EDITORIAL: Salute our state’s constitution this Colorado Day
- The Gazette editorial board
On Thursday, the state of Colorado turns 148 — and Coloradans no doubt can think of many good reasons to celebrate.
Among them of course are the Centennial State’s unmatched natural wonders. There’s also the state’s exquisite climate; its vast, wide-open spaces, and its abundant resources — from oil and gas underground to the wind and sunshine all around — that heat our homes, power our automobiles and light the way.
One blessing that’s more directly connected to the advent of Colorado’s statehood itself is our founding charter — our state’s constitution — which shares the same birthday. Drafted in March of 1876 and approved by territorial voters on July 1 of the same year, the Colorado Constitution formally took effect Aug. 1, 1876, when Colorado was admitted to the union.
There’s good reason to celebrate the state’s constitution, as well, on Colorado Day.
Like any constitution, ours isn’t without foibles. At times it has left itself wide open to interpretation, and activist courts have been happy to oblige. Yet, on the balance, Colorado’s constitution has served its citizens pretty well — including by way of some well-timed and well-placed amendments to the document over the generations.
Some provisions even have been instrumental in helping keep our state government off our backs and out of our pockets — while also helping keep it accountable. Here, then, are three reasons to salute Colorado’s constitution on its 148th birthday:
The taxpayer’s Bill of Rights — Article 10, Section 20: Adopted by voters in 1992, “TABOR,” as it is known, has become as beloved by the taxpaying public as it has at times been loathed by a significant swath of the political establishment. It was downright revolutionary when it was added to Colorado’s constitution. It not only required a public vote on any tax hike by the state or local governments, but it also put government on a diet. The flow of tax revenue into the public till could increase by no more than the rates of inflation plus population growth; excess revenue above that level had to be returned to the public unless voters said otherwise.
The citizens initiative — Article 5, Section 1: There would be no TABOR if it weren’t for the constitutional right of Colorado’s general public to petition policy proposals directly onto the ballot themselves; elected officials have no say in it. It’s an end run on entrenched power. It should go without saying politicians for the most part would be unlikely to propose limits on their own power, especially their power to tax and spend. So, the citizens can gather signatures of voters, instead. The power to make policy through the ballot box can be a double-edged sword, of course, and must be used responsibly. The Gazette’s editorial board has opposed the use of the citizens initiative by special interests seeking to manipulate voters. Still, the initiative process is a fundamental check on elected officials if it is used wisely.
Term limits — Article 18, Section 11: Adopted by voters through the citizens initiative process in 1990, the provision generally limits elected officials at all levels of government in the state to two consecutive terms in office or some variation thereof. Some local voters have since exercised an option to allow their local officials a third consecutive term. Like the citizens initiative, term limits have their drawbacks, notably causing a brain drain with its accompanying loss of experience every election cycle. But term limits also have given the public a hedge on the concentrated power of elected officials, who are all too prone to forget who elected them.
Three reasons to give three cheers for Colorado’s constitution.
The Gazette Editorial Board
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