This is a response to the two articles in the October 3 UP advocating a vote against Jeb Bush.

I feel compelled to respond to Dan Restrepo because ignorance is dangerous. To be responsible voters we must know the facts on the issues.

FACT #1: Nobody pays a state income tax in Florida. For Dan to say that “In Florida, the richest 1% pays a 3.6% income tax while the poorest 20% pays a 14% income tax” is blatantly false. Our state government gets its revenue from sales tax. This is a very fair method of taxation. If you have more money, aren’t you going to spend more money? And if you spend more money on buying more stuff (car, clothes, jewelry, etc.), you will be paying more taxes than somebody who doesn’t have as much money as you do. Why does the Democratic Party promulgate class warfare by demonizing the rich in this country? Don’t they realize that it is the rich people who keep our economy alive? Think about it-if there were no rich people, who would employ all those people in the construction industry to build fancy houses? I know people who never finished high school who are making $30 an hour working on Palm Beach. Who would pay the engineers and skilled craftsmen to build the high-class cars? What about the millions of people employed in the luxury tourism industry around the world? And most importantly, who would fund all the new projects, entrepreneurs, new companies, and research and development our economy thrives on if it weren’t for the rich people having extra money to invest? I don’t know of too many millionaires who keep their money under a mattress. Just because you might be jealous doesn’t mean you should vote for the person who says they’re going to raise the taxes on the rich so they can cut yours. Give me a break-the richest 1% in this country already pay somewhere around 95% of the total taxes the government takes in. And you want them to pay more….??!! Our American system should provide the same opportunity for everyone, regardless of financial status, and then reward achievement, not punish it! If you consider yourself poor, why do you care about how rich somebody else is? Are they holding you down? Concentrate on pulling yourself up, not pulling those above you down.

FACT #2: Since 1999 funding to education has increased more than $3 billion under Jeb Bush. If you want more, are you willing to pay more sales tax than you do now? For decades the answer to the problems with the education system has always been to simply throw more money at the problem. It obviously hasn’t worked. I went to a small private school and ended up with better SAT scores than 99% of the country. Guess what? That school was working on a much smaller budget per student than any public school. The teachers were paid less than those in local public schools. Success in education starts in the home. Give the schools good kids, and they will produce good student performance. What’s wrong with requiring testing and grading schools? As long as the test is structured properly, the whole point should be for the teachers to teach to the test! We need testing to evaluate performance. If you want better schools, don’t criticize the State government, look at the local management. That’s where the decisions and policies are made. F schools don’t need more money, they need drastic changes in the way they do things, and they need the freedom to do it.

FACT #3: Jeb Bush didn’t cut emissions testing. The program was terminated by the agency running it because the desired results had been achieved and they decided there was no justification for the cost of continuing testing. The standards didn’t change-all cars are still required by law to comply with the same emissions restrictions as before, but since there are more newer cars on the road and fewer older cars, there is no need to spend a lot money and time on the testing. They made the decision based on improved environmental conditions in Florida.

FACT #4: Out of all the lawsuits following the 2000 elections, nobody was ever convicted of breaking the law. The only evidence to support accusations of disenfranchisement is unsubstantiated claims by individuals. Anybody can say anything they want. Where’s the evidence? Why do percentages mean anything? What matters is if it was a legitimate vote, according to the rules established before the election. The fact that 54% of rejected votes came from minorities means nothing. The ballots and methods were properly approved before the election. Whether or not it was confusing, it was a legitimate election by law. Sure there were problems. We need to fix them before the next election. The fact remains that you can’t change the rules during the game! Democrats and the Florida Supreme Court tried to change the rules during the election process, and that’s what the U.S. Supreme Court corrected.

In response to the letter written by Christina and Abby, I find it troubling that people blame Jeb Bush for the current economic problems Florida is facing. The Florida economy depends on tourists. Tourists spend money, and therefore pay sales tax. Does anybody remember the effects of September 11th? Did you feel like flying somewhere? Tourism travel to Florida was severely hurt by the terrorist attacks. It is slowly recovering, but in the meantime our state government lost a lot of revenue. We are required by law to have a balanced budget, so therefore spending on things like education, social services, etc. had to decrease. If you’re upset about classes being cancelled, don’t blame Jeb Bush, get mad at the terrorists.

So why should you vote for Jeb Bush? He has a great record fixing problems and making this State a better place to live. He has good ideas for continuing that pattern. Bill McBride is using the typical Democrat strategy of promising everybody more money, without telling them that in the end that money will come out of their pockets. We need a governor who is more responsible than that. Don’t vote for who will do good things for you, vote for who will do good things for the State in the long run.