Radio, Oct. 23: Unfit for freedom?

BULLETIN FROM JOHN ANDREWSChairman, Backbone America Colorado Fellow, Claremont Institute -------------------------------------------------------------------- Join us on radio every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver To listen online from anywhere, click http://www.710knus.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Stop subsidizing lawbreakers: our new ad spotlights illegals --------------------------------------------------------------------- Come to our party... One year on the air & post-election rally, Sunday Nov. 6, 5-8pm... We'll do the show live from LoDo's at 470 & Quebec... Mark your calendar, join us ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OUR NEXT SHOW... Are human beings fit to be free? That's the question on my mind as I write to you from Belgrade on Thursday, looking forward to being home in Denver on Sunday for the next edition of "Backbone Radio with John Andrews." I'll have a full report on this week's meetings with "small d" democratic party leaders in the newly independent ex-communist republics of Macedonia and Serbia, where I've been traveling for the International Republican Institute.

I invite you to listen on 710 AM or www.710knus.com, and call us on 303-696-1971, and participate by email to backboneradio@aol.com.

Thumbs down -- unfit for freedom -- that's been the verdict on humanity from both the Marxist-Leninist ideas that long tyrannized this part of the world and the Islamo-fascist vision that tempts Muslims here and elsewhere, as well as from the absolute monarchies and despotic empires endemic to the Balkans in centuries past.

But now these long-suffering peoples of the former Yugoslavia are working to disprove the old assumption about them. And while the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the overthrow of bloody strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, may seem like back pages to us in the West, for people here these are still fresh events leading to an uncertain future.

The Balkan drama, men and women much like us struggling to build free and open societies on the rubble of brutal unfreedom, is relevant not only for its own sake but also for the light it sheds on similar efforts in Iraq or Afghanistan -- the future direction of Russia and China -- and for its sidelight on America's own less-vivid debates about over-government versus individual liberty.

Yes, when you think about it, that even includes Colorado's battle over the C & D tax increase. I mean it: the issues and tradeoffs differ only in degree.

So your Backbone host flies home this weekend with lots of grist for the Oct. 23 show. My guests will include a local Muslim imam... state Republican chairman Bob Martinez... immigration scholar John Fonte... former House Speaker Lola Spradley... and tax-fighting Aurora councilman Ryan Frazier.

Liven up your Sunday evening with some backbone -- the most principled, most patriotic, most faith-based, most Colorado-proud conversation on the weekend radio dial. We're the talk show that believes in America without apologies, that puts principle into politics, that's quietly recruiting citizen soldiers to help restore this Republic. Want to be one?

Yours for self-government, JOHN ANDREWS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- YARD SIGNS now rolling out for No on C & D. To get yours, click here. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHY TOCQUEVILLE would pan the Colorado tax hike: my Post column --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TAXPAYER'S TOOL KIT is a good way to describe the online resources you can use to fight the nearly $6 billion in higher taxes and deeper debt called for in Referendum C & D. Sites to check out include...Defeatc.com... Taxincrease.org... Savetabor.com... NoOnRefC.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOW BLOGGING FOR BACKBONE are Owens alumnus Sean Duffy, former CU Republican activist Brad Jones, Claremont Lincoln Fellow Krista Kafer, theology wonk Jeremy Schupbach, and several other suspicious characters. Plus of course Dr. Matt, Skinny Beth, Cate Corry's mom, and me. Check in with us daily, right here at http://www.backboneamerica.net/.