October 19, 2024 09:37 AM UTC

Reader Opinion: Vote Yes on Prop 131

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• by: DavidThi808

Keep Colorado’s Government Vibrant

There are a number of good reasons to vote yes on Prop 131. I’m going to speak to two incredibly important ones. Important because Colorado has become a one party state. This is a recent change and as such we’re just starting to see the ramifications from it.

First some background. I grew up in Hawaii which is very Democratic. The state Senate generally had 1 – 2 Republicans and the House 5 – 10. The Democratic Party owned the state. And what did that get us?

First off, corruption. It’s the nature of the beast that one party states are corrupt. You win the primary from the votes of the active party members. To win those you need the support of the party establishment. You get that by giving those party members what they want.

Often it’s soft corruption. Hire their favored groups to implement initiatives. Pass laws that favor their interests. Insure their relatives and supporters have safe jobs. You don’t need envelopes of cash to have corruption.

Second, the government becomes a timid scared entity unwilling to make any significant changes. The group in charge likes things the way they are – that’s how they got to be in charge. No significant changes means everyone’s job is safe, everyone’s favored initiatives are funded, nothing is uncertain.

A state that is holding on to the status quo is not going to improve. Over time we’ll fall behind other states. Where we were once a center of a vibrant culture constantly trying new ideas and ever improving, we’ll instead become a backwater.

Prop 131 will give us competitive general elections. And those competitive elections, up and down the ballot, will lead to discussions about which candidate will take us to the future we want. And in a one party state, this is the only way to accomplish this.

With that said, if you like the Democratic Party determining who will hold each office. If you want to minimize disruption outside of the guardrails set by the activist party members, then you should vote No on Prop 131.

Also posted on Liberal and Loving It