Yes, Republicans CAN fight through the bitterness and do something for the common good

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A cure for politics
By Pensacola News Journal Editorial Board, June 21, 2014

Fellow Floridians, let's reflect on a recent moment of moral triumph for our state. Last week, Gov. Rick Scott signed into law the Charlotte's Web legislation. He should be proud.

We're always hearing about our divided and partisan nation. Well here's a case of us fighting through that bitterness. We're always hearing how Republicans are blindly opposed to all medical marijuana, period. Well here's a case that brought nuance, complexity and thoughtful action on the issue. And we're always hearing how the doctrines of political parties trump the common good of average people. Well here's a case where it did not.

And because it did not, one of our tiniest neighbors, RayAnn Moseley of Gulf Breeze, is now an important step closer to having a simple cure to the epileptic seizures that threaten her life.

That the debate over Charlotte's Web ever became so complex and convoluted is counterintuitive — because the medicine itself is so purely simple. It is not even pot. It is an oil. Drops are applied to the tongue. It is non-euphoric. It is nontoxic. There are no side-effects whatsoever, unlike the powerful and dangerous drugs that are legally prescribed to children with intractable epilepsy.

Charlotte's Web is the simplest of all things — a plant product — like olive oil, oregano or vanilla. Yet the political debate that it inspired became anything but simple. Moralistic and unfounded resistance to all-things-pot has become a trademark of conservatives.

Enter state Rep. Matt Gaetz, who took up Charlotte's Web as a defender of logic, common sense and doing the right thing. Gaetz is far too young to stare out at the Gulf shoreline pondering his political legacy, but what he did here, one day, will deservedly be a part of it. When any governing body becomes so dominated by one party, as the Florida Legislature is by Republicans, ideology becomes homogenized. True thought and debate are watered down. Followers follow. Heads nod and nay in unison and with little thought, the herd moves in and steps along preconceived party lines. This is a disservice to the political party and more so, to citizens who suffer from institutionalized like-mindedness.

Gaetz turned Florida's nonthinking conservatives to Charlotte's Web. Not by the power of his office nor a bully pulpit. He does not have one. He did it through sharp oratory and irrefutable argument. In a committee, he had a state trooper field test items from a grocery store that were higher in illegal content than this medicine. He didn't just tell his fellow Republicans how this was the right thing to do. He quite literally showed them — how it was the properly conservative and, simultaneously, the moral thing to do.

But the larger story of how this legislation won the day was the passion of a community steering the decisions of lawmakers. It was the tireless work and faith of Gulf Breeze's Peyton and Holley Moseley, whose love for RayAnn fueled what, at times, seemed like an endless fight for this cure. If all children in our community had parents as selflessly devoted as the Moseleys, we would be a far better place.

It was the work of journalists who, week after week, kept telling the story of sick children like RayAnn who could not tell it themselves. It was the persistence of strategists, such as Pensacola's Ryan Wiggins and Gulf Breeze's Jules Kariher who refused to let other issues derail or detract from the conversation. It was the result of compassionate Floridians, who, through letters, emails and phone calls, spoke up to demand help for the most fragile among us. And it was the reasonable minds of legislators, who were reflexive enough to put common sense and humanity above foolish and obsolete political doctrine.

It was the way our system is supposed to work. Certainly, it was slow and bureaucratic and a struggle at times. But morality prevailed because a conversation that started with average citizens like the Moseleys connected with those in power and the resulting discourse brought a change in law that will drastically change the life of kids like RayAnn.

For that, Florida, we can be proud.
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