How to fix a broken state (Republican-battered Florida)

[seafan]

How to fix a broken state

By PAMELA HASTEROK
FRESH TALK

April 16, 2009

Good government has three wheels -- preserving natural resources, building a strong society and helping the economy -- and only the last is getting the grease.

That's the opening premise of a book in the works by former Volusia County Manager Larry Arrington called "Sustainable Governance: Renewing the Search."

But you could call it "What Went Wrong in Florida and How to Fix It."

Written with business partner Herb Marlowe Jr. (the face of county goal-setting in recent years), the book is a cogent explanation of how Florida got to where it is today. Government caters to an economy that doesn't work any more, natural resources are disappearing and many Floridians believe their quality of life is endangered.

For anyone who watched politics in the past decade and wondered what happened, it's a relief to have someone interpret the tea leaves. If you ever wondered why citizens seem so angry, politicians seem so nasty and the state of Florida seems to be sinking into the abyss, this book is for you.

If you ever wondered how such a bright, committed leader (sic) as former Gov. Jeb Bush could get it so wrong, how a fundamentally moderate governor would follow in his footsteps and why lawmakers are clueless to Florida's current crisis, then "Sustainable Governance" is worth your time, too.
Bush believed deeply in the old Ronald Reagan axiom that the best government is the least. He cut 10,000 state workers, out-sourced everything from garbage collection to payroll and started the privatization of public education. He pushed lawmakers to cut taxes on businesses and the wealthy and inserted conservative Christian ideology into state policy.

Arrington and Marlowe assert that Bush's my-way-or-the-highway style left a continuing legacy of political polarization and of promoting business interests above all others. Further, his policies crippled local governments and left the state without the basic services Floridians need.

But the book is more than a rebuke. It's also a primer for what to do now.

.....

But, but.... Hannity and Boss Limbaugh said Jeb was 'so popular'!



(emphasis added)