Most such efforts were confined to the private sector. In Texas, the reinventing government movement has nudged state government to a critical turning point. Yet, the average Texan is reluctant to believe things are improving. Crime is down, but few feel safer. The economy is growing, but few who live paycheck to paycheck see much difference in their personal incomes.
Test scores are up, but questions about the quality of public schooling persist.
Some small business folks and even big-time investors, caught up in the speculative frenzy of a decade ago, remain deep in debt. The state bureaucracy has been shaken, but Texans are still skeptical, still overburdened, still unsatisfied that government is giving them the level of customer service they deserve. Taxpayers are in a foul frame of mind, deeply cynical and in no mood to believe that some new piece of legislation will improve their lives. In this era of disbelief, customer service isn't an easy concept to sell. Professional government watchers, and certainly most ordinary Texans, long ago lost whatever enthusiasm they might have had for public institutions.