I believe in liberty, and that
liberty requires limited government.
Government, left unchecked, grows in scope and size due to its (mostly)
well-intentioned public representatives and employees. Some people prefer to add regulations and
restrictions (see the cell phone texting ban); others prefer to merely transfer
wealth to political contributors (see Governor Bill Ritter’s “green” economy
measures or the Federal Government taking over GM). Of course, all government money is
transferred wealth that others created, so minimizing this wealth transfer is
crucial to maintain individual liberty and property rights.
TABOR, the taxpayer’s bill of
rights, kept Colorado’s government from growing out of control in the good
times, so the government cuts are not so painful during the lean times. The budget “hole” for this year is only $1
billion. That looks pretty good compared
to California’s $50 billion deficit.
However, for some (including
Governor Bill Ritter), enough is never enough.
The Governor declared a hiring freeze for the state and then proceeded
to add over 2,000 new employees to the government payroll. Recently, outgoing Senate President Peter
Groff (amongst others) gave bonuses
to his staff while state employees are asked to take some furlough days to save
money. Ben DeGrow, writing at Mount
Virtus, writes of the “Colorado
Democrats’ Taxpayer-Funded Arrogance” with regard to a partisan retreat
recently held on the taxpayer’s nickel. How
are these programs funded? Funding comes
from tax increases, of course.
While TABOR does not allow for
increases in tax collection without a vote of the people, politicians invented
rather sneaky ways to circumvent TABOR.
There was the new tax fee on car registrations. The Colorado Supreme Court declared Governor
Bill Ritter’s illegal property tax freeze as legal. Of course, the court also will get a brand
new state-constructed building (apparently its 30-year-old building in Denver
is too old). This ruling led to all
sorts of new “allocation strategies,” a code word for raising taxes without a
vote. Hence, everyone’s cigarette taxes
increased fifteen cents a pack.
Republican Don Marostica crossed party lines to co-sponsor Senate Bill
228, which removed the six percent annual governmental growth limit. While the six percent limit may seem low, it
merely meant that the government would take only twelve years to double in
size. With that obstacle removed, the
government is nearly unlimited in its growth potential.
What could the Republicans do to
stop this madness? They could do little
this year. Kent Lambert’s statement in
January that we need to “thin the ranks” of weak Republicans is wrong on
multiple levels. Yes, the ranks of the
Republicans are thinner, and the Democrats control every branch of
government. What does a party gain when
its membership is ideologically “pure”, yet it is unable to influence public
policy?
When asked at a luncheon about what
the party should do to Don Marostica due to his sponsorship of Senate Bill 228,
State Senator Shawn Mitchell responded, “I think public excommunications do more
harm than good.” Luckily, Kent Lambert
did not “thin the ranks”, and Shawn Mitchell’s side won out. While the Democrats plot
to further neuter TABOR, Marostica wants to revisit the true problems in the
state: the automatic funding increase in spending due to Amendment 23 and the
Gallagher Amendment.
Slowing the growth of government is
hard work, and it will require (at a minimum) divided government. Big-tent Republicanism is the only way to
achieve a majority in either one of the legislative chambers. Therefore, the best way for me to support Tom
“A Watcher” McDowell’s campaign for State Senate is to keep this blog alive to
promote our shared values in a big-tent Republican Party focused on limited
government and fiscal responsibility.
by
Civil Sense