A Pox on Both Their Houses?

Are Republicans and Democrats equally bad? For many years, many people have believed that to be true. But it’s not.

Principles Of Liberty, a 501c(3) here in Colorado, presents a convincing case that Republicans are much better than Democrats in defending and promoting liberty. Each year, POL reviews hundreds of bills moving through the Colorado legislature and rates them based on 8 governing principles. Those principles are Individual Liberty, Personal Responsibility, Property Rights, Free Markets, Limited Government, State vs. Federal Balance of Power, Fiscal Responsibility, and Equal Protection/Rule of Law.

Each week, their team of volunteers (of which I am one) and staff review about 15 bills being heard in committee in the coming week. Bills are rated either for or against one or more of the core principles and a report on the bills is produced and transmitted to the legislature and interested people. POL tracks not only 3rd reading (final passage) votes in both houses, but also committee votes, so a comprehensive voting record on each legislator is available.

Of the 249 bills rated in the 2015 session of the Colorado General Assembly, POL supported 99 and opposed 150. The voting breakdown looks like this:

There were too few votes on State vs. Federal Balance of Power, so that principle was not rated.

As you can see from the summary, there is a significant difference in voting patterns between Democrats and Republicans in the Colorado Legislature. Republicans are about twice as likely as Democrats to support the principles many Americans believe in. That’s food for thought.