What the 2021 city election could mean for this coastal Florida city and beyond
Medium, March 8, 2021
It’s two days away from an election in this small beach town amidst the sprawling strip of concrete that covers much of southeast Florida. It will bring a welcome end to the barrage of political mailers warning of the “radical obstructionists” threatening to poison peoples’ minds with socialist plots (unless there are runoffs that drag it out). In cities across the country, this red-baiting rhetoric is the standard line that Republicans toss at Democrats. But here in Lake Worth it hits a little closer to home, since just 10 years back the nightmare of capitalists the world around came true. An anarchist menace did in fact overtake the city commission.
PAUSE: If you’re just reading this to help you figure out how to vote on Tuesday, I suggest check out the PBC Environmental Coalition guide on the city election.
If you are genuinely interested in what anarchists have to do with this quaint beach town election, read on…
The truth is it was just one person who openly considered herself an anarchist that got elected to the city commission back in 2005, but she helped several other community activist candidates and a broad grassroots movement to join her, giving a majority commission vote to people unaffiliated with the chamber of commerce (gasp!). Based on the amount of money that came pouring in from statewide and national corporate donors, one could make the case that it did terrify some people. Though multiple election results indicate that more people voted for the anarchist and her allies than than the openly capitalist ones.
