Despite lofty, feel good rhetoric the Florida House never changes. Entering 2013 hopes were high that a kinder, gentler Speaker in Will Weatherford would steer the House away from partisan confrontation and towards consensus oriented solutions. However, the opposite occurred with more partisan fighting and ideological saber rattling from the new House leadership. In our TFS House voting scorecard that will be released on Sunday, a clear pattern of ideological polarization and conformity among Republican members will be painted. Led by Speaker Weatherford the House Republican Caucus marched in lockstep on priorities ranging from stopping Medicaid expansion, to restricting reproductive rights, to rewarding polluters, to giving away tax money to corporations, to forcing more experimental school “choice” initiatives on our school children.

Simply put the culture of arrogance, entitlement and ideological conformity that has permeated the legislature for over a decade was repeated this session by the House. While the Senate worked to moderate some of these excesses, the centrist leanings of many moderate Senators was not enough in many cases to prevent horrible legislation from becoming law.

I admire the passion for the fight newer activists and politicos have brought to fighting and exposing the truth about this legislature.  While I personally remain engaged in the battles, I do it from a safe distance partly because this legislative majority may talk a good game about looking out for the state, but they have been essentially the same arrogant bunch for 14 years — the length of time that the GOP has had complete control of Florida government, and has held at least 70 House seats and 25 Senate seats. The names and faces may change but the attitude does not: the GOP leadership particularly in the House is motivated by absolute power and a narrow ideological dogma. It is important that activists are armed with knowledge and information about the damage this gang has done to the state of Florida.

While many progressives have been galvanized by a disdain for Governor Rick Scott, the Governor to me personally is less distasteful than the individuals who run the legislature and the culture they have developed over almost two decades of being in the majority. I do agree that it is much easier to get rid of one Governor than an entire body of members who have benefited from redistricting and institutional advantages created by lobbyists for large corporations, insurance companies and polluters. That is why like all progressives, provided the Democrats nominate someone who is not tied directly to the GOP scandals of the recent past, I will be working hard to elect a new Governor in 2014.

But Governor Scott is not the biggest issue for me; our state legislature is. For years and years we have seen a continued culture of entitlement, cronyism and arrogance in  Tallahassee which has reached a fever pitch. It is important that progressives not fall into the trap of hopefulness in the future with this legislature and remain committed to doing battle with them to protect Florida’s working families and our endangered American values.