It’s not a good night for small-government advocates (e.g., libertarians) in Colorado. Admittedly, Republicans haven’t been very good proponents of small government, but they’re still far better than Democrats. And Republicans have been routed in this state. At this time, it looks like Democrats may win every state-wide office (the AG race is still too close to call, but Dem Phil Weiser, a far-left law school professor with no prosecutorial experience, leads).
The Dems have flipped three state senate seats to take control of that body, while expanding their lead in the state house. So the entirety of Colorado government is going to be in control of Democrats. People who support “single-payer” (i.e., government-run) health care, more gun control, more money “for the children,” more “affordable housing,” more “multimodal transportation,” etc., etc.
In Denver, it looks like voters have approved tax increases for parks and recreation, “mental health” and housing, the “Urban an Flood Control District,” and a proposal to increase the sales tax to “provide food and education about food to young people in need.” Also passing is a measure to fund election campaigns with tax dollars, giving each candidate $9 for each $1 they raise within the rules.
I. Am. Bummed.
True, some of the ballot initiatives and proposals offer some more optimistic interpretation.
- Voters rejected 112, which would have essentially ended oil and gas drilling in Colorado.
- Voters rejected 73, a massive tax increase “for the children,” which would have mainly increased funding for education administrators.
- Voters rejected 110, which would have allocated tons of new tax dollars to “transportation,” including lots of money for “multimodal” nonsensense plus lots of grants to local governments to do whatever they want.
- They also rejected 109, the Independence Institute’s proposal to fund specific road projects from existing revenues without tax increases.
Overall, it looks like a massive blue wave, with the caveat that voters don’t want taxes to go up.
I’m thinking that I should seriously think about moving back to Tennessee.