I would be very curious to see what Colorado residents have to say about this.
Reading David Sirota's column on The Smirking Chimp, I came across his latest, which exposes Republicanism, the dominant political strain of this "evangelical Vatican in the west," as the heartless and governmentally incompetent political phiosophy that it clearly is.
As Sirota points out, in another column (to which this one links),
Thanks to the city's rejection of tax increases -- and, thus, depleted municipal revenues -- the Denver Post reports that "more than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark; the city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops; water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead ... recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools (and) museums will close for good; Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends; (and) the city won't pay for any street paving."
Meanwhile, even with the Colorado Springs Gazette uncovering tent ghettos of newly homeless residents, the city's social services are being reduced -- all as fat cats aim to punish what remains of a middle class. As just one example, rather than initiating a tax discussion, the CEO of the Springs' most lavish luxury hotel is pushing city leaders to cut public employee salaries to the $24,000-a-year level he pays his own workforce -- a level approaching Colorado's official poverty line for a family of four.
This is what Reaganites have always meant when they've talked of a "shining city on a hill." They envision a dystopia whose anti-tax fires incinerate social fabric faster than James Dobson can say "family values" -- a place like Colorado Springs that is starting to reek of economic death.
Sirota goes on to add that
Colorado Springs Republicans have slashed their community's social services to the bone. We're talking big cuts to police, firefighters, park maintenance, public transportation - even turning off the city's streetlights (except, of course, in the wealthy areas!).
Perhaps, thoughm, the main highlight of this essay is the money quote by Colorado Spring's wingnut Republican mayor, Lionel Rivera:
Thumbing his nose at federal assistance seems to abdicate his responsibilities to the Judd Hesses of his community and others who are down and out, living in tent colonies, arguably not because they want to.
"Some people want a homeless life," counters (Mayor) Rivera, a financial adviser. "Some people, they really do."
It's the stupid-ass Reagan line about people choosing to be homeless, all over again.
Perhaps the people of Colorado Springs might rethink their knee jerk support for the Republican Party, as the local leaders of this party - carrying out their party's true principles of anti-government are managing to run this city into the ditch.