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STOCK PHOTO<\/p>\n
When Floridians go to the polls this November, we will be deciding, among other things, who will be the state\u2019s next member of the United States Senate.\n<\/p>\n
The incumbent senator, Republican Ashley Moody, was not elected. She was appointed to the job by Gov. Ron DeSantis after Sen. Marco Rubio quit to become U.S. Secretary of State. So, this will be the first time for Moody, as well as her opponent, to face the voters.\n<\/p>\n
The likely Democrat to challenge Moody will be either Alex Vindman, a retired U.S. Army officer and former director of European Affairs for the National Security Council, or Jerry Demings, the mayor of Orange County.\n<\/p>\n
I mention all this because ordinary citizens didn\u2019t always have the right to select their senators.\n<\/p>\n
The Founders, in their wisdom, granted that authority to state legislatures.\n<\/p>\n
That\u2019s right, if it hadn\u2019t been for the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, the same lame-os in Tallahassee who couldn\u2019t pass a budget in the last session and who totally failed to name the flamingo the state bird, would have been entrusted with this important task.\n<\/p>\n
Sends shivers up the spine to contemplate that, doesn\u2019t it?\n<\/p>\n
That all changed on April 8, 1913, an anniversary we celebrate this month.\n<\/p>\n
After a series of humiliating scandals, the Senate finally agreed to change the way its members were selected, and the Constitution was amended to give that power to the people, where, let\u2019s face it, it should have belonged in the first place.\n<\/p>\n
This long had constituted an embarrassing lapse of imagination\u2014one of many\u2014on the Founders\u2019 part, modeling the makeup of Congress\u2019s upper chamber after the English House of Lords. Good grief! We\u2019d just fought a war to rid ourselves of that elitist form of governance.\n<\/p>\n
So, this week marks the 113th year since that was repaired.\n<\/p>\n
Interestingly, it would be another seven years before another unjustifiable omission in the Constitution was fixed. On August 18, 1920, women were finally granted the right to vote when the Constitution\u2019s 19th Amendment was finally adopted.\n<\/p>\n
Tennessee was the 36th state\u2014the required minimum at the time\u2014to sign on. However, members of the Florida Legislature, once again failing to get their jobs done, dragged their collective feet for another 49 years before ratifying the amendment in 1969.\n<\/p>\n
And Florida legislators never got around to ratifying the 17th Amendment at all, for that matter.\n<\/p>\n
In all fairness, this was likely before helpful, deep-pocketed lobbyists took up permanent residence in legislators\u2019 wallets and, absent their guidance, our elected representatives simply had no one to tell them what to do.\n<\/p>\n
That was then. This is now. So, why is the northern mockingbird still the state bird instead of the flamingo? I suspect fowl play by the Mockingbird Lobby.\n<\/p>\n
Onward<\/p>\n
April 9 is the last day of Passover, a celebration that commemorates the biblical Exodus when the Israelites were liberated from slavery in Egypt, marking the very first No Pharaohs Day.\n<\/p>\n
April 10. It\u2019s a day of mourning for music aficionados. It was on this date in 1970 that The Beatles broke up. Paul McCartney announced it \u00a0a consequence of \u201cpersonal differences and musical differences.\u201d Ringo Starr, the band\u2019s drummer, went on to fame as the greatest rock and roll star of all time. You read it here first.\n<\/p>\n
April 11 is International \u201cLouie Louie\u201d Day. Why? Because the song is widely regarded as the most popular rock song of all time, it has been recorded more times than any other rock song (even more times that Ringo Starr\u2019s \u201cYellow Submarine,\u201d if you can believe that), and it was very nearly declared the official state song of Washington, but was beat out by the sappy \u201cWashington, My Home,\u201d yet another monumental legislative failure.\n<\/p>\n
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J.C. Bruce. -FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n
April 12 begins Dog Bite Prevention Week. It\u2019s disturbing, but more than 4.5 million people a year are bitten, many of them children. With proper training (of people as well as pets) this could be preventable.\n<\/p>\n
April 13 is Plant Appreciation Day. Most plants, unlike dogs, don\u2019t bite (we\u2019re not talking about you, Venus flytrap). Why the celebration? Quick question: Do you like breathing oxygen? Then be thankful for plants.\n<\/p>\n
April 14 is National Dolphin Day. I\u2019m not sure if this is either a holiday to celebrate the famous aquatic mammals generally, or just the one that emblazons the helmets of Miami\u2019s football team, the only squad in NFL history with an undefeated season. Works either way.\n<\/p>\n