Florida voters fed up with Conservatives elected to serve

Conservatives' issues roiled, then fizzled

By Joe Follick H-T CAPITAL BUREAU
Published Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.

TALLAHASSEE — While they did not fix an inequitable tax system or lessen the risk of billions of dollars in state losses in case of a major hurricane, Florida lawmakers this year invested anguished hours on emotionally volatile subjects such as abortion and evolution that left supporters and opponents drained.

And, in the end, the sound and fury generated almost no legislation. A bill allowing Florida residents to bring firearms to work and store them in their vehicles was the single major socially conservative bill to be approved.

Underlying the debates on such wedge issues was the question of why the Legislature battled for them at a time when economic concerns were the priority of many voters and with Republican Gov. Charlie Crist preaching a nonpartisan brand of moderation.

"People pushing this legislation are pushing it on the merits, not to demonstrate we still have muscle," said James A. Smith, the executive editor of the Florida Baptist Witness, who watched the debates in the Legislature last week. "We passionately believe in protecting unborn children and we passionately believe that evolutionary dogma shouldn't reign in our schools."

But others say the push violates Republican principles and taints the Legislature as a vehicle for ideological crusades.

"I think these are things that even have Republicans scratching their heads and saying, 'How many times are things like this going to be on our agenda?'" said Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville.

"One of the underlying axioms of this has been the mantra of the Republican Party for the last two decades, 'Less government and more freedom.' People look at some of the things we're doing and say this flies right in the face of that."
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Like I said when I posted about the plate for Christians, looks like a lot of people are fed up with what they "value" instead of taking care of the people in this state. It's gotten so bad that when I went to find out about training for emergencies CERT training, I was told the program had been cut because of the budget. This is a program to train volunteers!!!!!