Mike Rosen

Mike Rosen (born 5 December 1944) is an American radio host and author. He is the host of Denver's most popular radio talk show on 850 KOA (AM) (Monday through Friday 9am to 11:45am) and a columnist for the Rocky Mountain News.

Mike Rosen in 2002

Quotes

• Non-supply siders: Concern themselves with 'How to divide up a [fixed] pie'. Supply siders: Concern themselves with 'How to make a bigger pie.'
  • October 22, 1996 KOA Radio

• Television is to news as a bumper sticker is to Shakespeare. I remember hearing an analogy once that went something like that. Your typical nightly, 35-minute TV news broadcast is a headline service with pictures. Five minutes of police-blotter reporting - fires, murders, car accidents, etc. - five minutes of human-interest stories and small talk, five minutes of weather, five minutes of sports, ten minutes of commercials, and maybe a minute or two for business, science, politics, and affairs of the world.
  • July 3, 1998 Denver Post column

• We protect the right of pacifists and other anti-war militants to assemble and advance their cause. But I don’t respect such people and I don’t shrink from exposing their ideas as destructive and suicidal. Pacifists are my enemy because wittingly or not, they serve the purposes of my enemy and jeopardize my freedom.
  • October 5, 2001 Rocky Mountain News column

• One of the hackneyed liberal complaints goes something like this: 'Bush is the first president in history to cut taxes during a war.' Nonsense. Bush didn’t cut taxes; he cut tax rates across the board - on income, dividends and capital gains. And that’s precisely why tax revenues have soared. When a department store wants to make more money, it doesn’t raise its prices, it cuts them and announces a big sale. If you want more work and investment, you hold a sale on economic activity by cutting tax rates, thereby reducing the cost of productive activity and increasing the prospect of after-tax returns on work and investment.
  • July 22, 2005 Rocky Mountain News column

• I don't believe that [blacks in New Orleans immediately prior to Hurricane Katrina]couldn't afford a bus ticket out of New Orleans for a minute- they might not be able to drive out in a brand new Lincoln, but they could afford a bus ticket.
  • March 15, 2006 KOA radio

Rocky Mountain News column, 2000

Mike Rosen. Rocky Mountain News column, March 31, 2000

• Conservatives believe in individual freedom and responsibility. Liberals believe in sacrificing individual freedom for socially desirable outcomes. Liberals believe that one of government's primary roles is social engineering.

• Conservatives believe in limited government. Liberals believe in intrusive government when required to achieve societal needs. (Exception: social-issues conservatives advocate government intrusion on matters of abortion, drugs and pornography.)

• Conservatives believe in free markets. Liberals believe in government controls and central planning.

• Conservatives believe that some problems have no solution, that they can only be mitigated at best. Liberals believe that most every problem has a government solution.

• Conservatives are concerned about the production of wealth. Liberals are concerned about the redistribution of it.

• Conservatives believe in equality of opportunity. Liberals believe in equality of outcome.

• Conservatives believe that human nature is what makes us imperfectible. Liberals believe that human nature can be changed and perfected.

• Conservatives are nationalists. Liberals hope for world government.

• Conservatives believe in peace through strength. Liberals believe in peace through cooperation and good will.

REALITY A Plain-Talk Guide to Economics, Politics, Government and Culture

• Don’t tell me you are a moderate. Moderate is an adjective. It is a qualifier. You may be a moderate conservative, a moderate democrat, or a moderate drinker but it doesn’t tell me what you believe in. It’s not a philosophy. Unless all you believe in is moderation for the sake of moderation. Grow up! You can’t be a good egg all of your life. Someday you have to either hatch or rot.

• Ideology is about ideas; politics is about winning elections.