Now that the great state of Florida has posted another Trayvon Martin version of justice, it might be helpful to attempt pinning the blame where it belongs - on us. We haven't been speaking to Florida in the language it best understands. We've been relying on moral outrage, the Constitution and the outdated image of the lady with the blindfold holding the scales. These are easily sorted in importandce when exposed to the new, right-wing language standard of America - the Golden Rule. Whoever has the most gold, rules. Morality, like religion and patriotism, has two aspects and are both explained by the same language - the balance sheet.
If any of the foregoing doesn't cost money, they are to be defended and put forth as a foundation of the United States, like wearing a flag pin in your lapel means you love your country, etc. If the same stand comes with a sizeable price tag, it's a different story. Education is a case in point. Everybody praises the value of equal education, but when it comes to dollars and cents, we bravely stand in number eighteen among the world's industrialized democracies. Everybody knows you get what you pay for, right?
Florida is another case in point. When it comes to shooting unarmed teenagers, most of whom happen to be Black, it's very simple to rise up in anger and indignation against a government that would allow this kind of racism to happen in what we've been told is the bastion of individual freedom in the world. But don't hold your breath. Nothing has been done - nor will it be done for the sole reason we're not speaking the right language.
So long as shooting kids doesn't cost Florida anything, nothing will be done. Speaking in terms of morality and ethics doesn't mean a thing if it doesn't incllude the bottom line. If Florida begins to see a downturn in tourism as the result of racial murder, there's a chance that Stand Your Ground might become "Who's there?" or "Turn Down the Radio or I"ll Call the Cops." So we can call the cruise lines and write in their blogs, But we have to remember the cruise lines speak the same language as Florida. They have to see emptier ships before they'll turn down the spigot on the campaign funding. But what if you don''t have the money or the time to take those Florida cruises? Well, there's oranges for a start. If they're from Florida, don't buy them. I'd rather buy my morning jiuce from somewhere that doesn't permit indiscriminate shooting of the lower class (like Italy or Spain) or somewhere that used to, but doesn't any longer (like South Africa) than from a place that's trying its best to keep poor people from voting while doing its best to re-institute its own economic apartheit under cover of self-defense.
We're a nation that has tragically gotten rid of the concept of "enough" and speaks of everything in terms of profit and loss. The American Dream, which once was a dream of freedom, equal rights and a level playing field, is now denominated by the size of one's wallet. Class, not race, is the secret of success. Our Supreme Court has ruled that money is speech and, although we might not be able to speak loudly as individuals, a few million of us can raise quite a fuss. Perhaps we can yell loud enough for even Florida to have to listen.
The same goes for almost everything we dislike. If you want to put pressure on a company that forces its workers to work on holidays rather than be with their fanmiies, buy lots of stuff from them on the holday and return it all on the day after. The minute it costs more to stay open than keep families together, things will change. Letters demanding a paid holiday as the price of becoming a customer again couldn't hurt, either.
Let's use the "free market" as something besides a way to get around paying taxes or closing down small businesses in favor of "tje economy of scale." Listen up, Florida, economic democracy's calling.