Democrats Skaggs and Feeley pulled no punches in their Denver Post 0p-ed.
“State policymakers,” they admit, “resort to government by gimmick….”
Gimmicks? Like the Democrats’ “dirty dozen tax hikes” of 2010 that boosted taxes by a third of a billion dollars? (So much for the notion that TABOR prevents tax hikes. All it takes is a complaisant state Supreme Court.)
Skaggs and Feeley think voters won’t “understand proposed legislation as complicated as Amendment 66.”
Let’s translate that from “Democratic politician-speak” to a different lingo: “Don’t worry your pretty little head about big bucks or big government.” It’s elected-Democrat chauvinist piggery, a direct scion of the 1970s male chauvinist pig. And just as wrong-headed and dismissive of others.
They are not alone.
Liberals at the Colorado Fiscal Institute emailed their thoughts about the A66 loss which, they say, “came despite a well-funded, well-run campaign. …[I]t is nearly impossible to pass a statewide tax increase.”
The loss was entirely predictable given American attitudes. September’s Heartland Monitor poll found “60 percent say that the best approach to making parenting more affordable is ‘lowering taxes'” compared to just 34% who prefer “increasing public spending” on education and other government programs.
Colorado’s Democrats have the money, all right. What they lack is two things:
- a compelling message that our state’s voters agree with and
- any evidence at all that they are willing to listen to the general public.