In this episode of Free Colorado News, I interview Mike Krause of the Independence Institute about Amendment 63, “Health Care Choice.” I discuss how I’m going to vote, and I interview Todd Shepherd and Justin Longo about Complete Colorado.
Here’s what Krause had to say:
Amendment 63 does two very basic and important things. First, it amends the Colorado constitution to say that the state of Colorado cannot force its citizens to purchase a public or private health insurance product against their will.
That means that we can’t have a Massachusetts-style RomneyCare here in Colorado, and it also means that the state of Colorado can’t help the federal government enforce the federal mandate passed as part of ObamaCare.
The second thing this does is it simply protects your right to pay cash out of pocket for the health care you want, when you want it. …
So it’s a preemptive strike against a single-payer system in Colorado, and even if we eventually end up with one, you’ll be able to operate outside of the system if this is in place.
What Amendment 63 doesn’t do is it doesn’t interfere with the state’s ability to regulate or license doctors or regulate health care…
It just guarantees a right to health care choice, and what could be more important than that?
So how am I voting? Obviously I’m voting yes on Amendment 63.
Equally obviously, I’m voting no on Amendment 62, the so-called “personhood” measure.
What about the so-called “Ugly Three” spending-cut measures? I didn’t develop a position on these until my dad and I wrote up an article for Grand Junction Free Press, due out this Friday. I’m voting no on Amendment 60, because it would backfill local tax spending on education with state tax spending. I’m voting no on Amendment 61, regarding state and local debt, because I want to debate spending issues directly, and I think the mechanism of spending can be debated on a case-by-case basis.
However, I’m voting yes on Proposition 101, a straight-forward tax cut on income tax, vehicles, and telecommunications. Regarding roads, so long as they’re government owned, I think they should be funded through dedicated use taxes, such as the gasoline tax. (Or, even better, they should be funded by tolls wherever feasible.)
I’m voting no on Proposition 102, regarding bail bonds, for reasons explained by the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.
I’m voting for Ken Buck, because, while he’s horrible on abortion, at least he’s backed away from Amendment 62, and he’s the right candidate to help restore fiscal sanity in Washington, D.C. Plus, as I note in the video, “Senator Michael Bennet is a tax-and-spend tool of the Obama administration.”
I’m probably not voting in the governor’s race. While I like Tom Tancredo and appreciate his straight talk (not to mention his deep policy knowledge), he’s vehemently opposed to immigration, and he actively supports Amendment 62. (Plus, his new party, the American Constitution Party, is absolutely insane.) Anyway, Democrat John Hickenlooper is so far ahead it probably doesn’t matter how I vote.
As I say in the video, “For U.S. Congress, I will proudly vote for Stephen Bailey, who truly understands liberty and the concept of individual rights, and I’m convinced will fight to achieve that.”
I’ll let Todd Shepherd and Justin Longo of Complete Colorado speak for themselves; their interviews begin at minute 3:46 of the video.