As we observe the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this Fourth of July, we should consider the unique form of government for which our Founding Fathers chose to risk “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” against the militarily-superior British.
The definitive passage in the Declaration reads:  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, […]

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

"When buying and selling are controlled by the legislature, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators." — P.J. O’Rourke.
Money spent on special interest lobbying at the State Capitol jumped 14 percent this year over last, despite measures like the so-called "Ethics in Government" Amendment 41.
Lobbyists’ contracts generated more than $11 million […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on June 25th, 2007 | No Comments »

If you’re unhappy with health care, you’re obviously not alone.  For most people, the problem isn’t availability.  The problem is cost – cost of treatment, cost of prescriptions, cost of insurance, or cost of paying for the uninsured.
For more than 60 years, government has tinkered with the way we pay for health care.  Unfortunately, when […]

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

The bad economist sees only what immediately strikes the eye; the good economist looks beyond. – Henry Hazlitt.
When Democrats at the State Capitol trumpeted their successes on behalf of "ordinary Coloradans" recently, I couldn’t help but reflect on this key point from Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson.
The way top Democrats tell it, we ordinary Coloradans […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on May 21st, 2007 | Comments Off

In the 18 months since voters passed Referendum C, Colorado’s resurgent economy has boosted the state’s budget windfall by 50 percent, from the $3.7 billion estimated just prior to Election Day 2005 to the most recent estimate of $5.4 billion.
Yet one thing that Ref C’s supporters and detractors seemed to agree upon is the silver […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on April 26th, 2007 | No Comments »

Legislators and lobbyists too often take chances with other people’s money.  That’s because the real world impact of legislation is often vastly different from the bravado that punctuates debate at the State Capitol.
Not long after I was elected, I began to hear a relentless drumbeat of complaints from business-owners about the skyrocketing costs of health […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on April 16th, 2007 | No Comments »

Longtime teachers union boss Albert Shanker infamously remarked, "When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children."
The recent dustup between Democrats at the State Capitol over public school choice revealed that, on certain issues, even those who seem to share common political ideologies can be miles apart.
In […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on April 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

For the first time in six years, Colorado’s health insurance market is showing signs of improvement.  More employers are offering insurance coverage, and more working families are being covered.
From 2005 to 2006, 1,289 more businesses offered coverage to their employees and dependants, according to a report from the Colorado Division of Insurance.
That seems like a […]

Filed under: Notes, Capitol Review on March 21st, 2007 | Comments Off

Hysteria trumped reason yet again at the State Capitol when a senate committee killed the so-called "Make My Day Better" bill on a party-line vote.
Responsible gun owners regularly find themselves subjected to this kind of treatment by wet-diaper, nanny-state liberals who believe that any Colorado citizen with a gun is barely capable of suppressing some […]

Filed under: Capitol Review, Blog on March 5th, 2007 | Comments Off

What if your state senator or representative voted for a bill based on what they were told it would do, rather than what the bill actually said in plain ol’ black and white?
What if the actual text of that bill put some rather outrageous things into state law and, when pressed further, your elected legislator […]

Filed under: Capitol Review, Blog on February 12th, 2007 | Comments Off

I have never been more discouraged by the prevailing attitude in our country than I am now as we face serious choices about the war in Iraq and the consequences of failure.

Four years ago, the U.S. Senate voted 77-23 to authorize the war in Iraq; the House followed suit 296-133.  Upwards of 70 percent of us supported removing Saddam Hussein and replacing him with a democratically-elected government.

Today, the poll numbers are virtually reversed.  Majorities of Americans now believe going to war was the wrong thing to do, that sectarian violence cannot be resolved anytime soon, and that President Bush’s plan to send deploy more troops is a non-starter.

It’s not hard to understand why.  The "news" from Iraq is almost never good – perhaps because it’s much easier to report bombings and body counts from the safety of a news bureau than it is to interview regular Iraqis who, in so many parts of the country, are benefiting from schools, jobs and opportunities that wouldn’t exist were it not for America’s intervention.

Filed under: Capitol Review, Blog on February 4th, 2007 | Comments Off

Democracy is the theory that the people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. — H.L. Mencken
Last November, more than 62 percent of Colorado voters supported Amendment 41, the constitutional amendment advertised to crack down on cozy relationships between lobbyists and politicians.
Garnering 50,000 more votes than any candidate, Amendment 41 […]

Filed under: Capitol Review on January 26th, 2007 | No Comments »