care of everything'' and for individuals to become less and less self-reliant.

It is a classic example of asking what your Country can do for you.

Governments are facilitators. They should keep the public sector in order and provide good facilities for the advantage of the people. Governments are not private fixers, nor should they be. If something in your life is broken, you should be trying first to fix it yourself and not looking to Government to fix it at the expense of fellow members of the public. Of course, Government will use the public purse to look after those people who cannot look after themselves, but only when they cannot look after themselves.

People do not prepare themselves for jobs and then blame Government. They get their finances in a muddle and it is Government's fault. Their children break the law and it is Government's fault. The list of complaints is long and it may only indicate that we all like someone else to blame for our self-created misfortune. We live in a time when people take advantage of being victims. If you can become a victim then you can excuse your own failings and ask others to ignore those failings because you were whatever.. .the "whatever'' list is endless. But constant blame heaped on Government is becoming debilitating for the Country.

The Minister of Tourism, the Hon. C.V. Woolridge, was speaking about entertainment in the hotels during the House of Assembly debate last Friday.

He agreed that there is not enough evening hotel entertainment and that there was a time when visitors could go to a different hotel night spot every night.

But he was right when he told the House it is not something Government or the Department of Tourism can correct. Government can suggest solutions but the problem is not Government's fault and the problem needs to be corrected by the hotels to meet the demands of their guests.

Some of the reason we blame Government has to do with Bermuda's system of confrontational politics. There is also a tendency on behalf of the Progressive Labour Party to complain about anything and everything. Nothing is ever correct, which leads people to think that complaining about Government is the thing to do.

Very often people complain about trends which apply to many other countries but treat them as if they were unique to Bermuda. Drugs and the resulting crime and guns are certainly not unique to Bermuda but we often talk as if they are. College graduates having a tough time finding jobs is just as true in the US and Canada as it is in Bermuda today. Young people paying for second and third rate US education and then feeling cheated when they are ill educated is not Government's fault. It is the student's own fault for making a bad choice and wasting their time and someone's money.

Most Governments get used to being a whipping boy and Bermuda's Government is no exception. And there are often things over which Governments should be whipped but they should not be held accountable for people's private failures or for personal trials and tribulations.