Owens in 2008
It's a few months old, but I think you should read Colorado Gov. Bill Owens' speech to the Ronald Reagan Banquet at the 2002 Conservative Political Action Conference, held in Arlington, Va., last February. Owens laid out the roadmap for a small state to become an economic powerhouse with a highly educated workforce and high-paying technology jobs.

It's a path Tennessee should follow.

Here's a long excerpt. After you read it, you should read the whole speech. If I had to pick the best GOP candidate for President in 2008 right now, I'd pick Bill Owens.

In 1992, we passed the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, a citizen initiative that constitutionally limits the growth of all Colorado governments. State, counties, cities, school districts, special districts, all of our governments are limited by the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights. And under this Bill of Rights, government spending cannot grow faster than the sum of inflation and population growth. Government at any level can only grow the combination of those two, and that is the maximum. If revenues exceed that maximum, we have to refund those revenues to the taxpayers.

And the only way that taxes can be increased in Colorado is through a direct statewide vote of the people.

With all due respect to Howard Jarvis, this is far better than Proposition 13 in California, because the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights means that, in Colorado, since 1992, our governments have not grown faster than the nongovernmental sector except by a direct vote and approval by the people.

I added two provisions to the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights.

First, that no government funds can be expended to support or oppose any initiated or referred measure. Many of you live in school districts where when the school district goes to the ballot, the school district funds that ballot campaign. You ought to try to put a stop to that, because it’s unfair. It is not right. It is not fair to put government dollars in these elections.

Second, I added a provision to the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights that says that we can raise taxes on only one election day a year, and that’s the general election day. This way, everybody knows about the election, not just those few who might benefit from that tax increase.

As you can imagine, the debate over the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights in 1992 was fierce. My predecessor, the Democratic governor, said that, if we pass the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, it would be akin to throwing a hand grenade into a schoolyard of children.

A Republican county sheriff put on his county sheriff uniform for the first time in many, many years, appeared in TV ads and said, if we pass the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, he would be forced to chain his prisoners to the railing of the State Capitol, in a tent.

Well, the voters ignored those visions. They passed the Bill of Rights in Colorado, and here is the result:

Today, according to the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a national group that ranks all 50 states in terms of our friendliness to the private sector, Colorado has the best business climate in the entire country.

We have the most technological workers per 1,000 of any state in the country, according to the American Electronics Association.

We have the best educated work force in the country, measured by college degrees per 1,000.

Both the Milken Institute and the Progressive Policy Institute say that Colorado has the third best ranking in the country in terms of being ready for the new economy.

We are first in per-capita income growth in the 1990s; fifth lowest poverty rate of all 50 States; third fastest growing in population.

Of most importance, the Tax Foundation says that we have the fourth lowest taxes per capita in the country.

All of this, I believe, is made possible because we have had the common sense in Colorado to limit the growth of government. That has allowed us to have the nongovernmental sector able to grow and prosper. And we are working hard to keep that economic engine growing.

We have been able to cut taxes by a billion dollars in the three years that I have been governor, which isn’t bad out of a $6 billion general fund state budget. And we have cut the income tax twice. We have cut the sales tax once. We have ended the marriage penalty in Colorado, something that we have also worked on nationally.

Owens also discussed the issue of taxing online purchases, and why such taxes would not be fair.

One more issue, and that is the taxation of the Internet. Some of you are very, very involved, as I am, in terms of opposing this. Let me just suggest that Ed Feulner at the Heritage Foundation was right when he said that perhaps the greatest business development since the creation of money is the Internet. And yet today, all across this country, there are mayors, there are legislators, there are some in Congress, and yes, there are some governors, who want to tax the Internet. Some will say it is a matter of fairness. If we pay a sales tax on Main Street, they will tell us, why shouldn’t we have to pay a sales tax when we buy items over the Internet?

Well, here is the difference. And as conservatives, it is important we understand this fundamental distinction, because this issue will be debated for the next few years in the United States. When I go on Main Street to buy something at Wal-Mart in Aurora, Colo., I am using the city street, I am protected by the city police force. If there is a fire and I need the help of the fire department, they are there. As I am going to that Wal-Mart or while I am in that Wal-Mart, if I drink water from the water faucet, I am using municipal water. I am in fact receiving city services when I go to that Wal-Mart and make that purchase.

When I buy something over the Internet from Lands End in Wisconsin, the only impact on any government in Colorado is the UPS truck that arrives at my door, bringing me that package. And UPS, I can assure you, more than pays its fair share in gas taxes for the use of that local or state road. There is no nexus between a service rendered and a service delivered for that Internet tax that some would want me to have to pay to Aurora and to Colorado.

Twenty states are now meeting regularly, setting up the system, so that if Congress ever overrules [California Rep.] Chris Cox and allows us to tax the Internet, there are states already ready to go forward with the compact to make this happen. Well, let me just tell you—and I bet Colorado is not the only state that will do this—but it is my goal, if that day ever happens, to have Colorado be the Switzerland of Internet taxation. I want us to be a tax haven so that these companies move to Colorado.

There's more to Owen's speech. Read it.