Ok, I just put up a list of questions for the Republicans to answer. Well fair's fair and so I have a question for us Dems.
In our case it's one single issue. But it's one we have been dancing around and trying our best to avoid. And in addition, two key questions.
The Republican party has run on a magic combination - lower taxes and increased benefits. And hey, we're Americans - we love getting something for nothing. That winning combination is very powerful in elections.
And what have we Dems done in return? We have played defense. We have lectured on the importance of financial responsibility. We have fought for specific programs. We have promised tax cuts to different groups, to our base.
We have ceded the battleground to the Republicans. We have ceded the initiative to the Republicans. We have ceded the terms to the Republicans. And then we are surprised when fighting their battle on their terms where all we do is play defense - we lose.
What a surprise.
The best approach to this issue I heard from Mike Huckabee when he was still running. He said that people want roads & bridges, schools & hospitals, police & fire departments. And those services require taxes.
To be successful, to not just win in '08 but to then implement the policies and programs and initiatives that we know will help this country, we need to change the discussion.
We Democrats need to step up and strongly discuss what the appropiate level of government is, why that level is appropiate, and then critically, speak directly to how to fund that level.
We need to sell the public on how it is in their self interest for us to tax them at a given level and what they get for it. We need to change the discussion from how do we keep lowering taxes to what is the appropiate level of taxation.
Until we do this, we remain on defense fighting the battle the Republicans want to fight. And they will win that more often than they lose it.
And two key questions:
- Will we take on the entrenched bureaucracies in the public school system to fix our schools? Our public schools are the key point where we fail our people, especially our poor. And they are by and large a Democratic party failing where we defend the vested interests, the teacher unions, the administrators, the school boards, the entire system. Will we do what is truly required to fix our schools?
- TABOR is a dagger aimed at the heart of our state and local government. It constrains everything, and makes futile any long term planning. At the same time, the people of Colorado clearly support the idea of voter approval being required for tax increases. Will we step up and truly fix this, permanently and in a way that most in Colorado (including responsible fiscal conservatives) find acceptable?
This is what we Democrats need to do if we wish to earn the right to lead Colorado in the future. And if we waltz around these issues, yes we'll control things for a couple of years, but then it will be back to the Republicans for awhile.
Yes stepping up to address these issue will require great political risk. But what's the point of just being a caretaker for a couple of years - and that's the alternative.
