[chisoxfan]

Charlie Crist is completing his first year in office. How has he done? Has he made enough progress on hot-button issues such as insurance and property taxes?

Correction in the last poll option: Should be "Legislature/special interest groups run the state anyway."

[8.00 per hour]

Hasn't done much of anything personally....

[Petertherock]

Originally Posted by 8.00 per hour

Hasn't done much of anything personally....

This is what's wrong with this country. A governor or any politician isn't supposed to do anything for you. The government is there to make it possible for you to do things for yourself. People think government should be in the business of handouts. The worst thing that happened to education in this country is when the government took it over. It's not the government's job to educate the kids, it's not the government's job to provide health care, it's not the government's job to bail you out of bad investments, It's the government's job to provide for the safety of it's citizens. A local government's primary job is to provide police and fire protection for the people, along with the upkeep of local roads. It's the state's job to take care of the matters of the state like state level police, upkeep of state roads and highways, as well as seeing to it that the state is able to handle safety and security issues at the state level. The federal government's job is to provide military protection.

Obviously this is over simplified and there are more responsibilities of the government at local, state, and federal levels other than what I have mentioned but the government shouldn't be in the business of giving people hand outs and government controlled health care. Government has screwed up everything it's gotten involved in...education is the shining example...and you want the government to run health care???

If we had less government hand outs and less government "doing things for me" then we wouldn't need the government because we would be able to keep our own money and live for ourselves. Another thing is the government shouldn't be in the business of retirement accounts too with the exception of the military. Speaking of which...some of the worst hospitals in the country are government run VA hospitals...and you want government running health care????

I don't want the governor or President or any politician "doing anything for me" I want them to get out of my way so I can keep the money I earn from my work instead of giving it away to lazy people who don't want to work and illegal aliens who don't belong here in the first place.

Yes, some people need help. But this isn't the government's job. This country was built on neighbors helping neighbors. If someone didn't have food their church or neighbors would make sure they didn't go hungry. The welfare state mentality is what leads to situations like hurricane Katrina. I don't blame FEMA or the governor for Hurricane Katrina. I blame the local and state government for creating a welfare state where people felt like they were so helpless that they couldn't take care of themselves unless the government came to rescue them.

They knew for days that a Cat 5 hurricane was coming to New Orleans and if they are going to wait until the water is up to the 2nd floor of their house and they are on the roofs waiting for FEMA then that's a problem with people relying too much on government. It's not FEMA's and President Bush's responsibility to get people to evacuate when a storm is coming. I mean most of you are from Florida...you all understand this more than anyone. I didn't hear or see stories of anyone in Florida blaming President Bush for the 5 hurricanes that hit Florida a few years ago. I didn't see anyone waiting for Bush to send the buses to evacuate. That's because most Floridians know what to do when a hurricane is coming and they don't wait until the winds are blowing 100MPH and their homes are filled with water.

I have lived in apartments that didn't have carbon monoxide detectors. I didn't wait for the government to pass laws requiring CO detectors in all apartments. I went out and spent the $20 and got my own CO detector.

[tallrick]

He does not fight the establishment. I would have liked to see him fight the current property tax structure, and point out the waste in government more.

[Petertherock]

I wanted to add...my comments above aren't directed at 8.00 per hour directly but just the general attitude a lot of people have towards government's role in their lives.