Candidate 2026
Florida State Senate
 

John Houman

Books: Don’t Ban Them, Rate Them Like Movies
May 10, 1933

This is an observation about the tendency of politicians to make grand promises without regard to practicality or necessity. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river

senator-john@houmans.com

Zelle                    813-713-5509

Venmo     John @jshouman

Ideas For a Better Tomorrow

1 Education is the backbone of our society. A well-educated healthy individual is essential for Florida’s future!

2. Long-range planning for Agriculture, Algae Bloom, Beach Erosion, Infrastructure, Natural Habitat, Safe Drinking Water, and Saltwater Intrusion.

3. Changing Florida to an Open Primary Election

Have you ever compared primary elections to general elections? The difference in how candidates portray themselves is striking.

  1. Primary elections attract a smaller and more partisan electorate. Candidates often feel pressure to appeal to the far right or far left, and their rhetoric reflects it.
  2. In general elections, candidates shift their tone to appear family‑oriented, fiscally responsible, and focused on jobs — far more moderate than the positions they emphasized during the primaries.

In an open primary system, candidates tend to adopt more moderate stances from the start. This reduces the influence of political extremes and encourages a middle‑of‑the‑road approach that appeals to a wider range of voters.

4. What is the biggest threat to Florida’s economy?

Hedge Fund Vultures, Wall Street Carpetbaggers, and Corporate Gangsters.Everyone complains about taxes, but there is another tax Floridians pay every day: Executive Salaries and Bonuses. Let’s call it what it is legalized looting.

This executive tax does not build roads or schools. It does not fund health care or public infrastructure. It funds luxury cars, yachts, trophy wives, and vacation homes in Aspen.

These firms buy up family homes, apartment buildings, clinics, small businesses, and insurance companies. Then they raise rents, increase fees and sell off assets for profit. None of that money goes toward improving services, raising wages, or supporting communities. It ends up in the pockets of executives.

5. Reproductive Rights refer to individuals' legal and ethical rights regarding their health and decision-making. These rights encompass a range of issues, including the right to access contraception, and family planning services. They also include the right to decide whether to have children, when to have them, how many to have, and are considered fundamental human rights based on the principles of autonomy, privacy, and equality. It's a Sad Day when a woman visits her primary care doctor for Reproductive Health Care and the first person the doctor consults is a Lawyer, not a Specialist!

A woman is twice as likely to die today of pregnancy problems than her mother a generation ago!

6. ATF18 or ATF21-(SDR)? I'm for Gun Safety, This is an issue  of safety rather than "gun control" versus "gun rights.”  We don't think of driving lessons as "car control," we can apply common sense strategies for Gun Safety. Footnote: ATF21-(SDR) stands for alcohol, tobacco, and firearms age 21. Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll. If you look at our history, a minority of do-gooders trying to legislate morality have passed prohibition laws that affect the majority while driving ATF21-(SDR) underground. ATF18: Your political beliefs are more important than Public Health and Safety! 


Firearm-related injuries are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States.  This includes deaths from homicides, suicides, and accidental shootings. It's a deeply concerning trend, highlighting the importance of addressing Gun Safety and Mental Health Support for young people.

Children are asking Politicians?  I’m I Next

7. I believe in human rights, be it women's rights, gay rights, or civil rights and you should be judged as a person, not on your race, religion, color, or sexual orientation.

8. Education and Health Care. In the 80s  the point when the Wealth Gap was the Smallest starting with Reagan's trickle-down economics our Politicians cut taxes for the Rich. Wall Street and Corporation have poured hundreds of millions into lobbying, PACs, and campaign coffers to rewrite the laws in their favor. Politicians have cut spending on public services to offset these tax cuts, including Education, Health Care, Infrastructure, Social Security,  and Medicare.

Politicians today believe in Trickle-Down Economics or as it was known in the 1890s under the name "Horse-and-Sparrow Theory". If you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through on the ground for us sparrows to eat.

9. Moving Florida towards a Benefit Corporation Economy.
Florida Benefit Corporation Act 607.1701:  Effective on July 1, 2014

A Benefit Corporation is a company that is legally obligated to create a specified public benefit and to operate in a responsible and sustainable manner — not solely to maximize shareholder profit. If we define a "productive" society as one where those who do the work reap the rewards, then the B‑Corp is a tool to stop the "vacuum" effect where wealth is sucked away from the factory floor and into Shareholders Swiss bank account.

  1. If your company isn't modeled on the Forbes 100 best companies to work for, We don't want you!
     
  2. If Executive Bonuses, Stock Options, and the bottom line are more important than Country or Customers,  We don’t want you!
     
  3. If you treat your employees as a commodity and not diamonds in the rough, We don’t want you!
     
  4. It can be Immoral, Unethical, Dishonest, or Unprincipled but if it's not illegal Big Business will screw you. One of my Grandfather's favorite sayings: If someone says “Trust Me”. Put one hand on your wallet and the other hand on your backside because you're going to get screwed without being kissed.
 

Personal Opinion!

Florida State Senate Treats Woman as Second-Class Citizen!

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) for women on October 12, 1971, and the U.S. Senate on March 22, 1972. Florida is the only state to reject the Equal Rights Amendment Four Times.

Florida State House of Representatives voted to ratify the ERA on March 24, 1972,  a second time on April 10, 1975,  a third time on May 17, 1979, and a fourth time on June 21, 1982, and never ratified by the Senate!

In 2017, Nevada ratified the ERA  and Illinois followed in 2018. In 2020, Virginia's General Assembly passed a ratification resolution for the ERA.

Florida's recent legislative changes are pushing medical professionals, educators, college faculty, and agriculturalists, along with their families, to either seek opportunities in other states or consider retirement, potentially leading to a workforce deficit in these critical sectors.


Questions and Answers

Question: What is the difference between you and other politicians?

Answer: I like to use the term us or we can fix this problem, unlike politicians who say only I can fix it.

I believe it's not what you teach, it's how you teach it. Politicians are telling us What to think not. How to think! That We're Stupid while having turned a Blind Eye and a Death Ear to Public Opinion. Provide the US with the facts, allowing the US to make our own judgments and choices.

1. Finding out that your insurance won’t cover your wife’s hospital bills because of pre-existing conditions.

2. Using your unemployment check to pay the rent.

3. Using food stamps to feed your family.

4. Taping a check to the electric meter on Monday hoping they won’t shut your power off because you won’t have money until payday on Friday.

5. I believe in what's good for the people of Florida not what's good for the Republican Party or the Democratic Party! I'm not the smartest person in the room but am willing to listen to other more knowledgeable people.

Question: Voting in Florida

  Answer to the Voter IQ Test
 

Bragging Rights

Question: Religious Beliefs
Answer: God, Country, Family!

Question: Budget Cut Education

Answer: I remember hearing my Father say: That educated people get better higher-paying jobs and therefore pay higher taxes. Sometimes he could be outspoken. Those people must have their head up their ass when you take money away from something that produces more money.

Schools should be a place where teachers enjoy teaching and students enjoy learning, not a place where students feel they are being punished. Did you know that Florida has two educational systems? Our Public Schools and Prison!  Which do you want your child to learn in? Dumb Idea: Get the Politicians and TV Talking Heads Out of our public schools and listen to the teachers, principals, and P.T.A. instead! I must be a  Dumb A**: Why not ask the students? They're smarter than politicians thank they are!

Starting with High School Education grants for apprenticeship program initiatives in "the Trades", Manufacturing, Healthcare Services, I.T. and Agriculture with interaction between employers, local colleges, and state officials.

Question: What do you think the key to Florida's future success is?

Answer: Healthcare starts at Conception, Education,  Infrastructure, and Long Range Planning. A notable economic shortcoming in Florida is wages. Florida has trailed the nation as a whole in hourly earnings. Even adjusting for Florida’s lower tax burden, the state’s per capita disposable income — its after-tax income per resident — trails the U.S. as a whole. And Florida even trails high-tax California and New York in this metric, although the higher cost of living may cancel that advantage.

Question: What are your ideas on our Criminal Justice System?


Answer 1: Florida has an outstanding Law Enforcement Community and we need to provide them with the money, tools, and Education they deserve.

Answer 2: Prevention or Punishment!
A small minority of our residents are bad people and there is only one place for them. The majority with a criminal history are good people who made bad decisions and need to be pointed in the right direction. Afterthought: College is cheaper than Prison.

Answer 3: Gray areas: Laws that don't consider extenuating circumstances.

Our Criminal Justice System should use the same Business Model as credit rating companies like Experian TransUnion or Equifax. Can you imagine a Bankruptcy or Foreclosure showing up on your credit report 20, 30, or 40 years later?


Questions: What is the role of government in everyday life?
Answer: Everyone has the same goal. A Healthy fruitful life. Most people know how to get there. The government is responsible for providing the tool to point others in the right direction.

Questions: At Your age, Were you around for the civil rights of the 60s?
Answer: I'm from Wisconsin, I was very naive and didn't understand the concept of civil rights. Everyone was of German, Swedish, Norwegian, and Irish ancestry, but I do remember thinking the way things were happening in the southern states was wrong. It wasn't until the 70s, that I realized Uncle Tom and Jim Crow weren't somebody's uncle.

Questions: Have you broken any other laws?
Answer: Yes? A good friend had passed away. We got a phone call, his widow said that his brother and sister which they hadn't seen in 20 years were coming down and selling the home because it was not in her name, and had never been married. She'd been supporting him for the last 10 years due to illness and would have been out on the street almost penniless. I got together with friends at the title company, Somebody forged a quitclaim deed, notarized and filed it. That was the last she heard from the brother and sister.

Something to Think About

Answer 1: Impact Fee: Annual 2% assessed value of any Person or group that owns 10 or more single-family homes that are not permanent residents of Florida. These groups are siphoning off money from Florida that would normally be circulated within the state. A state capital gains tax of 50% of any property bought and flipped in less than 30 days.

Answer 2: Tell me what you think. Real Estate sales tax.
1. If a corporation buys a single-family home 10% sales tax.
2. A corporation sells a single-family home to a single family 10% Discount.


Answer 3: My son had an American Pit Bull Terrier that loved you with kisses. You have to teach dogs to be mean. The law would require the owner to pass an IQ test to show they are smarter than the Dog.

Answer 4: Buyer Photo on all online ticket sales.

Answer 5: All state agencies negotiate prices with drug manufacturers at rates comparable to world market prices. I don't know State or Federal Laws, but I would write the statute to supersede Federal. I hate seeing Florida being ripped off! Drug Companies should be regulated the same as Utilities. Precedent: Hepburn Act of 1906. Reciprocity laws for Doctors, making it simpler. Florida needs doctors.

Answer 6: Change Florida Corporate law where 25% of Shareholders can vote to have pay packages changed, moving towards Benefit Corporations (Gold Handcuffs, not Golden Parachute).

Answer 7:  When looking at Hedge Fund Vultures, Wall Street Carpetbaggers, and Corporate Gangsters striping Corporations of assets and stock trading where there is No Social Value only the generation of profit, Keynes' concept of a transaction tax where the tax is inversely proportional to the time of the transaction along the lines of the Tobin tax. (Black Rock, State Street, Vanguard, and many more! )

Question 8: Advice for young people.


Answer: Mr. Manners - Life Coach.

Question 9: Do you have any hobbies or interests?


Answer:  I worked with my neighbor in his recording studio (his living Room) and my video production studio (my living room) to produce some Music Videos.

Copyright© Mark Chase Productions.

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senator-john@houmans.com

Zelle                    813-713-5509

Venmo     John @jshouman