Two years ago this week, The Florida Squeeze launched. Our goal then as now is to provide unique commentary and analysis on political news from across the state. During our first month we averaged fewer than 200 views a day and came out of box swinging at Florida’s Republicans. As time went on, we built a readership to where now we generally average at least 2,500 views on weekdays, often spiking with more than twice that number in a day if we have a particularly interesting piece on the site.

Much of our focus has been on the internal working of the Florida Democratic Party and elected officials around the state who refer to themselves as Democrats. Holding Democrats accountable and trying to build a party based on values is foremost among our goals. Fostering a debate that will help lead to Florida once again being a multiparty democratic state, rather than the one-party monolith it has become in the 21^st Century is another primary goal of this site.

Covering elected officials closely has reminded us that many if not most politicians have a unique way of working. Doublespeak, I have found is par for the course among many elected officials in the state. The issue with this isn’t simply the manipulation of words, but that in many cases the politician is not even conscious of the doublespeak. So in some cases, while the isolation of politicians from real life and grassroots activists is quite galling, elected officials simply engage in double speak to get along or to appear polite.

Parsing through this doublespeak while attempting to cut elected officials some slack has become a big part of what we do – when is the doublespeak really outrageous or blissfully ignorant rather than simply borne out of politeness or political correctness? This has become a daily challenge for our writers – the reality is we don’t pursue most of the outrageous things we hear because often we are giving the politicians, particularly the more progressive ones the benefit of the doubt. But when we do find something worth pursuing, as the pages of this blog can testify to, we usually nail the subject to the wall. But often times protecting the sanctity of the discourse means we soft pedal things  – at least that’s the feedback we’ve gotten from some readers. We try and be hard-hitting but not personal, and therefore our writing takes on that tone.

But what is also more glaring than classic political speak is the lack of intellectual curiosity that I have found in recent years among many Florida politicians. The failure of so many of our policymakers in both major political parties to truly get a grasp of the entire state and to pursue policies that benefit the majority of Floridians or the majority of the state geographically. What is even worse is that so many elected officials simply don’t care to learn or understand issues or the problems that face this state.

We have been criticized by some readers for an over emphasis on history in our analysis. Perhaps at times I can get too preachy about the past, but as a Floridian who was raised on the good government political traditions of our state from the Askew years onward, I feel this site has a duty to educate folks about the good days of the 1970’s and 1980’s when Florida was a better run state, and the Democrats were successful.This wasn’t an accident – reasons are abound why Florida was the envy of much of the nation during the 1970’s but is now viewed as a national joke in many quarters.

Going forward we will tackle issues nobody else wants to discuss that are grounded in relatively recent history – for example was the switch to single member districts more responsible for the end of the ‘golden era” in Florida politics than any other factor? Do legislators need a state-sponsored crash course on all of Florida before they begin legislative service? These questions and many others will be pondered in the coming months on this site.

Florida politics is a minefield and often the great unwashed and unseasoned among us get sucked into the type of toxicity that make so much of the political game unpleasant. But here at TFS we remain committed to elevating the debate and promoting causes and democracy. We look forward to publishing and increasing our scope over the next two years.

I would also like to thank you everyone involved in the publication of this website.  Thank you to everyone who has written for this site during the last two years (in no particular order) – Ryan Ray, Katy Burnett, Sean Sorbie, Lauren Schwartz, Justin Snyder, Scott Gaillard, Nathan Taylor Pemberton, Dave Trotter and Steven Kurlander.

I also want to thank those who have written and arranged special contributions for us including Common Cause Florida, Dr. Rachel Pienta, Tara Laxer, Brook Hines and Stephanie Porta. It is also critical to thank those who have actively promoted us including Progress Florida, Saint Petersblog,  Susan Smith and the Democratic Progressive Caucus.  We have been supported in our efforts (despite disagreements from time to time) by numerous Democratic elected and party officials throughout the state including House Democratic Leader Mark Pafford, FDP Chairwoman Allison Tant and FDP First Vice Chair Alan Clendenin.

One special mention of a person to thank I also want to make – my good friend Amy Ritter really pushed me hard to start this site even doing some of the initial legwork for me. Even when we have disagreed on substance, she has been incredibly supportive of my efforts from the beginning. Finding real good and trustworthy friends in politics is nearly impossible, but Amy defies that norm. Nobody in the state (outside my wife and family) has been as understanding of my thought process and helpful in my work on a daily basis as Amy, and for that and everything else I am eternally grateful.

It’s been a wild ride for two years on this website and we look forward to even more interesting and enlightening discussions in the future.