It’s now official. Our non-blinking governor is encouraging legislators to join him in this wide-eyed adventure to make government run like a business.
If this catches on, expect a spike in sales of Restasis, the tear-creating medication. Because no one in Tallahassee seems to be shedding a tear for the abused child, the sick senior or the poor unemployed stiff who would lose benefits as part of the governor’s “jobs creation” cut taxes program.
“A vast majority of legislators were elected, as I was, on our promise of smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation, support for job creation, individual opportunity, individual accountability and more freedom,’’ Gov. Rick Scott said during his State of the State address last week.
“Don’t blink. Don’t let special interests persuade you to turn your back on the people who elected you. Working together we can do incredible things, if we stand together.”
And here I am among a growing group of restless, independent-minded voters waiting for the governor to blink, remove the ideological blinders and get to work for Florida.
To his credit, Scott delivered for the Port of Miami. He promised $77 million to dredge the port for the big ships that are coming by 2014. Thousands of good-paying jobs are ahead.
But for all his wide-eyed, non-blinking vision, Scott sees no place for high-speed rail to move tourists and residents to and from Tampa, Orlando and Miami and some day link to a national network similar to those in Europe and Japan. Scott turned down — again — $2.4 billion in federal money for a mega-jobs-creating bullet train.
The 30,000 jobs tied to the train project would only be the beginning, as developers would eagerly eye station stops. Imagine a biotech corridor of companies linked to stations in Orlando, Tampa and Miami. Now that would move us into the 21st century at warp speed.
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