Jobs don’t fall out of trees—or government budgets—they are born in the productive private sector

Only a vital, growing economy with increasing productivity will create jobs.

Colorado must remain a job friendly place.  That means:

• Low taxes and no new taxes
• Balance fiscal responsibility with a priority on investing in physical infrastructure and education
• Oppose unreasonable regulations and oppose any additional taxes, fees and burdens where jobs are created—businesses
• Protect and promote a rational and fair legal environment

A strong energy economy is vital to Colorado jobs. That means:

• Support the responsible development of all viable energy resources
• Energy and jobs are linked, and Colorado is in the unique position to be an energy leader.  Colorado’s energy policy must include the view that energy resources are a strategic asset that can help Colorado prosper and create high paying jobs, not something to be vilified and targeted for unfair discrimination.

A productive growing economy that creates jobs isn’t an accident.  It also isn’t the result of government intervention.  It’s the result of good people getting up every day and working hard in the private sector to build a better life themselves and their families. 

That means government must do its job and protect property rights, including enforcing contracts, while removing barriers to, and penalties on, success.

Health Care

My family, like so many in Colorado, is impacted daily by health care costs.  With my son’s type-1 diabetes, we see firsthand the frustrations and expenses of working with insurance companies and providers—our health insurance premium increased around 18% for this year alone!

Government cannot “make” health costs less; it can set a specific budget and then ration care in an ever more inefficient manner, causing a decline in both quality and availability.  Only an open competitive market in health care and health insurance can reduce costs—and we do not have one.  Government can make it much more expensive, however, and that is exactly what it has done with mandates, bad tax policy and restrictions on the purchase of insurance.

We can do four things that will have an immediate benefit to Coloradans:

• Reduce government intervention in the health care industry that raises the cost of insurance and enriches health insurance companies at patients' expense.
• Lawsuit abuse must be curbed with sensible malpractice guidelines and limits
• Tax policy that disconnects patients from their doctors must be changed by moving tax benefits to the individual level while empowering individuals with vehicles like Health Savings Accounts.
• The federal government must assert its authority under the Interstate Commerce Clause and knock down foolish, expensive barriers to health insurance purchases across state lines so Americans can buy the insurance they want—this can be achieved through legislation at the state level combined with actual leadership from state representatives engaging and holding accountable our federal representatives.

Mass consumer markets undefiled by government have good results: the number of suppliers competing for customers increases, supply expands, cost falls and quality increases.

All Americans deserve a free, vibrant, competitive market in health care that can actually deliver improving results with declining costs.

Education

Spending on education in Colorado has increased 400% over the last 30 years or so.  It’s both fair and necessary for Colorado parents to ask, “What have we gotten for our money?”  Education is not first about unions, government—or even teachers.  It’s about children, and about parents’ dreams for their children.

Every child is unique, and every parent has their own values, goals and priorities.  One-size-fits-all monolithic solutions serve neither the child nor the parent well.

• School choice, especially in the form of charter schools, must be protected and competition that fuels excellence, innovation and continuous improvement must be fostered.
• Home schooling must be protected as an option for families to choose.
• Parental involvement must be the standard, not the exception.
• Rigorous content standards and high expectations for every child, combined with discipline, must be the standard—classrooms need to be returned to the teacher.

Honest Government

Ethics in government starts with respect for the people who pay the bills—the taxpayer.  Colorado’s hardworking families are not an endless supply of cash to be squeezed by their own government.

Colorado government must respect the people of Colorado. That means:

• Stop the mass tax and fee increases imposed by the Democrats—in violation of constitutional requirements that Colorado government must ask the people first.
• Stop using the difficult budget situation as an excuse to engage in those violations and instead make the hard decisions required in the budget—just like Colorado families have had to do.
• Recognize that the depths of a recession when people are losing their jobs and their homes is not the time to impose billions in new taxes and fees.
• Maintain the commonsense provisions of the Taxpayer's Bill of rights (TABOR).  Government must ask first before it can take your money.