From Tallahassee to Washington, the 2012 campaign will be an all-American debate "about who we are," says Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater.
"There are people bent on changing who we are. Half the population feels entitled to the sweat and sacrifice of the other half," Atwater told an Indian River Tea Party gathering in Vero Beach last week.
"Our nation's debt-to-GDP ratio has risen to post-World War II levels. The difference is that then we saved the free world. Today, it's 'Cash for Clunkers.'"
Noting that the percentage of Americans receiving monthly checks from the federal government has risen from 14 percent in 1953 to 66 percent today, the Palm Beach Republican said the debate over constitutional principles must be a vigorous one.
"This game won't be played in white tennis shorts," he predicted. "It will be a full-contact sport."
While asserting that Florida, unlike Washington, runs far closer to the limited-government principles propounded by the Founding Fathers, Atwater pointed to troubling deviations.
Chief among them, he said, is state-backed Citizens Insurance.
"It started in 2002 as the insurer of last resort. Now, it has the No. 1 market share and has chased out everyone else," the banker said.
Though Atwater didn't identify Charlie Crist by name, his critique echoed Wall Street Journal editorials, which have excoriated the former governor's semi-socialistic property-insurance policies as "Hurricane Charlie."
Atwater pointed to sinkhole coverage as a literal and figurative financial pit, with Citizens collecting $32 million in premiums, but paying out $250 million in claims.
Questioning the very notion of sinkholes, he said, "You can't find them. But you can find lots of billboards advertising [adjusters] for them."
Atwater praised Gov. Rick Scott and lawmakers for working to reform insurance regulations in a way that will revive competition.
"We're trying, with Rick Scott, to welcome back the risk-takers and the entrepreneurs," said Atwater, who as CFO sits on the Florida Cabinet with the governor, attorney general and commissioner of agriculture -- all Republicans.
On the national scene, Atwater said, "We have a president who says 'just do your share.' I'd like him to talk to the 47 percent of people who pay no income tax."
"The president can't defend his policies," Atwater said. "He just figures he'll get that half of the vote."
The fifth-generation Floridian recalled the day his father drove him to St. Anastasia Catholic Church in Fort Pierce and pointed to a room where, in 1928, the down-and-out Atwater family had been provided temporary lodging by a parish priest.
"It was the generosity of a community that served by choice, not a government extracting wealth and sweat," Atwater observed.
Today, the former state Senate president calls Florida's stable pension program "the envy of the country," and touted the state's AAA credit rating, financial reserves and balanced budgets in the face of an impending double-dip recession. He said the only spending category that's going up is Medicaid, as mandated by the federal government.
Challenging big-government progressives, and offering encouragement to conservatives, Atwater concluded, "These are urgent times. Bring on the debate, if you think Greece or California has the answer."
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or (772) 801-5341.
