The excuse for killing Trayvon Martin has become the standard of democracy
Ana Marie Cox
The Florida House recently passed legislation that would seal the records of anyone who successfully sustains a stand-your-ground defense after a shooting. The proposal would allow a gun-wielding vigilante to escape not just any and all legal complications but also awkward interactions with curious neighbors. So Floridians think a stand-your-ground shooting might be something one would want to hide. Which might finally answer the question: does Florida have any shame?
Some of the state legislators were at least aware of the attention stand-your-ground laws have drawn. As Democratic Rep. Mia Jones explained to her colleagues: "The world is looking at Florida and … we don't look good right now." This is not, perhaps, a persuasive argument in a state that leads the nation in both incidents of human cannibalism and "zombie foreclosures". The so-called “warning-shot” bill passed 93-24.
Shamelessness aside, the renewed passion of Florida politicians for the expansion and protection of this type of loophole – the very kind that let George Zimmerman run free, even if he got off on self-defense – at least raises a different question: Why are those local legislatures passing such embarrassing laws in the first place?
As the nation's statehouses have splintered off from the on-year electorate, states such as Florida (really, especially Florida) serve up the best examples for how our "laboratories of democracy" have become playgrounds for mad scientists – particularly, the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council. Almost all of Florida's legislative antics (including some off-the-clock holiday jaunts) can be connected to ALEC. ALEC designs the legislation, compliant legislators cut-and-paste it into law – literally, in the instance of Florida Rep. Rachel Burgin, who forgot to remove ALEC's mission statement from the text of an anti-tax bill she submitted in 2012.
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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/28/trayvon-martin-florida-statehouse-stand-your-ground
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