Lately it feels as though the air waves are full of ignorance and lies, which makes me both sad and frightened for our democracy. Democracy only thrives when people are using the same facts to find legislative solutions to problems identified by society. Our democracy has reached the point where facts are ignored and lies are promoted by both charlatans and respectable news sources.

One example is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The problems it was designed to solve include:

·         People with pre-existing conditions being unable to get health insurance.

·         People with chronic illness being dropped and/or exceeding life-time caps on insurance payments.

·         Women paying more for health care than men, because pregnancy is expensive. (Everyone knows men have nothing to do with a woman getting pregnant, so men should not pay for this female-only condition.)

·         Huge executive salaries and advertising expenditures by health care companies, while denying actual health care to people paying for insurance.

On Tuesday I attended a demonstration in favor of Obama Care. The demonstration was in response to a protest against Obama Care, which was organized by Kelly Sloan of Americans for Prosperity. The name of the organization is itself a lie. The only prosperity AFP is concerned about is the prosperity of the top 1% of wage earners, including the Koch brothers, who pay the AFP bills.

Colorado Peak Politics, a right wing blog, reported on the demonstration/protest. If the only report on the event was in Colorado Peak Politics, one would believe that all of the people on my side of the issue were nothing but a bunch of unwashed Occupy Grand Junction anarchists.  To be fair, some of us have attended Occupy Grand Junction protests, because we recognize that we are part of the 99%. But we live most of our lives outside of the Occupy movement.

I already said I was there. I am a retired banker. I write a column for the Free Press, which appears every other week alongside a column by Kelly Sloan. I ran for office against Steve King. I am involved in managing a campaign for Dan Robinson. I am the Treasurer of the local Democratic Party. I am the Treasurer of Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County(WCC-Mesa), a group that is concerned with both a healthy planet and healthy humans. I sit on the board of Western Colorado Congress (WCC), an umbrella organization that includes five community organizations across the western slope. I sit on the board of WORC, an organization in Montana that follows agricultural and environmental legislation at the federal level.

Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County (WCC-Mesa) was well represented at this demonstration/protest. Benita Phillips, a Registered Nurse who once managed whole floors of other nurses at VA hospitals both in Denver and in Grand Junction, is the President of WCC-Mesa. Joel Dyar, a graduate student with lots of community work under his belt, is the Vice-President of WCC-Mesa. Robyn Parker, an accomplished stay-at-home mom, who is busy organizing women to go to Denver on April 28 to demonstrate against the GOP war on woman, is the Secretary of WCC-Mesa.

Establishment of the Democratic Party was there. Rick Baer, who is Vice Chairman of the Mesa County Democratic Party and a retired union organizer, was one of the people quoted by the press. Tedi Gillespie, acting station manager of KAFM radio, and secretary of the Mesa County Democratic Party helped to hold up the banner. Troy Douglas, drummer for Desert Moon, Vietnam era veteran and Vice Chairman of the Mesa County Democratic Party, held up the banner. Dave Edwards, Democratic candidate for County Commissioner was quoted by the press in support of Obama Care.

Mike Burr, pastor of Koinonia Church in Grand Junction, and co-chair of the group that fought the evil three ballot issues, and won, in 2010 was quoted by the press in support of Obama Care, and helped hold up the banner.

Gil Fuller and his wife Susan were there. You may remember that name. Gil, a retired dentist, ran for the seat in Senate District 7 at the same time that I did. He ran as a Libertarian. Gil and Susan favor Obama Care and helped hold up the banner.

There were quite a few more very accomplished people holding up the banner in favor of Obama Care. The banner, handmade by Benita Phillips (a registered Republican and recent delegate to their County Assembly) was 50 feet long, and had one message to those protesting—read the actual bill so that you know what is in it and a link to both the Colorado website for information and another source. Those of us demonstrating in favor of the bill have all read the actual bill, and know what it says. Those demonstrating against the bill delight in mentioning how long it is, and how nobody has read it; their information is based on lies and willful ignorance.

It seems that a letter to the editor by Arn McConnell, Co-Chairman of the Mesa County Democrats, has set off a fire storm. McConnell took umbrage with Kelly Sloan’s blind support of TABOR, and pointed out that Kelly Sloan, as a representative of the Koch sucking American’s for Prosperity might not have a clear understanding of what prosperity means to an American. In the printed version of the Sentinel today there is a letter denouncing Arn as a tax and spend liberal, and there is one waiting in the wings in the E-mail version. This is all about TABOR and ideology, not common sense.

The history of TABOR is fascinating if one is a political junkie. It was originally the dream of Douglas Bruce, slum-lord. Bruce didn’t like having to pay property taxes on his run-down properties, or at least that is my theory. So he kept talking and talking until voters in Colorado agreed that people should vote on any increase in taxes. But TABOR goes farther than requiring a vote on increases in taxes. It also limits spending to a formula based on things like the rate of inflation and population growth in the state. Because of this formula there is a “ratchet” effect when there is any slowdown of the economy.

Douglas Bruce, darling of the taxes-are-a-theft-of-my-money sect, is a pretty slimy character. He allegedly sponsored the evil three tax initiatives that were soundly defeated last November. He failed to pay any attention to campaign finance laws while circulating petitions to get the measures on the ballot, and then spent months hiding from people wanting to see him in court to explain himself. Bruce may also be the only state legislator to be censured by congress in the history of the state. He was censured for his bad behavior aimed at a reporter, while waiting to be sworn in as a legislator. And he’s been indicted for not paying taxes. It is amazing that this guy is anybody’s idea of a hero.

The economic history is even more fascinating. Colorado’s TABOR was used as an example of what not to do when other states were considering enacting similar bills. In every other state that tried to pass TABOR, the initiative failed—because voters there saw a post-TABOR Colorado. Just one of the more egregious consequences of TABOR is the race to the bottom when it comes to higher education in Colorado. Or maybe I should say the race to elites-only in our colleges and universities. If you cannot afford to pay private school tuition or be willing to spend the rest of your natural life paying student loans, you need not apply to a Colorado University. You can just go to work flipping hamburgers or try dumpster diving for aluminum cans to support yourself.

Arn McConnell is right. There is no prosperity coming from Americans for Prosperity, unless you are a Koch Brother. And TABOR is destroying Colorado’s university system.

Homework:

CBPP Research on TABOR

Douglas Bruce Indicted

Bruce Illegally Practicing Law?

Rollie Heath Wants TABOR Vote on Taxes for Schools

Rollie Heath Speaks Out About Colorado Budgets

Support Our Schools For a Bright Colorado

Rumors About the Heath Plan

Last week Arn McConnell wrote a letter to the editor of the Sentinel in response to a letter Kelly Sloan wrote about TABOR.  American Patriot didn’t like the word Tea Party linked to Kelly Sloan or to Americans for Prosperity. He made his point by posting a comment at this blog. (See Comments at “Scott Tipton is Toast,” posted on June 30.)

So, American Patriot, you are right. Democrats are clueless about who is in and who is out when it comes to the Tea Party. It does give me some comfort that the local Tea Party does not claim Americans for Prosperity (A Koch Brother’s Production), or Kelly Sloan (a Canadian participating in American politics, albeit one who is working on becoming a citizen,) or Scott Tipton (who IS toast.) I’m not so wild about the thought that the local Tea Party endorsed an angry man in the GOP primaries, or that despite their claims of Democrats as members they seem to vote for the eventual GOP candidate regardless of primary endorsement.

From the perspective of the local Democratic Party, of which I am an officer, if you call yourself a member of the Tea Party, you are a member of the Tea Party, even if that membership is questioned by other Tea Party members. Speaking of membership, the Tea Party is not a political party in the sense that they field candidates, they only endorse candidates. They are not recognized in the state of Colorado as a “party.” They appear to be part of the Republican Party. And it isn’t just me thinking that, Utah people think so too (see link below.)

American Patriot, I do appreciate your continuing efforts to educate Democrats about the real motives of the Tea Party. I applaud your efforts to educate the public about Koch Brothers using their wholly owned subsidiary Americans for Prosperity to pay for busses full of protestors in Grand Junction and insurance on some conservative events. I hope you will continue to enlighten me and my readers, but for now I can’t see any daylight between Scott Tipton’s votes and the rhetoric of the Tea Party.

I will say that the local Tea Party did show some daylight between them and the Republican Party when Craig Meis abused his power as a county commissioner. Grand Junction needs a voice that challenges elected officials. There aren’t enough Democrats to do that, so keep up the good work, American Patriot. But don’t expect many Democrats to rush to join the Tea Party—we don’t think hating government is patriotic and we don’t want to drown government in any bathtub. (Some of us even think that Konola was a better candidate than King. Maybe that’s an ego thing.)

P.S. If you’ve missed me lately it is because I’ve been gardening in South Dakota and then soaking in my turn of the last century claw footed bathtub.

Homework

July 1 Sentinel Letters to the Editor

http://gjresult.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=886 ßGJresult 2010 endorsements

Tea Party in Utah

Craig Meis Defiant After Tea Party Calls for Resignation