ARI ARMSTRONG: Colorado at the precipice.
To some degree, the sometime-libertarian Polis checks the hard-left contingency of his party. He uses threats of vetoes to does some arm-twisting upfront to limit the number of horrible bills begging for his signature. And once in a while he does veto an especially bad bill.
Here is the problem. Polis is term-limited out in two years. Republican leaders busy themselves, like vultures, with picking clean the bones of their party. The Democrats’ strongest candidate probably is Phil Weiser, the central-planner wannabe who proudly endorses Democratic Socialists and gleefully harasses Colorado businesses for not operating the way he thinks they should.
Do you think someone like Weiser is going to oppose or veto a single bill from the socialist wing of his party? Ha! He’s going to cheerlead such bills from the starting line.
Democratic Socialists and their fellow travelers never will say that producers are taxed and regulated enough. However many controls they impose, they will always want to impose more. Whatever problems they find or imagine in society, they will always find a way to blame owners of businesses and properties. However much harm government does through poorly conceived interventions, they will steadfastly imagine more power in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats as the solution to what troubles us.
But here’s the thing. There is no Berlin Wall keeping businesses and liberty lovers from fleeing the state. California has become a net out-migration state, and the socialistic Progressives seem determined to drive Colorado down the same path. Colorado’s geese who lay the golden eggs do not have to place their necks on the chopping block; they can fly to somewhere like Texas. Once Colorado starts to spiral downward, the trend may become irreversible.
Flashback to 2014: Magpul Moving Headquarters to Texas Over Colorado Gun Laws.
Magpul should have been the canary in the coal mine but all their departure did was make Democrats hungry for more.
