Seeing the Round Corners

HEADS UP, the new day for Seeing the Round Corners “GOING LIVE” is Tuesday each week.

March 15, 2022

In today’s world, twelve years is not exactly a lifetime when looking at how things change in the political world. Readers may look at today’s “column from the archives” here just before tax deadline and be aghast at what was occurring just 12 or so years ago.

Readers are asked to pay especially close attention to the last two paragraphs of the “column from the archives,” and recall “the worst recession since the great depression.”

TAXES AND YOU . . . July 12, 2010

Like it or not, as a human being existing on this Earth, by accepting all those benefits that make life enjoyable, comfortable and worthwhile, we as individuals accept certain moral obligations. That old, old cliché comes to mind, “Nothing in life is free.”

Do we as Americans see what is before our very eyes? Since the election of President Obama, America has seen the most vicious, mean spirited and bigoted rhetoric ever in the history of this country.

The anti-Obama crowd has run his “lack of experience” into the ground, which seems to say that the career politician is the best candidate for a job such as the Presidency of the United States. Using that criteria would lead one to believe that Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona was an eminently qualified candidate for President – McCain, after all was elected to Congress in 1982 and to the Senate in 1986, which translates to “he knows Washington.”

No one is likely to overlook nor should anyone forget McCain’s military service to his country and the horror of his years as a prisoner-of-war. By most accounts, McCain began his career as a politician based on his military service with the support of his wife’s very wealthy family, and no other substantive background or experience.

Saying only the politically experienced is qualified to be President could eliminate a whole lot of people or could mean a real crowd of candidates. The point of this: If all the years McCain spent in Washington qualified him as the most experienced candidate, how could the man choose someone such as Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate – a person in a position just “a heartbeat away from the Presidency?”

Is it possible to change the political climate that pervades America today and especially here in Colorado? Only if voters become aware, highly aware, of what the rabid anti-tax initiatives on the 2010 ballet would mean here in Colorado. States, cities and counties cannot maintain the level of services we ordinary citizens have become accustomed to and demand without revenue. Agreed, better efficiency with tax dollars is needed and would be great.

Unless readers have been out-of-touch with all communication since the David Bruce/Proposition 101-Amendments 60 and 61 matter began eating up tax dollars, one has only to look at the campaign finance complaints heard before an administrative law judge in May. The judge’s lengthy order is worthy of its own edition, so today’s edition of Seeing the Round Corners will relate the overall picture to the conduct of the backers of those three ballot items.

Doug Bruce is a former prosecutor and a short-term legislator, but will forever be known as the father of the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). He did not just fall off a turnip truck, and knows full well what the state rules are for groups seeking to get an initiative on the ballot; specifically, to register as an issue committee once the $200.00 contribution level or spending level is reached and to show what the expenditures and contributions are.

Registration of the issue committee was not filed which resulted in fines to three of the backers/sponsors. Meanwhile, court proceedings at taxpayer expense yet again were successful in linking Doug Bruce to the backers of the three ballot initiatives despite his efforts to dodge subpoena efforts.

So to sum up how the very dangerous to our way of life initiatives got on this year’s ballot in a nut shell:

The sanctimonious, anti-tax crusade sponsors of Proposition 101, Amendments 60 and 61 broke the law and violated states rules;
When caught and hauled into court (more taxpayer expense), those same individuals gave testimony that was “evasive” and “unbelievable,” and caused an administrative law judge to label it as an effort to avoid transparency; and
All the while, David Bruce managed for months to dodge subpoenas to testify as to his involvement in getting the anti-tax measures on the ballot (again, also at taxpayer expense.)

Colorado citizens have only to look at the budget cuts necessary to balance the recent budget due to the dramatic decline in state revenue as the recession worsened. The “medicine” for voter apathy is awareness – awareness of just what passage of Proposition 101, Amendments 60 and 61 could mean to our way of life here in Colorado and on the national scene. If ever there was a time for voters to ditch the “my voting doesn’t make any difference” excuse, it is this election. It may be painful to vote against Proposition 101, Amendments 60 and 61, but the consequences of passage will be far more painful and devastating to our way of life.

Think about this. How many of these bleeding-heart, anti-tax crusaders such as Bruce and the sponsors of Proposition 101, Amendments 60 and 61 ever offer a solution for providing the services that cutting taxes will result in? Not one can do so. Cutting taxes and low taxes are the, excuse me, sucker punches politicians use to gain the vote of the uninformed, unaware taxpayer. Today’s voter should ask themselves this question: Who benefited from the Bush-Cheney tax cuts? Their cronies and the wealthy, and those policies drove this country into the recession President Obama inherited – “the worst since the great depression.”

The reader's comments or questions are always welcome. E-mail me at doris@dorisbeaver.com.