Unenforceable gun bans solve nothing

Mass killings like the Aurora and the Sikh temple are horrific, but more gun control isn't the answer, says John Andrews in the August round of Head On TV debates. No, objects Susan Barnes-Gelt, it's time to curb the NRA's excessive influence at every level of government. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over foreign policy in the presidential race, big money in politics, Denver's proposed TABOR override, and citizen oversight of the police. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for August: 1. GUN CONTROL AFTER AURORA

John: Another mass murder, this time at the theater in Aurora, has all of us grieving with the victims and looking for ways to prevent these horrific killings in the future. Better early detection of disturbed individuals is one answer. Banning various types of weapons is not. Colorado has enough gun control.

Susan: It’s disturbing. Though the University of Colorado psychiatrist who was treating the disturbed young man, reported her concerns to the appropriate university committee - they did nothing. Also disturbing - the ability to buy 6000-rounds of ammunition on the internet.

John: This monster – I refuse to say his name – could have taken just as many lives with a few hundred bullets or one bomb. Unenforceable gun bans are not the answer. When a bloodbath like Aurora or Gabby Giffords or the Sikh temple is politicized by liberals with an agenda, it’s doubly tragic.

Susan: Liberals with an agenda? Puleeeze! The NRA owns the United States Congress, every statehouse and city hall in the country – THAT’s political. Only New York Mayor Bloomberg has the courage to say what needs to be said: assault weapons and ammunition are weapons of war. Period. The end.

2. ROMNEY VS OBAMA ON FOREIGN POLICY

John: For most voters, the election is a choice between a president who gave us this lousy economy and a challenger who knows how to fix it. Advantage Romney. But it’s also a choice between the Democrats’ weak approach to Iran, Russia, and China, and the Republicans’ strong approach. Advantage Romney again.

Susan: Romney’s oafish behavior at the Olympics - classic CEO posturing - “my product is better than yours.” And Israel and Poland? Divisive pandering puts the best face on his missteps. Downright stupid may be the better characterization. He isn’t qualified to be commander in chief.

John: No presidential term since Carter has seen such an alarming increase in America’s weakness around the world and vulnerability to our enemies. People sense this, and it’s another reason why Romney will defeat Obama. The incumbent is soft on Iran and Russia, but unfriendly to Britain and Israel. That’s just backwards.

Susan: The cold war is over. The last thing our country needs is an inexperienced, pandering lightweight with no foreign policy experience. Blundering into another unwinnable conflict because an arrogant CEO is trigger happy – will ensure a permanent decline of America’s stature on the world stage.

3. INDEPENDENT MONITOR HIRED FOR DENVER POLICE

John: When most people think of the police, they think of brave public servants who protect us the bad guys. That’s true especially in the inner city for minorities and the poor. Cops aren’t a threat. So the independent monitor for Denver Police is unnecessary, and actually an obstacle to good law enforcement.

Susan: Your rosy description fits 95% of the DPD. Unfortunately, habitual abuse of the rogue 5% combined with lack of objectivity and transparency of the arcane internal review process, demands an independent monitor. Good law enforcement requires accountability - on both sides of the badge.

John: The bad apples are less than 1%, and there’s plenty oversight to deal with those, without the independent monitor nonsense. Look at New York. Tough policing made the city safer for everyone. Race baiting may now undo all that. Let’s not take Denver down that path. Give the new chief a chance.

Susan: Chief White isn’t objecting to an independent monitor. He’s smart enough to recognize that the monitor legitimizes police actions in to a skeptical community. Good cops who play by the rules, understand this, too. Confidence in public officials depends on transparency.   4. PRES POLITICS: TOO MUCH MUD & MONEY?

Susan: The 2012 presidential campaign insults voters on both sides of the aisle. Neither candidate has told me what his vision for the next 4 years includes. $53-millon in dark money - Super PACS with no transparency - dominates the dialogue. Both campaigns are defined by gotcha soundbites. We deserve better.

John: We deserve better from our president than the negativity, divisiveness, and fear-mongering of Obama’s campaign. The truth of his failed policies is so damning that he has to change the subject by lying about Romney. The money being spent is not a big deal. The moral bankruptcy of this White House is.

Susan: I think there’s sufficient moral bankruptcy to go around. Republican Super PAC sugar daddy, Sheldon Adelson – who accompanied Romney to Israel, is accused of laundering millions in Mexican drug money. What’s Romney hiding in his tax returns? Now that’s moral bankruptcy.

John: Romney’s taxes? He absolutely paid them to the tune of $3 million a year, according to ABC News. Adelson’s casino business? What convenient timing for those allegations. This is just Democrats with the usual Chicago thuggery. But Americans aren’t fooled, Susan. Obama is finished.

5. TAX HIKE FOR DENVER?

Susan: Despite a weak economy and barely recovering real estate values, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock want to raise property taxes by removing the constraints of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights for sales and property tax. I’d support the city recovering $68-million to catch up, but not a forever blank check.

John: Voting on tax increases is one of our great advantages in Colorado compared to other states. The people of Denver should vote down Hancock’s revenue grab and tell him to try again on spending cuts. And for you, Susan, I have here a special Olympic medal as a Democrat who supports TABOR.

Susan: I decline the medal. I’m no TABOR fan. Rather my point is, Mayor Hancock has no business asking voters in this very tough economy for a permanent tax increase – with no sunset or accountability. He must identify cost savings, specify extra funds will be spent and sunset the measure to reevaluate.

John: When Hancock took office, I said on this program that Denver needed to become a job-creation magnet for the sake of Colorado’s economy and its own fiscal health. The mayor has not stepped up. But as far as TABOR, you are still my favorite Olympic non-medalist, right up there with Oscar the Blade Runner.

Who says we're free?

(Denver Post, July 22) July 4 has seldom been set up more dramatically for Americans to think hard about freedom, than it was with this year’s Supreme Court ruling on health care the week before. If Congress can compel the behavior of individuals through taxation, what’s really left of our liberty? When you read the decision by Chief Justice John Roberts alongside the Declaration of Independence, it’s striking how different America is today from the time of the founding – not just in the vastly greater size and scope of government, but in people’s demand and tolerance for that massive political presence in our lives. Indeed, the two factors feed on each other in a vicious circle. The Declaration’s brave words about our right to “alter or abolish” an unjust government, about resisting oppression “with manly firmness”, about finding George III “unfit to be the ruler of a free people,” still stir the blood. But realistically, amidst our timid and tepid 2012 notion of what freedom even means, they might as well be runes from Beowulf.

For some of us on the right, who had put too much hope on courts to enforce the Constitution, the June rulings on Obamacare and immigration were an overdue reality check. Self-government in America is too far gone for judges to rescue it, or even harm it much. Constitutional make-believe now prevails in all three branches and at the federal, state, and local levels, top to bottom.

Make no mistake: I’m sorry Arizona’s SB-1070 was not fully upheld and the Affordable Care Act was not struck down. I hope the Colorado Supreme Court rejects the Lobato school finance suit and affirms the Douglas County vouchers. I still believe in judicial term limits, and I’d love to see voters “clear the bench” some year; send’em a message. I hope Romney, not Obama, makes the next SCOTUS appointment.

But if you want this new century to be a time when individual liberty still means something in the United States, and when personal responsibility is honored as liberty’s price, the courts are not the ballgame. Liberty and responsibility must be renewed in the same way they were lost – through values and attitudes, 300 million of us getting the government we deserve. A few black-robed jurists are beside the point.

The independence we celebrate on July 4 “was effected before the war commenced… in the hearts and minds of the people,” wrote John Adams. Well before 1775, Americans had already made a “radical change in (their) principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections.” Our supine acceptance of ever-growing unfreedom and dependency today reflects a radical change BACK, since about 1900.

Likewise, in his famous warning that our government is workable “only for a moral and religious people,” Adams was not speaking from theology, but from the same shrewd psychology as before. Unbridled human passions, he explained, “would break the strongest cords of our (paper) Constitution as a whale goes through a net.” Without a self-reliant and self-assertive, yet self-restrained, citizenry the whole thing would implode.

How close is it to imploding now? Just to ask the question sounds alarmist, I know. Looking around us, stagnant economy and all, we see that life is good. We’re still the land of the free. Summer is on, and gloom is out of season. Besides, in about 100 days we’ll all vote, and the great ritual of settling things by ballots, not bullets, will occur again as so often since 1787.

Land of the free? It depends on your definition. Jefferson and Adams wouldn’t agree. The prophet Samuel warned Israel that the king they wanted would take ten percent of everything. Look what the IRS takes now. Implosion is the wrong metaphor. Think rather of the unsuspecting frog, drowsily boiling in socialist soup. Wake up, froggy.

Romney coming on strong

Mitt Romney seems more likely to win the White House as economic woes dog Obama, says John Andrews in the June round of Head On TV debates. Maybe; but both candidates must give us something to vote for, not just against, objects Susan Barnes-Gelt. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over congressional races, year-end tax hikes, the Syrian crisis, and Aurora's corporate welfare. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for June: 1. OBAMA FALTERS AS ROMNEY GAINS

Susan: This fall’s presidential race is shaping up as one of the most negative, least substantive in decades. Neither your guy – Willard Mitt; nor mine – President Obama, is talking about vision or priorities for the next 4 years. I want to vote FOR someone. Not against the other guy.

John: Obama tried the vision thing before. Look where that got us – stuck in the ditch economically. Desperate now to change the subject, his priority is divisiveness and fear. Romney’s priority is sound economic policy to put Americans back to work and decisive leadership to restore confidence in the presidency. He will win.

Susan: Romney – the guy who thinks Russia is the biggest threat to America’s security; young people should simply borrow money from their parents to pay for college and believes government power should be limited to the bedroom? Yes, he’s not Obama. That’s not enough.

John: The June economic slowdown is grim news for America’s hard-working families, and for our ill-qualified president, Mr. Obama. Even the liberal media is pleading with him to engage on the economy, but he hasn’t a clue of what to do. Ridicule and personal slurs won’t keep voters from flocking to businessman Romney this fall.

2. CONGRESSIONAL SEATS IN PLAY

Susan: Colorado may see Congressional upsets this November. Historically Republican CD-6 may go to Dem Joe Miklosi. Demographic shifts and missteps by incumbent Mike Coffman could be fatal. CD-3 Incumbent Repub Scott Tipton better get his foot out of his mouth or lose to challenger Sal Pace.

John: What a brilliant idea – electing the entire House every two years. It forces congressmen to pay attention to we the people. As does the two-party system. Even as a Republican, I say thank goodness for Democrats. If Obama carries Colorado, Coffman and Tipton may lose. If Romney does, Perlmutter may lose.

Susan: Dream on! CD 7 is a competitive district and a younger, moderate R might be able to beat incumbent Ed Perlmutter. But Joe ‘I am not a beer’ Coors, ain’t it. Blinded by greed, this experienced businessman lost millions in an investment fund, promising a 75% weekly return. Get real!

John: You’re such fun to spar with, Susan. But I thought the D after your name stood for Democrat, not “derogatory. Pick on the Coors and they’ll never sell you another glass of suds. I repeat: if Obama carries Colorado, Dems knock off Tipton. If Romney wins here, Republicans defeat Perlmutter. Stay tuned!

3. AURORA JILTED ON GAYLORD PROJECT

John: What a fiasco. Gaylord Entertainment has walked away from the Aurora convention complex that had local and state officials shoveling out hundreds of millions in taxpayer subsidies. But Gaylord is not to blame. The whole scam of corporate welfare is rotten to the core. It’s just a Colorado hometown version of Solyndra.

Susan: The massive Gaylord subsidy is a pathetic game of blind man’s bluff. Aurora electeds and state officials chose not to examine public information about Gaylord’s weak financial position, shareholder unrest and poor performance. The bluff was great for a few Gateway property owners – awful for Coloradans.

John: Government has no business picking winners and losers this way. Not in cities, or states, or DC. It is always a net subtraction from wealth creation and higher living standards – always. My Republican friends erred with their bill for a bigger tourism slush fund. Hickenlooper did well in vetoing it.

Susan: If the guv and the legislature turn their hearing aids on, they’ll realize a majority of voters despise this type of special interest giveaway. It’s a zero sum game – pitting local communities against one another at the expense of the whole state. Kill the Gaylord deal and the RTA.

4. US MILITARY INTERVENTION IN SYRIA?

John: Suddenly candidate Obama is playing the tough guy. First it’s drone strikes against Al Qaeda, then it’s a killer virus in Iran. But his amateurish handling of the so-called Arab Spring actually empowered the Islamic radicals. He missed a chance for regime change in Tehran. Should we now attack Syria? No.

Susan: You’re half-right: we shouldn’t attack Syria. Dependence on Mid-East oil has skewed our foreign policy for 50 years. Investment in renewables and an increased focus on resources in Brazil, Canada and the US suggest our marriage of convenience with the mid east may be heading for divorce court.

John: Obama the drone warrior, personally executing suspected terrorists to avoid interrogating them, is a showboat not a statesman. In Libya he boasted of leading from behind. In Egypt he gave billions to the Muslim Brotherhood. US interests are worse off as a result. This bumbler must go. Meanwhile, no war on Syria.

Susan: So you think putting American troops in grave danger on the ground, in brutal combat with insurgents and suicide bombers makes more sense than strategic – and highly successful – targeted drones? That’s a joke. Right? Why don't we simply go back to cannons and swords?

5. TAXMAGEDDON & DEBT CEILING LOOM Susan: Once again, our ridiculous excuse for a governing body – the United States House of Representatives – is engaged in the phony charade over the debt ceiling and tax increases. Set against the fragile world economy – most of these ideologues should go home and find REAL work!

John: Speaker John Boehner and the Republican House are absolutely correct in getting started this summer to head off a killer tax hike and more unwise borrowing that will occur this winter unless Congress acts. It’s good policy to help that fragile economy, and good politics to frame the choice for voters.

Susan: Partisan Russian roulette is no way to calm anxious investors and business people, uneasy about what’s happening in Europe and fed up with the shenanigans of politicians. Both parties should embrace Simpson / Bowles and come up with a balanced long-term approach to investment and debt reduction.

John: According to Obamanomics, an Armageddon array of tax increases on Jan. 1 and another Greek-style trip to the Chinese debt window is just what business needs. Except business doesn’t think so. Hence the awful economic numbers in May. Employers are already hunkering down. Make the Democrats sweat this one out, Mr. Speaker.

Brian Davidson for CU Regent

I will vote for Brian Davidson in the Republican primary for CU Regent. After earlier endorsing Matt Arnold, whom I still consider a friend, I must now withdraw my endorsement. Arnold's erratic and evasive handling of the Arapahoe email fraud is a forfeiture of trust. We need a higher standard of judgment and probity in our elected officials than what he has demonstrated.

It saddens me to take this action, because Arnold has significant potential for public office. But so does Davidson, and his potential is ready to realize now. With the other candidate, who can be sure?

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