Posts Tagged ‘H.B. 1299’

Liberty Alert: Colorado

May 2, 2009

I’m writing to request your help on a critical vote in the Senate.


The Senate will soon debate HB 1299, a proposal to replace the Electoral College with a popular vote system for Presidential elections. This violates the spirit and the letter of the U.S. Constitution, as the founders designed our electoral system as a republic, not a pure democracy.


This bill will shift Presidential campaigns and policy towards the leftist population centers on the coasts: New York, Florida, California, and possibly Michigan. Presidential candidates will no longer have any reason to campaign in Colorado, let alone listen to the concerns particular to our state.


If House Bill 1299 passes, Colorado will become a fly-over state in Presidential elections. Our Western principles of individual liberty and responsibility will be ignored in favor of the socialist ideas popular in the liberal coastal enclaves: high taxes, unchecked government intervention, and a complete re-write of our country’s basic moral values and constitutional principles.

The Democrats argue that a popular vote system will prevent another “stolen” election such as the 2000 Presidential election. What they mean is that a popular vote will give them a distinct partisan advantage in campaign season.


They ignore the fact that a popular vote will indeed repeat the 2000 election, but not in the way they imply: Americans will suffer through recounts not just in Florida, but in hundreds of counties across the nation. The results of the Presidential election will hinge not on the will of the people, but on the skill of attorneys and the partisan leanings of “nonpartisan” election judges.


If you want your Presidential vote to count, write the Senate and urge them to vote “no” on House Bill 1299, the Popular Vote bill.


I appreciate your help on this important matter. I will let you know how the Senate votes on HB 1299.


Sincerely,


Ted Harvey
State Senator, Douglas County


E-mail addresses of State Senators:


bob.bacon.senate@state.co.us, betty.boyd.senate@state.co.us, greg@gregbrophy.net, bill.cadman.senate@state.co.us, morgan.carroll.senate@state.co.us, joyce.foster.senate@state.co.us, dan.gibbs.senate@state.co.us, peter.groff.senate@state.co.us, ted.harvey.senate@state.co.us,  rollie.heath.senate@state.co.us, mary.hodge.senate@state.co.us, senatorhudak@gmail.com, moe.keller.senate@state.co.us, electkenkester@hotmail.com,  keith@keithking.org, mike.kopp.senate@state.co.us, Kevin@kevinlundberg.com, shawnmitch@aol.com, john.morse.senate@state.co.us, joshpenry@gmail.com, scott.renfroe.senate@state.co.us, chris.romer.senate@state.co.us, nwden34@yahoo.com, senatorschultheis@gmail.com, gail.schwartz.senate@state.co.us,  Brandon.shaffer.senate@state.co.us, nancyspence@qwest.net, abel.tapia.senate@state.co.us, lotochtrop@aol.com, Jennifer.veiga.senate@state.co.us, al.white.senate@state.co.us, Suzanne.williams.senate@state.co.us

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My contact information:

David K. Williams, Jr.

Legislative Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado

LegislativeDirector@LPColorado.org

cell 303-588-2731

Let freedom ring.

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Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Education, Law, Local Politics Colorado, News, Politics, Wordpress Political Blogs | 2 Comments »

Mob Rule being voted upon yet again

March 22, 2009

The dingbats in Colorado are yes, once again seeking to take away self determination from those that are in fact just too stupid to know what is good for them. As usual it is a scheme that will allow the more populous states to decide just who will lead the nation. Colorado will become destined as a flyover state in perpetuity. No more raving leftest clogging up I25, much less visits from politicians in need of teleprompters, or much of anything else from the powers that be irrespective of political association. I question though.Why is it always the leftest (read Democrats) that want to take away the ability of the people of Colorado to have any input whatsoever in the national political process? House Bill1299 is nothing more than yet another scheme to impose mob rule. Mike Rosen, as always does a great job exposing people for what they in fact truly are.

Another Electoral College prank

By Mike Rosen

Posted: 03/20/2009 12:30:00 AM MDT

Like the “undead” returning from the grave in your typical vampire movie, the perennial campaign of Democrats in the Colorado legislature to sabotage the Electoral College is back.

House Bill 1299, which passed the House on Tuesday in a party-line vote, is a virtual rewrite of earlier failed efforts: Senate Bill 46 in 2007 and House Bill 223 in 2006.

It would commit Colorado to a compact of states that pledge to cast all their electoral votes for whichever presidential candidate gets the most popular votes, nationally, regardless of who gets the most votes in our state.

In other words, Coloradans would risk sacrificing their own choice for president to the whims of voters in other states.

For example, suppose a majority of Coloradans vote, let’s say, for Mitt Romney in 2012 with Barack Obama finishing a distant second (I can hope, can’t I?). Romney goes on to win in 34 other states, runs up a majority of Electoral College votes and would normally be elected president.

Obama wins in only 15 Democrat “blue” states like California, New York and Illinois. But because the large populations in those states produce more popular votes for Obama than Romney, Coloradans are forced to cast all our electoral votes to him, with none going to the Colorado winner, Romney. Consequently, the states of the compact dictate the outcome of the election, the Electoral College is subverted and a candidate lacking in broad, national support wins the presidency.

The supporters of this goofy idea are overwhelmingly liberal Democrats. Their overriding goal is to win the presidency for their party by any means. They believe this will be easier if they can circumvent the Electoral College which leverages the voice of less populous states that tend to vote Republican. HB 1299 contrives to tip the scales in favor of northeastern states and California with large Democratic majorities in heavily populated cities.

As a matter of ideology, liberal populists disapprove of the Electoral College, preferring a national popular vote for president. They say that’s the way it’s supposed to be in a democracy. But we are not a democracy — never have been, and most definitely never should be.

The Founders abhorred pure democracy, and purposefully created a constitutional republic, an ingenious combination of democratic institutions and, yes, anti-democratic safeguards like a Bill of Rights to protect individuals from the tyranny of the majority; representative government, filtering majoritarian passions; a Senate with two seats for each state, regardless of population; federalism; the separation of powers; judicial review; the presidential veto; and the Electoral College.

We’re not a collective, amorphous blob, but a confederation of individual states, each retaining some sovereign powers, unique qualities, values and agendas. The Electoral College is a constant reminder of that. We do not now have, nor have we ever had a national popular vote for president.

We have 51 separate elections in each of the states and the District of Columbia to determine how electoral votes are cast. It’s only out of idle curiosity, devoid of legal status, that we aggregate those 51 election results to produce a national total. It has no Constitutional or legal standing.

HB 1299 would render Colorado irrelevant. Why would a candidate waste time and resources here to pick up a small differential of several thousand votes from Colorado’s 2 million, when more than 20 million votes are at stake in New York and California?

Doing away with the Electoral College, straightforwardly, by amending the U.S. Constitution would require ratification by three-quarters of the states. The Democrats who continue to resurrect this interstate compact conspiracy know there are enough small states to block any such amendment to the Constitution. So they’ve come up with this cynical ploy.

Colorado should refuse to be a party to it.

Mike Rosen’s radio show airs weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon on 850 KOA. E-mail him at mikerosen@850koa.com.

SOURCE

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Posted in Education, Law, Local Politics Colorado, News, Non Compos Mentis, Politics, Wordpress Political Blogs | 2 Comments »