By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Denver Gazette
There are only three jobs worth having in Colorado. The first is fortunately mine.
Any person who can make a living by indulging his passion is beyond blessed. I somehow have provided for my family by fighting for personal and economic freedom in Colorado. Running Independence Institute, Colorado’s machine to promote liberty principles over party, politicians and special interests, is a dream come true.
The next coolest job in Colorado is quarterback for the Denver Broncos, which, by the way, I would be totally awesome at.
The only other job I’d want here would be governor, the most influential and powerful gig for changing policy and shaping the state’s future.
And to be Jared Polis, a near billionaire to boot, would be a rip. I mean, if you can self-fund your elections, you’re not beholden to moneyed special interests owning you. He’s also term limited. He can do what he pleases without regard to it harming reelection.
So why do I feel sorry for him?
Though he can’t run for governor again, he’s eyeing U.S. Senate or even president. So, still a politician. And the curse of every politician is the same as that of every middle-school girl. All you care about is what other people think of you.
For nearly seven years now, Polis has been held hostage to the growing socialist-looney fringe of his party. He wants to be the pro-business libertarian he claims to be, but everyone inside Colorado knows he governs anti-liberty progressive.
And now people around the country are learning his spin was just that. Even Reason magazine, who fell for the con years ago, calling him the “libertarian governor,” is retracting the title (a la Steve Harvey announcing the wrong winner of Miss America).
Coming out of another stranger-than-strange, more-left-than-left, liberty-hating, economy-strangling legislative session, our poor governor is faced with political no-win decisions. Should he sign even more economy-killing, liberty-squeezing bills, or veto them?
To his credit, he bravely just vetoed bills to limit governmental transparency and to create a social media nanny state, angering many. Will more vetoes come?
Senate Bill 5 will force nonunion workers to pay union dues (which almost all goes into political campaigning) and will drive private businesses to leave for friendlier territory. We’ll join California, New York and Illinois, watching the moving trucks roll to low-tax, worker-protected states such as Texas, Tennessee and Florida.
He signs it, he strangles the state economy and finishes what’s left of being “pro-business.” And the unions will work against him in his next primary.
Disabled people, the elderly, those without cars and every one of us who have had a few too many rely on Uber and Lyft. If he signs the bill forcing them to outfit cars with recording systems and overly bureaucratic personnel requirements, they said they’d leave.
This would delight the taxi cartel and government transit, the left’s core team. So, it’s mobility, technology and free enterprise versus his beloved planner-state. He must choose.
READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.