Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 13:23:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: Wayne Flaherty <wfquiz@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: my rebuttal speech

TABOR myth rebuttal (written in response to a web site called TABORTRUTH.ORG)

To the people of Kansas,

What opponents mean when they talk about all the things the government can't do under TABOR is that government has to live within its means, a requirement never before placed on it. While the idea of living within your means is foreign to people spending tax money, it is very real to workers living on retirement or a paycheck. If there are things that governments do not do under TABOR, it is because they feel the priority is too low, they do not have the money, or they do not consider the project one they could justify to the taxpayers.

Under TABOR, every citizen has exactly the same rights as before. The only people concerned with rights are the politicians and their big spending friends who must now involve the taxpayers in the spending process. They can make all the back room deals they want. They can contribute to politician's campaigns just like before. What they can't do is keep the citizen out of the process when they have budget busting schemes and dreams.

TABOR was never intended to catapult anyone anywhere. TABOR does not interfere with normal government operations. It simply says you can't run the government by spending more money than you can afford. If a government has a plan for economic expansion, they can go ahead with the plan, so long as they have the money. If they don't have the money, they can ask the voters for it. All they have to do is explain what they want and why they want it. If they make their case, they'll get their money. TABOR introduces a new system of checks and balances. Now the people have a say.

TABOR is not short-sighted. Just the opposite, TABOR insures that the government acts in such a way that the government can remain fiscally sound for the long term. TABOR does consider need. What has angered TABOR opponents is that need, not want, is considered. It has been many years since Kansas legislators heard the word want. It has been replaced with the word need. TABOR does not handcuff the political process; it just includes the average citizen in a way never seen before. He finally has a direct say in his government. Opponents claim TABOR doesn't measure real costs. What TABOR does measure is the real support the citizens have for proposed excess spending programs. TABOR does not interfere in any way with the daily business of government.

History records that a people only rise up when their government is no longer deemed capable of doing the job. People are extremely tolerant, suffering for long periods of time, while working within the system before saying enough is enough. Whether they storm the Bastille or throw tea in Boston Harbor, when they have had enough, they act. TABOR now presents Kansas taxpayers with a legal and peaceful way to revolt against the tyranny of a profligate government that grows at the same time the private economy is shrinking. Look behind every TABOR opponent and you will find a big spender wanting more government and more taxes. Behind that big spender will be someone who firmly believes he has more right to decide how to spend your tax money than you do. These shadow opponents are angry precisely because, at last, you have a direct say in how your government operates, and big spenders don't like that.