
Armstrong: Losing my Zen over bureaucratic abuses
We do not need to be “protected” from ourselves or from sellers whose products work as advertised. We need to be protected from out-of-control federal bureaucracies that trample our liberties.
We do not need to be “protected” from ourselves or from sellers whose products work as advertised. We need to be protected from out-of-control federal bureaucracies that trample our liberties.
He must have been devastated. You’re planning the wedding, planning your new life, planning for a family. Then your fiance comes to you, deflated, and says, “Honey, we need to
Of course government would have to provide vaccinations to prisoners, and perhaps also to some or all government employees, no matter what. But why do most people assume government should provide vaccines to everyone?
Just as people can irrationally reject masks, so people can irrationally embrace them.
We must make our individual decisions in the context of the viral spread and the often-disastrous government responses to the pandemic.
Surprisingly, some journalists seem to think they can take government funds to produce news without that affecting their critical reporting of government—one of their most important jobs.
Although the Communists and the neo-Nazis might fight each other in the streets, as other street gangs often do, they are two sides of the same authoritarian coin.
I realize how hard it can be these days to run on freer markets and fiscal conservatism when the lure of “free” stuff is so enticing.
Here’s the thing about blaming climate change for Colorado’s fires: That doesn’t actually point to a solution moving forward.
If you want to find hard-left journalists in Colorado, that’s not hard to do.
In addition to tightening security, a NOTA option would let voters better-express their views. There’s a difference between just skipping past some race and thinking carefully about the race and deciding none of the candidates deserves a vote.
Ultimately, conspiracism and the broader irrationality from which it stems threaten to tear apart our republic.
By Jon Caldara
TABOR simply means voter consent. TABOR is democracy. Weakening TABOR is weakening democracy.
Every couple of years the spending lobby orchestrates an assault on our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. They are testing another onslaught likely for next year.
I was around for the fights to pass TABOR in the early 1990s. Then- Gov.Roy Romer famously declared if it passed, it will put a “going out of business” sign on the entrance to Colorado.
Oddly, our population has nearly doubled since then, and state spending has ballooned from just more than $6 billion to roughly $44 billion.
Read that headline again. Since TABOR, our population grew one-fold, state spending grew 7-fold. Predictable tax and spending policy helped create a boom.
The opposite of Romer’s scare is true. If we mess with our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, then we might as well put a “going out of business” sign on the entrance to Colorado.
Like telling tales of the boogeyman around the campfire to frighten children, those who feed on unconstrained spending want to scare the kids, too. The young in this case are those who weren’t in Colorado before we demanded simple voter consent over our own money.
Get ready for a new batch of stories on how this Chupacabra of fiscal restraint is somehow making our lives worse, and the only way to slay the monster is to attack democracy and take away our right of consent.
Look no further than U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s announcement of gubernatorial aspiration. The first thing he said was he needs to be governor of Colorado to protect us from the current, unprecedented threat to democracy, being President Donald Trump. The second thing he said was we need to attack democracy to get rid of TABOR. I’m sorry, “reform” TABOR.
He will save our democratic right to vote by taking away our democratic right to vote.
He and the rest of the taking coalition find it nauseating to ask voters for consent to commandeer and spend even more of their livelihoods. They never mention with TABOR they can still grow the size of government as large as they like! All they have to do is — wait for it, because it is so very terrifying — ask us first.
They can raise the taxes to 100% of what we earn. All they must do is ask us first. Increase debt so much our great-great-great grandchildren will still be paying it off. Just ask our consent.
They refuse to accept that no means no. So, they need to find a way where they no longer must ask at all.
Our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights is the very expression of direct democracy. We need to be absolutely clear on what this coming assault against our right to say no is. This is an attack on democracy itself.
They will cleverly find a way to use democracy to kill democracy. To find a way for us to vote against TABOR just once to take away our right to vote forevermore.
Throughout history that is how democracies step aside for tyranny. Tyrants from Hitler to Putin were legitimately voted into power, only to pervert democracy so they were never threatened by voter consent again.
When power is concentrated, democracy constricts.
The history of TABOR proves it as well. Seven black-shirts have weakened TABOR, not voters. The Colorado Supreme Court have ripped holes through this protection for direct democracy.
TABOR says we get to vote on taxes. The black-shirts ruled calling a “tax” by a different name, “fee,” means we lose our vote. Without a single public vote now nearly three-fourths of what the state spends is “fees.”
TABOR says we get to vote on debt. The black-shirts ruled calling “debt” by a different name, “Certificates of Participation (COPS),” means we don’t get to vote.
TABOR says government can ask us to keep excess tax revenue, but only for four years. The black-shirts ruled “four years” will be interpreted as “forever,” meaning if they can con voters out of their refunds only once, they never need ask again.
And that’s why every couple of years they put something on the statewide ballot to end TABOR refunds forever.
Like a child nagging for a treat, they want to wear us down.
But unlike a child, if we give into this tantrum once, they get all the candy they want, forever.
New executive orders challenge Colorado’s renewable goals. How will these orders affect the state, does Colorado need to comply, and are the renewable goals that Colorado has even capable of handling the power needs? PowerGab Hosts Jake Fogleman and Amy Cooke discuss this and more.
Show Notes:
https://coloradosun.com/2025/04/14/colorado-oil-and-gas-lawsuit-trump-order/
https://coloradosun.com/2025/04/15/coal-fired-power-craig-tri-state-xcel-trump-orders/
By law, children must go to school, and if parents can’t afford a private school or to home school, children must go to government run schools. That makes our children’s safety at the school the government’s top priority. Our children are in their custody after all. Lindsay Datko of JeffCo Kids First has discovered our kids are anything but safe.