(John Andrews one week after) The split verdict on Nov. 1 from the voters, yes on C for higher taxes, no on D for deeper debt, dealt a blow to TABOR. Yet our Taxpayer's Bill of Rights remains a vital protection to liberty and a political asset to be envied by Americans elsewhere. The glass is way more than half full. We made the spenders really sweat for once, made them beg. That's a lot. The valiant losing fight against Ref C can be for conservatives here, what the Miers fight was for conservatives nationally -- an important new beginning. Let's make it that. Let's come together, do some honest self-examination, then get going and get back on offense. For starters, we might explore five questions:
True-red conservatives rare in Rockies?
By Brian Ochsner baochsner@aol.com Salena Zito's piece today on Real Clear Politics is pretty accurate describing Republicans in Washington, D.C. If Colorado Republicans haven't yet gone this hog wild drinking the pork-flavored koolaid, some are certainly leaning in that direction. The Zito commentary shows three examples of principled, conservative leadership that Republicans around the country -- and in our state particularly -- should emulate. (Note: her advocacy of cloning is presumably tongue-in-cheek. In any case, mine is.)
Balkan sons of liberty soldier on
(John Andrews abroad ) This week I had a couple of vivid glimpses of what it must have been like to participate in American political life in the first decades after independence. One was experiential, the other literary. Both confirmed my "Claremont conservative" conviction that the principles of the American founding lose none of their truth across time, geography, or cultures. The International Republican Institute, funded by USAID and dedicated to advancing democracy around the world, had invited me to Macedonia and Serbia to share the perspective of a think-tank entrepreneur and former legislator with leaders of center-right parties there.
The acclaimed biography of Alexander Hamilton [link] by Ron Chernow went along in my suitcase. After each long day of meetings in Skopje or Belgrade, unwinding at the hotel, I traveled back with Hamilton to New York or Philadelphia in the 1780s and '90s -- where one finds some notable parallels to the Balkan drama of today.
GOP at crossroads after Katrina
By Jim Windham Editor, The Texas Pilgrim There is now a second event to be added to the one on 9/11/01 that will dominate George W. Bush’s place in history, dictating as it will the future of “small government conservatism”, the concept of federalism as we have known it, and as a result, the future shape of the Republican Party.
No less an authority than Bill Clinton has remarked that the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will force a debate on three questions: (1) what is our obligation to the poor?, (2) what is the role of government?, and (3) how do we pay for it? He is correct, and the answers will determine the future of the electoral revolution began by Ronald Reagan in 1980 that has been sustained for 25 years.
Milton Friedman Says No To Refs C & D
By Jessica Peck Corry (Jessica@JessicaCorry.com) Milton Friedman, winner of the Nobel Price in economics, has denounced Refs C & D for what they are--a massive tax increase that won't help bring accountability to our ever-growing government.
According to aGreeley Tribune article that ran on September 14th, Friedman said the following: "I strongly urge the voters of Colorado to reject Referendum C, or any action that would suspend Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights. I strongly favor the continued and uninterrupted use of TABOR, including it's so called ratchet mechanism. The ratchet is one of the best features of TABOR. It is the only thing that will reduce out-of-control government spending."