Updated April 27
If you think private and religious colleges that take no state tax dollars should be regulated by state bureaucrats, you must be a Colorado Democrat.
If you think taxing marriage will reduce child abuse, you must be a Colorado Democrat.
If you plan to pay for new programs with revenues from the oil and gas […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on April 27th, 2008 | No Comments »

Samuel Johnson called second marriages "the triumph of hope over experience." The same might be said for the latest health care reform bill at the State Capitol.
For more than 20 years, crusading politicians have promised to deliver better health care to more people for less money simply by saying "make it so." With […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on April 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

It’s an article of faith among Democrats that the state budget is a "moral document." However, if the state budget reflects the morality of Democrats then it’s all too obvious that they still worship at the altar of big government.
The fiscal shenanigans at the root of the Colorado state budget should cause anyone who’s paying […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on April 2nd, 2008 | No Comments »

"If you really believe black people are ‘fellow Americans,’ then treat them as such." — John McWhorter, Losing The Race.
If Barack Obama truly wants to transcend race, he would do well to apply the words of John McWhorter to his "explanation" of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Obama is supposed to be different: a messenger of […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on March 24th, 2008 | No Comments »

We are Americans, and we want the best. Now!
Instant gratification has become the American ethos.
In roughly three generations, American society has been transformed from a nation of penny-pinchers, scrimpers and savers to a nation of consumption-addicted spendthrifts oblivious to tomorrow. […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on March 19th, 2008 | No Comments »

First, I am a conservative; then, I’m a Republican.
Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham and James Dobson hold views much closer to my own and to those of most conservatives than does Sen. John McCain.
I have serious, principled disagreements with the Arizona senator on several issues: freedom of speech, global warming and energy explanation, among others.
In the […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on March 3rd, 2008 | No Comments »

If you lie awake at night anguishing over unemployed trial lawyers, you must be a Democrat politician.
In Congress, 66 trial lawyers who donated $1.5 million to Democrat candidates are "credited" with derailing an anti-terrorism bill that passed the Senate with 67 votes.
Here in Colorado, the immediate stakes aren’t as severe, but businesses will be paying […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on February 27th, 2008 | No Comments »

Just as local experts were revealing their plans to "fix" what ails Colorado, a heavy-handed health care overhaul crashed on the rocks in California and Democrat presidential candidates clashed over the appropriate size of government’s health care hammer.
Labor Democrats joined with Republicans in California to kill Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed mandate when they realized that […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on February 16th, 2008 | No Comments »

Republicans wouldn’t have dreamed of this storyline, but for the second time in less than a year, Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter is proposing a major tax increase.
And just like last time, he doesn’t want to let you vote on it.
Taxpayers who have just received their property tax bill could be forgiven for mistaking last year’s […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on February 4th, 2008 | No Comments »

What is it about Washington, D.C., that turns the brains of otherwise intelligent people into mashed potatoes?
Americans say we want our energy to be cleaner, more affordable and less reliant on foreign sources. Even if those desires are incompatible, Congress is in the business of making promises, not making people face tough choices.
So what […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on January 28th, 2008 | No Comments »

When the Colorado General Assembly reconvened Wednesday, great fanfare accompanied the election of Sen. Peter Groff as the first African-American Senate president in Colorado. However, Groff’s leadership has the potential to construct a legacy that is more than symbolic.
For three years, Groff and I served together in the Colorado Senate. We stand on opposite sides […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on January 10th, 2008 | No Comments »

Rarely does the New York Times hit the nail on the head, but just as "a stopped clock is right twice a day," a recent Times/CBS poll confirmed that most Republicans (76 percent) don’t know what to make of the party’s candidates for president. Count me among them.
In judging among candidates for president, my […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on December 20th, 2007 | No Comments »

Just as the Declaration of Independence invoked the Creator as the source of our inalienable rights, the tradition of a National Day of Thanksgiving further confirms that the founding generation found nothing unusual about viewing government through the dual lenses of faith and reason.
Too often the debate over the proper role of religion in government […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on November 21st, 2007 | No Comments »

"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it." — Mark Twain.
You might say the same goes for health care.  Politicians are constantly tinkering, making promises they can’t deliver, and usually creating a bigger mess than the one they promised to fix.
Ironically, despite the abysmal record of lawmakers and bureaucrats to […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on November 5th, 2007 | No Comments »

Given the special relationship we have with our pets and the tenderness we feel toward animals that rely on us for protection and sustenance, it’s no wonder that so many of us feel disgust and contempt when we read about people who show blatant disregard for animals.
A Denver man accused of twisting the head off […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on October 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

Much of our country’s simmering dialogue on immigration sooner or later turns to the question of hiring people to perform certain "jobs Americans won’t do."
Rarely, however, do policymakers address why Americans apparently refuse to do certain jobs while immigrants go to great trouble and expense to come here to perform those very jobs.
Many of the […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on September 28th, 2007 | No Comments »

Two years ago, lawmakers asked voters for a "timeout" from the spending restrictions of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) in order to allow the state budget to rebound from the recession of 2001-2002.
Referendum C, which passed by a narrow 52 to 48 percent margin, erased the TABOR spending limits for five years and permanently […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on August 29th, 2007 | No Comments »

Anyone who has grown up on a farm or ranch hears this maxim, "Take care of the land, and the land will take care of you." A farmer or rancher who doesn’t take care of the soil will soon find that the soil won’t produce enough to make ends meet.
But you don’t need to […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on August 29th, 2007 | No Comments »

When we consider drastically altering our expectations of government, we risk undermining the principles on which our country was founded and proving Ronald Reagan’s maxim: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction."
Every expansion of government entitlements masquerading as rights — like a "right to health care" — is a dangerous step along […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on August 20th, 2007 | No Comments »

If you’ve ever been disappointed by a meal at a fancy restaurant or researched a major purchase, you know that a big price tag doesn’t guarantee the best quality.
Careful consumers want the most bang for their buck — not the most bucks for their bang.
Unfortunately, big-government liberals seem to think that spending is the best […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on July 17th, 2007 | No Comments »