(Originally appeared in the Fort Collins Weekly on 01/11/2006)
Does Colorado Have a Libertarian Future?
The Colorado ballot this November will include libertarian initiatives to restore property rights, repeal marijuana prohibition, and reform the petition process. Is this necessary and desirable? The founders of our country thought not, so they omitted a citizen initiative process to enact or repeal laws (statutes) from the federal Constitution.
Few previous government experiments included input from ordinary people. Democracy was a failure in ancient Athens because "measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority." For example, 53% of Colorado voters in the last election raised taxes via Referendum C not only on themselves, but on the others, too. In north Fort Collins and Boulder, there is a large coalition of government employees and others who directly benefit from increased government spending. One Fort Collins voting station favored it by 90%!
The Constitution could not be ratified without assent from 9 of 13 states, so swing states were crucial. Proponents of the Constitution proposal, including the future fourth President, anonymously wrote a series of newspaper articles stating the case for ratification, known as the Federalist Papers. The most important is Federalist 10, quoted above, which even today remains the best brief treatise (6 pages) of politics ever written.
The founders were not confident that they had all the answers, so they limited the responsibilities of the federal government, and left the states to act as laboratories for government experiments. After 100 years, our Centennial State of Colorado, and other states of the time, decided that although it is undesirable for a democracy of two wolves and a chicken to vote obnoxiously on the contents of dinner, it is easy for a republic of 53 wolves and 47 chickens to produce the same result. The lack of citizen initiatives insulates overbearing legislatures from accountability to the people.
The Libertarian Party, along with Democratic, Republican, and Constitution Party allies, will circulate petitions and support three initiatives this year. The PRA, Petition Rights Amendment (www.pra2006.com), will propose to reform the petition process by eliminating technicalities government employees use to arbitrarily obstruct petitions for smaller government. It requires all initiatives to be voted on in November to ensure a high turnout, unlike the sparse participation in August 2004 to unionize the Fort Collins police, and the April 2005 proposals to retain the grocery tax and water fluoridation. I will discuss the PRA in a future column.
The Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative (www.safercolorado.org) proposes to legalize possession of an ounce of marijuana under state law for people 21 and older, although cities will remain able to penalize marijuana users. Denver legalized marijuana last year, but their police continue to enforce state law and there is no real change. If the initiative passes, other cities might follow Denver.
Colorado Citizens for Property Rights (www.theccpr.org), lead by Marsha Looper, is circulating the Eminent Domain Initiative. It would prohibit government from transferring property from one private party to another. Many people mistakenly believe property can be taken only for a public use with just compensation, as stated in the Colorado Constitution Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, the legislature and the judges they and the Governor appoint routinely ignore the requirement.
A group of Libertarian Party members have invited Marsha Looper to discuss eminent domain in Colorado at the Jasmine Garden Restaurant (Thunderbird Plaza on the west side of College Ave. south of Drake ¼ mile) on Monday night, January 16 at 6:30 PM. The group first eats some of the best Chinese food in Fort Collins, and Looper will make her presentation at 7:30. The public is invited and encouraged to learn about this crucial issue. Property rights are the foundation of a free society, so come on down and enjoy a feast and lively political discussion!