- July 20th was the last day to change party designation for the Florida primary elections. In counties where one party politically dominates the county, and owing to the primary election often determining who will hold elected office in Florida, it is not an uncommon practice for voters in these counties to change party affiliation for the primary election. This may have affected July registrations numbers in particular counties, but the guess is that the registration changes of the two major parties would tend to offset each other on a statewide basis.
One of the more fascinating and pertinent attributes of the on-going rioting in the Democrat controlled cities and states are how quickly property owners lose the legal protection of their properties. In some cities affected by the riots, citizens who sought to self-enforce their property rights have actually had their guns confiscated and been arrested. The effort to defund the police, or reduce police budgets, aligns with the rioting as the efforts to financially stress police departments ultimately diminish the enforcement of property rights. The reason the discussion of property is included in this report is owing to property related parameters correlate well with political trends taking place in the various Florida Counties.
Whose responsibility is it to enforce property rights? Since property titles are the responsibility of county governments, enforcement should be the responsibility of the county. Having the counties responsible for protecting property rights could possible help those unfortunate property owners whose property is in the jurisdiction of leftist mayors.
For future Republican election success, it is helpful to appreciate, as the left does, the political significance of poor private property rights and the exclusion of people from the ranks of those who are propertied. (Note: Democrats realize outsized political gains when rental housing is created. Rental housing is so politically advantageous for Democrats that it takes the creation of four owner-occupied homes for Republicans to offset the political gains made by the Democrats in the creation of each rental unit). President Trump's Administration's recent negating of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) program (which Democrat Presidential Nominee Biden supports) is a much needed step in the right direction.
One observation that is readily discerned from this report is the great variation that exists in county political orientations and county vote trends. Variation suggests missed opportunities. Perhaps the most glaring example of missed opportunities is seen in the change that has taken place in the Florida Congressional Delegations as of late;
- The 112th Florida Congressional Delegation (2011-2012) consisted of 19 Republicans and 6 Democrats (76% Republican)
- The 116th Florida Congressional Delegation (2019-2020) consisted of 14 Republicans and 13 Democrats (52% Republican)
I had the privilege to recently present to a group in Polk County. A rough analysis was made to determine the potential political gains Polk County Republicans could expect by fully utilizing the building permitting process.
- Polk County, determined by extrapolating 2018 permitting out to 2019 and 2020, would have had roughly 13,000 building permits issued following the 2018 election.
- If these units had all been slated to be owner-occupied housing, Republican registrations (and votes) relative to Democrat registrations (and votes) would have realized a permanent increase of 9,600 votes once the housing was occupied.
- In this same time period the actual gains in Republican voter registrations relative to Democrat registrations was a more than respectable 3,640 (the fourth highest performing Florida County in this regard at the time).
- By foregoing adding the strategy of affecting building permits, Polk County has missed out on a huge opportunity to grow their Republican base by nearly 6,000 more votes.
Polk County Republicans cannot be blamed for missing an opportunity they were unfamiliar with. How might RECs across Florida start to take advantage of the property system to further Republican interests?
RECs experience a significant ramp up in activity as elections near and then they experience a big drop-off in activity following elections. RECs also often times reorganize following elections and don't get up to speed until well into the next election cycle. This period following the election may be an opportune time to adopt efforts to influence the building permit mix within the counties (the fewer the rentals, the greater the home ownership, the better it is for Republicans).
Currently Florida has a 35% rental rate. Let's copy the leftist strategy of naming their efforts. The proposal is 25 X 2025 (25 by 25); 25% rental rate by the year 2025! Let's promote more people escaping from being under the thumb of a landlord and building equity instead of throwing their money away on rents! Please keep in mind the political power of private property as candidates for elected office and REC leadership positions are vetted.
Best,
Steve Meyer, Indian River County REC Member
Contact Information:
Phone or text; 772-713-8265
