It wasn't just about guns

by CJM , Friday, September 13, 2013, 00:08 (4033 days ago) @ Rob Leahy

My Mom lives in Pueblo West in Giron's district. All week long she said the newspaper had a box in the upper right corner reminding people to vote No on Giron's recall. They also reported each day on how many Democrats, Republicans and Independents had voted (we have "early" voting in Colorado where you can vote during the week before an election). She had Giron supporters come to her door twice, and daily flyers from Giron touting her accomplishments. In her concession speech she said she was "perplexed" - more Democrats had voted than Republicans and Independents combined, so how had she lost?

The Democrats just really don't get that most of Colorado isn't urban liberals, that even the people who are democrats in our small cities like Pueblo aren't very liberal or progressive and don't want the higher taxes, more government involvement in our lives and fewer freedoms that the Democratic Party is currently pushing. Girons' "accomplishments" weren't just the gun control bills, they also passed bills requiring the Rural Energy Associations to have 20% of their electricity come from "renewable" sources i.e. wind or solar. They passed a request for an extra billion in state taxes for education (here in Colorado all tax increases have to be voted on by the public now, but the courts keep narrowing what constitutes a "tax increase"), even though Colorado has kept increasing the amount of state money going to the grade schools (mostly taking it from the State Colleges) and seen absolutely no improvement at all.
The gun control bills were the trigger, but it was the progressive urban democratic policies that were the cause of her defeat in the election.