No one bothers to look at the price tag when buying a house or a car, a new pair of skis or mountain bike. We are just as apathetic when it comes to how much a new law or regulation would affect the economy, our jobs, our way of life.
So goes the thinking behind this 3,500-word expose of gnashing teeth and whimpering in the Boulder Weekly over the new law requiring price tag notes on every ballot petition we are handed at the grocery story.
For instance, if the petition aims to restrict fracking, the note would likely say that, should this initiative pass, the state would receive less tax revenue from oil and gas. The note would also go on to threaten that if fracking is limited, funding for public services would be cut, says Lois Court (D-Denver), one of the sponsors of the bill in the House.
That’s crazy talk! Threatening folks that if a certain industry is killed, we won’t keep getting money from it? Everyone knows money comes from nothing. Well, at least that’s what liberals think, the rest of us live in a certain realm we like to call reality.
Sam Schabacker of Food and Water Watch, a fractivist and registered lobbyist who lobbied against the bill during the general assembly, complained in the article there were too many lobbyists involved. He says the new requirement is not fair, because if people know the truth, he will have to work harder.
“When you only see that limited fiscal impact statement, people will be less wiling to sign,” he explains. “When less people are willing to sign, it’s harder to get something on ballot. We don’t have the deep pockets of the oil and gas industry, so when they throw more barriers like this in place, it just makes it harder for people to participate in the democratic process.”
In other words, once Coloradans see the enormous price tag that comes with living in the perfect society envisioned by environmentalists, they wouldn’t be willing to empty their wallets.
For once, we actually agree with Food and Water Watch – listing the price tag of your reality on petitions will make your job a lot harder.