Some questions defy answer. The Miami Herald editorial page’s Daily Q is as they say, “an unscientific measure of our community’s pulse.” However, those who support a question have just as many chances of voting as those who oppose. So, while I don’t always agree with the results, I do feel that it pretty well represents the direction of public opinion.
The Herald published on May 2 the results of the question “Are you satisfied with the Legislature’s performance this year?” I couldn’t believe the results of the polling. Six percent said “yes” they were satisfied. However 94 percent said “no,” they were not satisfied. That’s a lower rating than Richard Nixon had the day he resigned in disgrace as President of the United States.
So, the question that goes begging is: Why do we keep reelecting the same people to represent us in Tallahassee? I know with term limits we don’t have to vote them out of office; we can just wait. But that isn’t a good answer. With a 6 percent favorable rating it would seem we should be replacing 94 percent of our elected officials every election.
One answer is that while we don’t like our elected officials, we do like the individual who represents us. Everybody else is bad! Could there be another answer? Perhaps, most of the “few” who do vote are those that have a perceived benefit that might come with their vote: “Vote for me,” Rep. Doaks states, “and I will give your sister a job where she doesn’t really have to work.”
It is a crime that only 6 percent of us like the job our legislators are doing. Let’s take a look at a little of what they are doing. The legislature is attempting to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot that in essence says that if a voter initiative gets an amendment on the ballot and it is approved by the voters, the legislature can kill it and prevent it from becoming law.
I don’t know how they can sell that to us. But, with the big bucks from special interests, they will find a way to twist our thinking and convince us that it is good for the state.
How about a law that requires a woman who is seeking an abortion to look at an ultrasound picture of her baby or hear her doctor describe the baby she will be losing? As bad as that sounds, the law goes even farther in saying that no governmentfunded medical plan can pay for the ultrasound procedure.
A doctor friend of mine said the average ultrasound costs over a $1,000. Where will an unemployed, single mother come up with that much money? Will we be returning to the days of backroom, coat hanger, illegal abortions that once took place.
How about a state legislature that ran a governor out of his own political party because he once hugged the President of the United States, thanking him for bringing millions of stimulus dollars to Florida? If they were so against the stimulus why did they turn around and embrace the very same dollars to balance our budget? This is not Democrat vs. Republican, or Republican vs. Democrat. This is just stupid politics.
We could go on and on. And it will go on and on as long as we fall under the spell of legislators when they tout themselves as the saviors of the state. Let’s open our eyes, start asking real questions and vote with logic.
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