October 31, 2016
Richard Wickham
I know I’m not the only one who looks at the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates and feels unrepresented.
Neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump refl ect what I believe in and what I hold to be valuable.
The UCCS Young Americans for Liberty do not endorse any candidates, parties or legislation, so I must disclose that this is purely my personal opinion and in no way refl ects the organization.
These candidates are both well below the standard we should be holding them to. I urge you to not vote for the lesser of two evils, because they are bad options.
Clinton and Trump want to grow government and tell us how to live our lives. Neither candidate will protect the Constitution and will disregard the Bill of Rights to do as they please.
With that in mind, I am personally supporting Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee.
I refuse to pick a candidate that is only slightly better than the other. I refuse to choose a candidate out of fear. I want to support someone who I believe in that wants to make this country a better place and isn’t in it purely for the power and influence.
I believe Johnson will help lead this country into a better future, one where we aren’t taxed to death and our rights as human beings are protected. Johnson promises to stop bombing foreign countries and sending our soldiers to fight in needless wars.
I seek a free and peaceful society; Clinton and Trump would take us further away from this.
While who to consider for president is important, we must also think about how we will vote on the amendments.
I do not support Amendment 69, a measure that would provide universal healthcare to Colorado citizens.
The amendment creates a new 10 percent payroll tax, and that’s just the beginning. A number of large tax increases would be implemented as time goes on to pay for this extremely expensive system.
Healthcare in the country needs reform, but this is not the solution. Government-run healthcare is a disaster waiting to happen.
Government is inefficient (just take a look at the TSA), and ColoradoCare won’t be any different. We need competition to drive the cost of health care down, and this will create a monopoly.
Amendment 70 is a measure that would increase the minimum wage to $12 by 2020. This sounds good in theory, but minimum wage increases have proven to hurt those it’s trying to help.
An increase in minimum wage will cause a loss of jobs and make it hard for low-skilled laborers to find employment. The measure will also cause employers to create more automation or increase their sale prices.
Amendment 71, a measure that requires petitions for a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment to have two percent of registered electors’ signatures, would rig the system in Colorado to favor the political elite.
Getting an amendment on the ballot would become much more difficult, leaving it only for those with millions of dollars to pour into every district.
I also find it ironic that this amendment proposition didn’t even meet the signature requirements it wants to put in place.
Amendment 72 is another dangerous measure. In 2004, a similar tobacco tax measure passed in the state of Colorado.
Most of the tax money went to other programs that had nothing to do with tobacco use prevention, and the tax itself didn’t cause any further decrease in tobacco consumption when compared to the national consumption rate.