href="https://news.ballotpedia.org/2020/04/13/gov-desantis-signs-florida-initiative-process-restrictions-into-law/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">signed</a> into law a bill containing a number of new ballot initiative restrictions</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, including an increase of the signature requirement. Last year, DeSantis </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/fl-state-wire-florida-lifestyle-government-and-politics-8543449b9ee5ff0600202d8a2995aa2f" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">signed</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> a measure limiting donations to citizen initiative campaigns—a limit that was later </span><a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/07/01/judge-blocks-floridas-contribution-cap-limit-on-ballot-initiatives/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">blocked</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> by a federal judge.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aliki Moncrief, executive director of Florida Conservation voters, <a href="https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/bill-would-drastically-limit-what-florida-voters-could-put-ballot/JV4LM2EA45BH3FKUQ4KIFQ5ET4/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">told</a> a local <em>CBS</em> affiliate on Tuesday that the state GOP's efforts are "basically about limiting the power of people to raise important public policies and important public issues that they don't feel the Legislature is considering."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"So, it's horrible in a word," Moncrief added. "If the people really wanted this done, they would have done it."</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div>