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Nov.
2, 2000
Guest
Column
By Bill Zimsky
I am the Libertarian candidate for House District 59. In
my October 26 Public Pulse, In this guest column, I will present my
legislative agenda to you.
I will champion legislation that: (1) reduces the size of
state government; (2) restricts its interference with how we choose to
live our lives; or (3) eases our tax burden. Conversely, I will fight
against legislation that attempts to increase the size or power of the
state government, or that increases our taxes.
The following are the major issues that I will fight for
at the General Assembly.
-
Protection of Private Property Rights. I will sponsor
legislation that provides if a governmental entity passes a land-use
regulation that reduces the value of property by more than 50 percent,
that the property owner receive compensation for his loss. Forcing a
few individuals to bear alone the entire burden of a public benefit
does not serve the interests of justice or fairness.
Some civil libertarians mistakenly discount the value of property
rights compared to such "personal" rights as freedom of
speech and religion. However, individuals obtain property through
their hard work and, in some cases, taking the risks inherent in a
free market system. Thus, property is merely an extension of the
individual and we must be vigilant in protecting private property
rights.
-
Tuition Vouchers. I will sponsor legislation to
establishing an open tuition voucher system to improve education and
give parents choice. Studies prove that vouchers work, especially for
disadvantaged, high-risk kids. It just isn’t fair to let the
affluent send their kids to private schools, while depriving poor
parents the same opportunity. Exposing public schools to free market
competition will force them to improve or lose funds.
Currently, the average amount of money spent in Colorado per student
in K-12 is much more than many private schools that produce better
results. Money is not the problem or the solution — North Dakota
spends slightly more than half as much as Colorado and their kids
consistently score higher on nationwide tests. The "soft bigotry
of low expectations" is one problem, bloated administrative
bureaucracies is another.
-
Protecting the Second Amendment Rights of Law Abiding
Citizens. I am for crime control, not gun control. An extensive study
by Professor Lott of Yale University establishes that states or cities
that have restrictive gun control measures experience more crimes than
those with less restrictive measures. It makes sense: guns provide
protection; gun laws protect those that don’t follow laws.
I will sponsor legislation to increase the penalties for criminals who
use guns, including mandatory sentences for longer periods, similar to
Project Exile, which the Commonwealth of Virginia is implementing with
great success in Virginia.
-
End the Insane War on Drugs. My definition of insanity
is repeatedly engaging in the same behavior, consistently getting the
same results, yet expecting the results to somehow change. That
summarizes the history of the War on Drugs, a war that is doomed to
fail, just like Prohibition. Criminalizing any activity or product
attracts criminals, who operate by the rule of force and violence. The
vast amount of money made by criminals in the drug trade corrupts our
judicial systems. Police, prosecutors and judges use the War on Drugs
as a pretext to attack our civil liberties, especially our right to be
free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Re-legalizing drugs will not increase the use of drugs — any high
school student in Durango knows where to buy drugs now. Drug dealers
push drugs on kids and adults because of the profit motive. We need to
remove the profits while educating our kids, as well as adults, about
the dangers of drug use and ensure that whoever chooses to take drugs
accepts the personal responsibility for the inevitable adverse affects
of such behavior.
The most important thing to remember when you vote, is to
vote for somebody who champions the values that matter most to you.
Therefore, if you want to reduce the size of government and its influence
on how you choose to live your life, if you want to restore the American
Dream of individual freedom and personal responsibility, you should vote
for me because I am the only candidate who wants to fight this battle in
Denver. |
