Author: Roger Barris
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OPINION | National Popular Vote is a disingenuous bid to centralize power in D.C.
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Roger Barris The effort on the November 2020 ballot to overturn by referendum the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact law, or NPV, adopted by Colorado’s legislature is, rightly, becoming a hot topic. Even though there are over six months to the vote, I count no fewer than four articles in Colorado Politics on this subject, taking both…
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THE PODIUM | The best way to reform the primary is to abolish it
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Roger Barris With the ongoing fiasco of the Iowa caucus and the “Super Tuesday” primary in Colorado looming, proposals for reforming the primary system are pouring out. But I have a better idea: Why don’t we get rid of it? Coloradans, like other Americans, may not realize just how anomalous our system of primary elections…
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DECLARING INDEPENDENCE | Trapped between two parties? Try ranked-choice voting
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Roger Barris I had great hopes for the Libertarian Party in the 2018 elections. The old parties had been shrinking for years and becoming shrill in their death throes: the Republicans were increasingly the party of Donald Trump, and the Democrats were morphing into the party of Bernie Sanders. The rising share of independents proved…
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OPINION | So, Hick wants to ‘save capitalism’? He has an odd way of showing it
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Roger Barris Former Gov. John Hickenlooper has just published a commentary in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “I’m Running to Save Capitalism.” The thrust is “American capitalism is broken,” and Hick wants to save it using the federal government. The system is broken – but it needs to be saved from the government, not by it. For starters, you don’t…
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Two cheers for a health-care transparency proposal
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Recently, the Colorado House of Representatives considered draft legislation entitled “The Comprehensive Health Care Billing Transparency Act” (HB18-1358). This Act would have, among other things, required health care providers to publish prices so that patients would know in advance the cost of medical treatment. The Act was killed in committee at the end of April.…
