Swampy's Florida

The Politics of Mis-Representation by William C. Havard
Published 1962 by Louisiana State University
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The largest problem this book has is that it has an expiration date of about 1961. It was written to push the idea of a getting the Florida Legislature to widen the range of representatives through out the state. That never happened from within, but by the great alteration of the population.

The construction of the book is nearly entirely focused on the results of the Florida Legislature in the 1950s. A more practical approach would have been to have an historical view over the past one hundred past years. Instead there is only the tiniest nod to the past. This also makes conclusions suspect without support of a larger viewpoint.

Furthering the disappointment is nearly no reference to actual people. The book is written more conceptually. Yet, that further questions conclusions and ideas trying to be pushed in the book. Did the writers really know Florida’s history enough to come to the conclusions they did? Sure the more rural areas had more control over the more urban areas. It was the farmers that built the state. There was no proof that pouring concrete and asphalt would do anything for Florida’s strength in community or economically. As the 50 years has shown, Florida’s economy was solid with farming and the overly urban areas are a heavy weight that has consistently sunk Florida’s economy. Now farming, thanks to the ideas the writers have & the realtors & developers, is nearly illegal in many parts of the state, thanks to zoning.

Nothing is mentioned at the efforts by builders and developers in the 1950s to start the process of over taxing farm areas that could be developed into homes and buildings. This really buried rural control on the peninsular part of the state. But the writers are out to damn the agrarian economy in favor of the plutocrats that only wanted , and still want to, exploit our state of Florida.

A giant chunk of the book takes apart how all angles of the Legislature works. Little applies now or not long after the book was published. If the writers knew Florida’s Legislative history, they would have known how that healthy chunk of their book would be soon useless.

With the narrow view the book becomes nearly useless as soon as it was printed as the Legislature following the book, had a whole new agenda.

Otherwise, the writing is very good with tons of footnotes, bibliography and index.

Bottom line: I can’t recommend this book. 5 out of ten points.

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