Freedom Unaffiliated

If you’ve been reading my columns, you’ve noticed I’m basically illiterate. I blame my dyslexia and public education, but my Olympic-level laziness could be the driving factor.

Anyway, I basically can’t read (and, still, I graduated from CU Boulder, so another endorsement of public higher education).

So, for me to recommend a book is like a nun recommending sexy lingerie. How can you take it seriously? But how can it not get you thinking?

As we celebrate Colorado’s 150th birthday, may I strongly suggest you read, or re-read, James Mich...

The simultaneous NBA and NFL playoffs, known as the second season, can be almost as exhausting and frustrating for the fans as it is for the players. For Avs and Nuggets fans, this year was especially disappointing, even though we knew that 15 of the 16 teams in the playoff bracket are fated to lose their last game.

It’s an alleged truism that the NBA and NHL playoffs require a different kind of play than in the regular season. I think that’s a falseism. The leagues don’t change the rules for the playoffs, they change the way re...

There are few things more satisfying to watch than socialists getting mugged by reality.

The Sundance Film Festival is invading my hometown of Boulder early next year. Sundance drew 85,000 attendees last year in Park City, Utah. Boulder’s hotel room inventory is about 2,900.

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when Hollywood’s anti-capitalist elite collide with basic supply and demand, we’re about to find out.

When things don’t go as planned, the planner-class doubles down on its religion: more planning. When restrictions, rules, permits and fees don’t produce the desired outc...

On TABOR Talk we discuss how Colorado Legislators are trying to get you to give up your TABOR refunds forever. Will you let them have it?

It makes no sense to be a Republican in Colorado. Or a Democrat for that matter.

On the day I turned 18, even before I bought my first legal 3.2 beer (remember 3.2 beer?), I went to the courthouse and registered to vote (remember registering to vote?). I joined the Republican Party.

Even at 18, I knew not affiliating with a party diluted the power of my vote.

Sure, everyone gets to vote in November. But one vote among millions isn’t nearly as powerful as a vote in a primary.

Back then, unaffiliated voters we...

I am personally responsible for helping overpay socialists to make Colorado unaffordable, overregulated and one windstorm away from a power blackout. I failed you.

Colorado legislators already get automatic inflation raises. You know, just like your job (I’m assuming the sarcasm bled through that one).

No private-sector worker has that kind of protection forever. Even union jobs eventually meet reality. Ask Spirit Airlines employees.

And that’s the problem.

What happens when lawmakers no longer depend on the private sector for most of their livelihood? They stop understanding the people they...

DENVER–Gov. Jared Polis last week rejected another handful of bills passed by the Democrat-controlled Colorado legislature, bringing his veto total for the recently adjourned session to an even dozen. Modest sounding enough given the more than 400 bills passed, but still a personal record for the term-limited Polis over his eight years in office.

As reported by Complete Colorado, the prior week saw Polis take his veto pen to a half-dozen other bills, including a highly contentious effort by his fellow Democrats to unwind Colorado’s longstanding two-vote process for private sector unionization.

The latest batc...

The word “moderate” is a fashionable term these days as the remedy to the nation’s sharply divided politics, but it’s highly overrated and largely inaccurate. A stark example is Democrat Abibail Spanberger who was elected governor of Virginia in 2025 as a self-declared moderate, promising not to redistrict the state if elected, having branded gerrymandering as “detrimental to our democracy” as a Congresswoman in 2019. In her first year in office, she signed a bill that would gerrymander Virginia giving Democrats a 10-1 advantage in the U.S. House, from 6-5. (Her voting record in Congress was anything but moderate wit...

The recent strike by unionized public school teachers in the Sheridan School District finally ended after 28 days, Colorado’s longest teacher strike in 45 years. Private sector unionized employees have a legal right to strike, but government employees have more restrictions.

Members of our armed forces are forbidden to unionize, collectively bargain, or strike for obvious national security reasons. In 1981, President Reagan declared a strike of unionized air traffic controllers illegal, gave them 48 hours to return to work, fired 11,000 who didn’t, and decertified the union. In 1937, President Roosevelt informed the president of the National Federation of Federal Empl...

Another week, another column about Colorado’s ruling class treating democracy like a state trooper treats the speed limit. It’s for other people.

I swear, I want to write about literally anything else — aliens, sports, lab-grown meat, Bigfoot opening a vape shop in Pueblo.

But Colorado’s legislature has never been more abusive to the citizenry, or hypocritical.

The kings of Colorado

To save time, I won’t rehash the endless “No Kings,” “Trump is destroying democracy,” “our sacred duty is protecting democracy, so be happy you have us” self-promotion constantly ejaculated...

Alexander Fraser Tytler was a judge, historian and professor of history in Scotland, born in 1747, who observed that, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by dictatorship.”

Tytler further observed, “The average of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liber...

We the people of Colorado no longer control our own state constitution. I found this out the hard way.

In Colorado, a government for, by, and of the people is a fib.

We lowly citizens no longer have much of a say in altering our own state constitution. Even though that seems to violate the whole meaning of our constitution in the first place.

We the people

Like the US Constitution, Colorado’s constitution contains a Bill of Rights making clear we are the ones who empower the state government, not th...

DENVER–A Democrat-sponsored Senate bill changing the boundaries of the Front Range Passenger Rail special taxing district passed through its first committee hearing on Monday. The bill excludes certain conservative-leaning communities from the district as a tax hike looms for the November ballot.

As previously reported by Complete Colorado, the Front Range Passenger Rail, recently named CoCo, short for Colorado Connector, has been in the works since 2021. The plan is to have an up and running passenger rail system operating from Fort Collins to Pueblo by 2029.

The current special taxing district is the largest in th...

DENVER—The Colorado Senate Agriculture Committee on April 22 rejected two of the three appointments made by Governor Polis to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission.

By state law, the CPW commission contains 13 members, 11 of which are appointed by the governor and approved by the Senate. The remaining two members include the executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, and the Colorado Agriculture Commissioner.

Frances Blayney, co-owner of a fly-fishing business in Colorado Springs, was approved by the committee unanimously to represent outfitters on the commission, but two others were denied.

Thumbs do...

The great 20th-century historian Lord Acton said it best: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Acton was building on the teachings of his mentor, Homer Simpson, who put it more plainly: “The more power you have, the more you can mess things up. Woo-hoo!”

And many in Colorado’s political elite have studied under the original oracle of power, Eric Cartman: “Respect my authoritah!”

If there were a motto for the progressive machine that now rules Colorado, it would be simple: “Because we f***ing can, that’s why.”

Ethics don’t matte...

I know this will shock you, but the system is rigged.

Maybe not in the conspiracy-theory, tinfoil-hat way. In the simple, obvious, right-in-front-of-your-face way: politicians get to play by rules you don’t.

And every now and then they get so brazen about it, you have to stop and admire the hustle.

We Coloradans have been painfully clear for decades: We want our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). We want government spending limits. And, yes, we want our refunds when government takes too much.

How many times do we have to s...

Obviously, that hasn’t come to pass. There’s little doubt that congressional Democrats who’ve attacked Trump’s every move in this Iran war would be praising a Democrat president who had the foresight and courage to do so on his watch. None did, but if one had, most patriotic Republicans would have surely cheered him on. As for the dominant liberal media, the negative spin in their news stories and commentary about the war have been blatantly dishonest about this overwhelmingly successful campaign.

From the very start of the war the stock market plunged, crude oil pric...

In 2024, Donald Trump was elected president by 77 million Americans, two million more than voted for Kamala Harris. Republicans also won a majority in the U.S. House and Senate, giving the GOP a federal trifecta and a governing mandate. Democrats had a similar governing mandate during the first two years of both the Obama and Biden administrations.

Now relegated to minority party status, progressive Democrats are powerless to deliver their socialist paradise on Earth. So, they’re frustrated, angry, stricken with Trump Derangement Syndrome, and have gone stark raving mad. Lacking a realistic or rational public policy ag...

Politics is a game of narrative. Whoever controls the narrative wins.

Sure, the truth is interesting. But truth doesn’t sell. It takes time to uncover, assuming people care enough to go digging for it.

Narratives are easier. They’re simple, comforting and come pre-approved by the crowd.

Groupthink isn’t just easy. It’s safe. The truth, on the other hand, requires work and enough bravery to risk being out of step with people who judge you.

And we’re busy. So, we outsource our thinking to the media, entertainment and school...

This is a selfish column. The legislature is about to hurt my disabled son.

My son, Chance, has Down syndrome and a few years ago would have been labeled “retarded.” Then “developmentally delayed.” Now the hypersensitive prefer “intellectually disabled.”

Whatever the term is this week, the reality hasn’t changed.

This 21-year-old man cannot consistently count to five, can’t read and can’t write his own name. He needs constant supervision for choking risks. He still needs help toileting. And that’s just the start.

Medicaid was designed for people like him, our most v...

DENVER–The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) quarterly oil and gas lease sale in Colorado generated over $8 million, the most successful such sale the federal lands agency has enjoyed in recent years. The BLM, as well as energy policy experts credit the successful lease sale in large part to the Trump administration’s pro-energy production policies.

According to its recent press release, the BLM on March 31 leased 68 parcels of federal land for drilling in Colorado, generating $8.1 million. Over 42,000 acres were leased across Weld, Jackson, Routt, Arapahoe, Delta, Mesa, Rio Blanco, Gunnison, and Garfield counties.

This s...

Governor Jared Polis on April 6 signed Senate Bill 26-004, dramatically expanding those eligible to petition courts to confiscate guns under Colorado’s “red flag” law.

DENVER–A series of gun rights restrictions are at various stages in the Colorado’s legislative process, with some bills awaiting action by Gov. Polis, others still in the committee process, and a heavily negotiated gun barrel regulation bill held up in its final reading in the House.

Red flag expansion

Senate Bill 26-004 ‘Expand List of Petitioners for Protection Orders’ passed third reading in the House on March 20 with...

Though most of us celebrate “No Kings Day” on July 4, the Trump-deranged got a head start last weekend with rallies around the state.

Attendees bravely fought oppression by blocking traffic for people with jobs. Rally-goers demanded freedom from tyranny, many right after voting to ban all but beige house paint at their HOA meetings.

After pausing briefly to DoorDash something gluten-free, they returned to the barricades to secure democracy in Colorado for one more day.

They risked everything, except mild discomfort, to call the guy who won both the popular vote and the elec...

Obviously, the outcome of the war with Iran remains to be seen. The best outcome is a US military victory followed by regime change freeing Iranians from the tyranny of their government. With that may come a more peaceful and stable Middle East removing the existential danger of nuclear weapons in the hands of religious fanatics who have plagued the region for the last 47 years.

In 1979, a revolution deposed an oppressive unpopular monarch, the Shah of Iran who, at least, was a pro-western modernist. It brought Ayatollah Khomeini to absolute power as Iran’s Supreme Leader. Protected by...

Years ago, I interviewed a Canadian health-care broker whose job was helping his countrymen escape their own failing system.

When their “free” health care turned into “free to wait until you die,” he’d save his clients by routing them to doctors in the U.S. who’d accept cash and rescue their lives.

I asked him what advice he had for Americans. His answer terrified me.

“I hope the U.S. won’t do what we’ve done with health care,” he said. I thought his reasoning was that he didn’t want to see Americans...

I’ve lived in Colorado since 1970. And you know what Colorado had back in 1970? High winds blowing down the Front Range.

I moved to Boulder in 1984 and have been there ever since. And you know what Boulder has had all that time? A freakin’ lot of high winds.

I remember as a college kid walking around the CU campus after windstorms, stepping around uprooted trees and massive broken branches that made the sidewalks impassable.

I’ve seen rooftop shingles go flying off Boulder buildings, signs ripped down, and semi-trucks overturned.

All of whi...

The governor and progressive Democrats that dominate the state legislature and every statewide office in Colorado have been masterful ― if not ethical and honest ― in devising devious schemes to circumvent the TABOR amendment in the Colorado Constitution. That’s the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, passed by a 1992 voter-initiated ballot measure that bypassed the legislature. It limited government spending and barred the legislature from increasing taxes or imposing new ones without the consent of the voters. Democrats have always despised TABOR.

Their favorite ploys have included misrepresenting taxes as “fees” and funding spending programs through tax credits. Because thos...

At this point, if you hear beeping downtown, it’s not a construction crew. It’s a company backing out.

And look, I get it. Businesses relocate for all sorts of reasons: taxes, regulations, labor costs, office space, crime, commute times, the haunting feeling your chief executive is one city council meeting away from being declared a single-use plastic.

But Colorado’s political class has been turning “headquarters” into an endangered species.

Take TIAA, the financial services giant whose name has for decades been glowing atop a downtown Denver skyscraper like a Bat-Signal for retire...

This part will disappoint angry people on Twitter:

Relax. Put the pitchforks down. I am not relitigating the 2020 election or mail ballots or even Tina Peters.

But I am saying people don’t trust elections like they used to. And here in Colorado we can do a rather simple thing to reverse that. And progressives should want it most.

Saving democracy is all the rage now, and as far as political slogans go, it’s a pretty damn good one.

But saving democracy isn’t just about protecting Colorado from President Donald...

It’s worrisome enough that we have to live with the ever-present threat of nuclear war hanging over our head, the fiery extermination of humanity from global warming, a worldwide depression triggered by the U.S. defaulting on its $39 trillion national debt on its way to $50 trillion, to say nothing of an uptick in falls from Denver rent-a-scooters. On top of all that, yet another crisis has descended upon the American public: Donald Trump has ended the minting of our one-cent coin, affectionately known as the penny. Good grief!

Don’t panic, 240 billion of them are still in c...

Something strange is happening in Colorado — strange enough that the political class should notice.

People are leaving Colorado.

After years of being one of the fastest-growing states in the nation, net in-migration has stopped and may be reversing.

According to Federal Reserve Bank data, the last time Colorado’s population took a dip was 1945. Congrats to our policy makers, who finally achieved something historic no one asked for. The Broncos haven’t won a championship in a decade, but what you’re achieving hasn’t happened in 80 years.

For the first time in 16...

A tautology is a needless repetition of an idea using different wording. For example: “Sooner or later the inevitable is bound to happen.” In this case, Bari Weiss is under fire from the stable of leftist, so-called journalists at CBS’s “60 Minutes” program. The rebellion is over a story (in fact, a hit piece), recently scheduled to run, about the Trump administration’s deportation of illegal immigrants to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement CECOT prison. The story was “spiked” (in journalist lingo: killed or withheld) by Weiss in her capacity as their boss, the new editor-in-chief of CBS News.

Weiss, a self...

Bicycle lanes in Denver are much more than just a nuisance for motorists, they’re a small but glaring symptom of the radical progressive mentality of Democrats that have grossly mismanaged Denver government in recent years. This is a sad reflection on Denver voters, who have brought this on themselves.

Worse than useless and ridiculously underused, they obstruct traffic and pose a safety hazard for bicyclists and pedestrians. The lanes on Broadway north of Speer Blvd. are positively laughable, repositioning cars that were parked at the curb now out into a former traffic lane and inserting the bi...

I suggest we get used to saying the words, “Governor Weiser.”

The election for Colorado’s next governor does not take place in November. It’s in fewer than five months, on June 30. That’s the state’s primary election. Whoever wins the Democratic primary is the next governor (with all apologies to the seeming 328 Republicans running for the seat). So, out of a state of 6 million people, we must choose between an affable socialist and a tired Washington, DC liberal. Aren’t we the lucky ones.

Yes, yes, Michael Bennet has all the name recognition an...

Should police wear masks? Denver’s city council thinks no — and is even trying to outlaw it for federal agents operating in the city (because if there’s one thing municipal governments do well, it’s bossing around Washington, DC).

Like so many issues where people quickly polarize to one extreme or the other, this issue is nuanced. “Nuanced” in today’s vocabulary means “background noise” — something not worth listening to. Like anyone listens to me anyway.

To state the ridiculously obvious, Denver’s policy makers can put restrictions against masking on their own law enforcement (although...

The border skirmishes are increasing, and we could be looking at full-blown combat. The simmering civil unrest inside Colorado’s Democratic ranks is heating up, and during this legislative session it might boil over into all-out civil war.

If it does, Colorado news media might actually have to interrupt their regularly scheduled Republican-bashing to report on it.

Airing dirty laundry

Inner-party squabbles are the price of admission into politics; they’re unavoidable. However, a well-disciplined party keeps its dirty laundry from being aired publicly.

Take the open secret among Washington Democrats and...

In Colorado, TDS doesn’t stand for “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” It stands for “TABOR Derangement Syndrome.”

You can spot its sufferers easily. They break into hives at the mere mention of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. In fact, they can’t even utter its full name, Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, only “TABOR,” as if it’s a slur.

They blame it for everything from potholes to pimples. And they insist — with religious certainty — TABOR is shrinking government in Colorado, and thus people are suffering.

That’s not just wrong. It is so demonstrably wrong it’s d...

Historian Will Durant observed that peace is an unstable equilibrium which can be preserved only by acknowledged supremacy or equal power. War is a constant of human history and human nature and always will be. That’s not cynicism or defeatism, it’s practicality. If you believe otherwise you needn’t read any further, we have an irreconcilable premise.

Operation Absolute Resolve, a masterful, tactically precise strike swiftly and flawlessly executed by Delta Force commandoes coordinating intelligence, land, sea, and air elements to arrest and extract Venezuela dictator Nicolas Maduro was a prime example of the superior capabi...

Hang onto your wallet, it’s a Colorado legislative session. And the loneliest person under the Gold Dome is Jared Polis, a governor without a nation.

This will be the last regular session of his limited two terms, and he has managed to become disliked by just about everyone.

Of course, no matter how often he claims to be libertarian or business friendly, those on his right are just plain pissed at what he’s done to the state during his seven years. The sad fact is Colorado has never seen a more business-wrecking governor in h...

Remember during COVID, when the people screaming the loudest for government-mandated jabs were the very same people chanting “my body, my choice” when it came to abortion — I mean, “women’s health care”?

They’re also the folks who insist a 12-year-old is far too young to get a tattoo, but perfectly mature enough to make irreversible “gender-affirming” medical decisions.

The technical term for this is cognitive dissonance. In Colorado, we just call it public policy.

Fighting tyranny be ending elections

Now, as the new year dawns and another legislative session lurches to life, p...