Traditional 4th of July fireworks displays are being cancelled like crazy this year, sometimes for fiscal reasons, sometimes because of the wildfire threat, sometimes, as in California, because environmental extremists have begun denouncing them as yet another threat to the planet. But could a day be coming when fireworks shows and 4th of July parades also get cancelled for ideological reasons, because they allegedly provide a political advantage to Republicans and conservatives?

This sounds a little crazy, I know. But we’re living in crazy times.

Colorado Springs -- The “new” Colorado Springs City Council failed an early test of fiscal fitness Monday, by rejecting a proposed resolution supporting efforts to defend the constitutionality of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights in federal court. A group of lawyers and politicians, mostly liberal Democrats, has taken the nearly 20-year-old TABOR amendment to court, claiming the taxing and spending limits it imposes on state legislators are incompatible with the republican form of government.