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Ruth: All protesters want is for Sen. Marco Rubio to listen
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/ruth-all-protesters-want-is-for-sen-marco-rubio-to-listen/2313060This is such a fool's errand. All those lovely, naive people schlepping around in front of Sen. Marco Rubio's Tampa office, deluded in the charming notion that a public servant might actually have an interest in communing with his constituents.
What these very frustrated citizens need to know is that they will likely never get any face time with the Sammy Glick of Florida politics. Think of it this way. Rubio, R-Boo! is Joseph Heller's real-life incarnation of his Catch-22 Major Major of the U.S. Senate. You can only see him when he's not in the office.
For the past couple of weeks, groups of citizens have been assembling on the sidewalk of Rubio's West Kennedy Boulevard office fruitlessly attempting to arrange a meeting with their senator to petition their government for redress of grievances. It's a cornerstone of American democracy, and lately has become all the rage.
They have been met with locked doors, unanswered phones, unreturned emails and threats of arrest for trespassing in an effort to communicate with their elected senator. For the most part, the demonstrators have wanted to voice their opposition to Rubio's votes to confirm billionaire Betsy DeVos, a woman with zero experience in public education, to become education secretary, and former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to become secretary of state. Seems fair enough — unless you're Rubio.
What these very frustrated citizens need to know is that they will likely never get any face time with the Sammy Glick of Florida politics. Think of it this way. Rubio, R-Boo! is Joseph Heller's real-life incarnation of his Catch-22 Major Major of the U.S. Senate. You can only see him when he's not in the office.
For the past couple of weeks, groups of citizens have been assembling on the sidewalk of Rubio's West Kennedy Boulevard office fruitlessly attempting to arrange a meeting with their senator to petition their government for redress of grievances. It's a cornerstone of American democracy, and lately has become all the rage.
They have been met with locked doors, unanswered phones, unreturned emails and threats of arrest for trespassing in an effort to communicate with their elected senator. For the most part, the demonstrators have wanted to voice their opposition to Rubio's votes to confirm billionaire Betsy DeVos, a woman with zero experience in public education, to become education secretary, and former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to become secretary of state. Seems fair enough — unless you're Rubio.
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