Freedom Unaffiliated

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 years, rents in metro Denver are actually going down. Not “slowing their increase.” Not “rising less quickly.” Going down.

Metro-wide rents are down nearly 5% over the last year. This should set off alarm bells under the Gold Dome. But it won’t.

Colorado is the most beautiful and desirable state in the nation. If people are no longer stampeding here, something has gone seriously wrong — and it’s not the lack of good snow this year. More likely it’s unaffordability, litter, crime and an anti-employer climate that treats job creators like parolees.

When new state law required posting of salaries, national want-ads for teleworkers stated, “not accepting applications from Colorado.” And thanks to the first-in-the-nation, and worst-in-the-free-world, regulation on AI, that same phrase is now appearing in tech company want-ads — which is quite an achievement for a state that claims to “lead innovation.”

People are still fleeing the high-tax, government-failure states of California, New York and Illinois. Those refugees used to pour into Colorado. No more. They’re finding sanctuary in low-tax, low-regulation states like Florida and Texas instead.

So give our leaders one victory. They’ve stopped the mass migration of Californians to Colorado — albeit by Californicating our laws. What perverse irony.

Graduated-income-tax states of New York and California top the list of exodus states, losing 1.7 million and 1.6 million people in a decade. The top states gaining population are the no-income-tax states of Florida and Texas (plus-1.6 million and plus-1.3 million).

When people leave a state, they don’t just take their dog. They take their money, their assets and their businesses.

Between 2012 and 2022 California lost more than 350,000 people and $21 billion in income to Texas alone. New York lost 380,000 people and $36 billion to Florida. That’s $57 billion of income those states can no longer tax.

There was a time when doctors practiced bloodletting to heal patients. It just hastened their deaths. If the first round of this year’s legislation is any indicator, our lawmakers are keeping the tradition alive.

They’re considering moving up the unreachable goal of 100% renewable energy by a decade. There’s also a bill to end eight decades of peace between unions and business by repealing the Labor Peace Act.

And the granddaddy of policy bloodletting is the effort to destroy Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and emulate the progressive-income-tax models of California and New York — the same states people are fleeing.

Now rents are falling — not because Colorado suddenly learned how to build housing efficiently — but because people stopped coming. Demand softened. That’s not a victory. That’s a warning sign — the economic equivalent of chest pain.

Why is homeownership so expensive here? Because governments at every level treat new housing like a public nuisance. Zoning restrictions, growth boundaries, density caps, “affordability” set-asides, green mandates, impact fees, neighborhood vetoes and endless reviews all conspire to make housing scarce.

Young people aren’t asking for luxury penthouse condos. They’re asking for a starter home that doesn’t require four roommates and a GoFundMe.

Then there’s energy, where Colorado has chosen ideology over reliability. We’re banning and regulating affordable energy while mandating expensive electrification — even as our grid proves fragile during windstorms and cold snaps.

The young are told they must save the planet, while their utility bills rise and their power goes out. When you’re 25 and trying to build a life, “sacrifice more” is not a winning sales pitch.

People can read a paycheck. They see rent, utilities, gas, groceries and deductions. They also see litter, drug-addled vagrancy, neglected roads and bumper-to-bumper traffic next to empty bike lanes.

When the cost of living rises faster than wages, the view of the Rockies starts to look less romantic.

So when rents fall for the first time in 16 years and population growth stalls, it’s not a mystery. It’s the market delivering feedback.

Jon Caldara is president of Independence Institute, a free market think tank in Denver.

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-proclaimed centrist, was hired for that job in October 2025 by Paramount Skydance (CBS’s parent company) presumably to expand its audience by creating more balanced reporting than the typical leftist and anti-Trump content on CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, and CNN. Weiss’s role is to ultimately oversee and edit CBS News content, which is why I describe this conflict as “inevitable.” Weiss had earlier been hired by the NY Times in 2017 as a token moderate within its overwhelmingly left-wing opinion staff. Predictably, that didn’t work out. She publicly resigned in 2020 citing the narrow-minded, left-wing culture at the Times, open hostility and bullying from colleagues who called her “a Nazi and a racist,” intolerance of different viewpoints, and no interest in open debate. Facing a similar culture at CBS News, Weiss’s mission will be challenging.

Sharyn Alfonsi, the “60 Minutes” correspondent who produced the CECOT prison piece, publicly criticized Weiss claiming, “the story was factually correct and had been cleared by CBS lawyers and its standards division.” Alfonsi argued that, “pulling it now after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.” Weiss explained the story was one-sided, but that she’d air Alfonsi’s piece in a future broadcast when it was better balanced and ready. (Balance on “60 Minutes? Perish the thought.)

While Alfonsi’s story may contain some correct facts it can still be loaded with progressive, pro-Democrat, anti-Trump political spin, as is commonplace at “60 Minutes.” Alfonsi’s lame proof of fairness was the approval of CBS lawyers, its standards division, and rigorous internal checks, which is like having the fox guard the hen house.

Weiss stated that “the only newsroom I’m interested in running is one in which we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest editorial matters with respect and, crucially, where we assume the best intent of our colleagues.”

Wading into this dispute was the Associated Press, an omnipresent international wire service even farther left than “60 minutes,” that notoriously puts out biased opinion pieces masquerading as news stories. Predictably defending “60 Minutes,” the AP described the program as, “one of journalism’s most respected brands.” Of course, it’s respected and revered by lefties and naïve viewers, but certainly not by conservatives and savvy objective followers of public policy. In its so-called news story, the AP noted that “60 Minutes” was “a frequent target of Trump,” which is true. But it failed to note that’s because Trump was a frequent target of “60 Minutes,” from which he defends himself. Furthermore, the AP feared Weiss’s appointment might be a signal that CBS News, “was headed in a more Trump-friendly direction.” Good Heaven’s, no! God forbid that CBS could be headed in a less unfriendly direction and treat Trump fairly.

Regarding CBS’s journalistic credibility, in October 2025, “60 Minutes” recorded an extensive interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, then the Democrat candidate for president. On October 6, CBS’s “Face the Nation” aired a clip from that recording in which “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker asked a question about Israel and the behavior of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In her answer, Kamala rambled through one of her typical incoherent word salads. The very next day a prime time-special edition of “60 Minutes” aired a long version of the interview in which the word salad in Kamala’s answer had been edited out to spare her the embarrassment. After this trickery was publicly exposed on YouTube, CBS claimed it was edited to save time. Come on.

Trump subsequently sued CBS News and “60 Minutes” for $20 million over this scam, arguing it was deceptive editing. CBS and its parent, Paramount, settled out-of-court for $16 million, with the funds going to Trump’s future presidential library and his legal fees, but denied any wrongdoing saying the editing followed its standard journalist practice. It’s beautifully ironic that CBS’s defense is a virtual admission that its “standard journalist practice” was intentionally deceptive!

Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for Complete Colorado.

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 bicycle lane in its place. Vehicles making a left turn crossing that bicycle lane do so at the peril of cyclists, which can also be said of any bicycle rider in downtown Denver traffic.

The addition of bicycle lanes on four-lane thoroughfares throughout Denver has reduced them to only one lane in each direction squeezing vehicle traffic and making it worse. This is idiotic. On 16th Avenue, the bicycle lanes are accompanied by a barrier of white plastic bollards that won’t offer much protection from a weaving 5,000-pound Ford-150 pickup.

This isn’t Copenhagen where bicycles are fashionable and economical for young students. Nor is this a less-developed country where the masses who can’t afford cars clog city streets with bicycles, scooters and rickshaws. Bicycling is not desirable or practical for all but a tiny minority of commuters, especially during our cold, icy winters. In other seasons, heat and rain will make for an arduous trip to the office and a malodorous day for nearby co-workers.

On East Colfax Avenue, two of the four existing car lanes are being eliminated, leaving only one in each direction to make room for two center-running Bus-Rapid-Transit (BRT) lanes. This is a project to create a “high‑capacity transit corridor connecting downtown Denver to the Anschutz Medical Campus.” Again, fewer auto lanes and mass rapid transit will be Denver’s salvation!

Bicycle lanes, you see, are just a tiny part of a bigger picture. For years, progressives on Denver’s city council have publicly proclaimed their hatred of cars and their intent to make driving so unpleasant that motorists will avoid our fair city. And they’ve joined the progressive, enviro, elitist “New Urbanism” movement, even adopting the name: Denver Urbanism.

The movement describes its vision as “an alternative to post-WW II low-density suburban sprawl.” Instead, cities will be converted to walkable, mixed‑use, human‑scaled neighborhoods featuring compact development, transit access, diverse housing, and vibrant public spaces. Streets and buildings will be shaped around people, not cars and parking lots, thus lowering auto emissions and saving the environment.

Sure, some people will like that lifestyle. Fine for them. But this isn’t New York City. A great many people live in Colorado, including the front range, for its wide-open spaces, not the cramped confines of an inner city and the view from your apartment house window of the building next door. These enviro “visionaries” need a seeing-eye dog. Their disdain for the suburbs is at odds with the joy of people who choose to live there in a single-family-home with elbow room, a backyard for the kids and the dog, an attached garage, in a secure community, and maybe a nearby HOA swimming pool.

The NYC subway system crams millions of people together, elbow-to-elbow, in underground trains spanning the city who have no practical alternative to get work each day. Most Coloradans love their cars, pickups, and SUVs. And they avoid mass public transit by design. This is evidenced by the sparse use of RTD and the often-empty trains. We use our cars for the convenience of shopping for groceries or at the mall, for long trips to the mountains or Arizona for the winter, to visit friends and relatives, to drive to DIA (have you noticed how many cars fill its parking lots), for mom to take the kids to their soccer games, to lug your golf clubs to the course, and, ironically, lug your bicycle to a mountain trail.

Denver needs to repair its roads, not divert that money for unwanted “multi-model” transportation illusions. What with its crime, traffic, relentless leftist protestors, street people, beggars, drug addicts, soaring restaurant prices (pushed by excessive minimum wage laws), and all the negative side effects of being a sanctuary city, the last thing Denver needs to do is piss off more motorists. Automobiles aren’t going away. Most of all we love the freedom they give us. (Have you ever tried to take away Grandpa’s car keys away when he hits 80 ― or even 90!)

Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for Complete Colorado.

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 and an independent expenditure cash tsunami (it’s good to be the senator). That’s not enough.

There are a bunch of small factors tilting toward Attorney General Phil Weiser, but one big hairy monster that will sink Bennet’s ship if he doesn’t change course: he refuses to say who he’ll appoint to replace him in the U.S. Senate.

This is a do-not-pass-go, do-not-collect-$200 kind of obstruction. And the obstacle is only going to grow like Joe Biden’s prostate the closer we get to the primary.

Bennet has pledged not to resign his Senate seat until after he’s sworn in as governor — months after winning the primary, months after winning the general. In Colorado, the sitting governor appoints the replacement. So should he win, in this brave moment of “democracy is in danger,” He’s going to handpick his own successor, Castro-style. But who? He won’t tell us.

In fact, Bennet’s wife informed his campaign team he won’t talk about it while he’s campaigning. So don’t bring it up. And if someone asks, she ordered this response, “There will be some really great, young Democrat who is there to vote exactly the same way that Michael votes.”

If Bennet is going to replace himself with his clone, only younger, to vote EXACTLY the same way he does, you’d think he’d have just the tiniest idea who this doppelgänger might be. Or at least a short list. Or a dartboard.

As the primary gets closer, Michael is going to be thrashed at every town hall, debate, and media interview with this obvious question. It’s gonna stick to him like lint on a black sweater. As it should.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY believes he doesn’t know who his replacement will be. Voters will smell the oldest political cliché: the “another lying politician” truism.

Give the man an Academy Award, he’s gonna look into the cameras and say, “I haven’t thought about it yet, so I can’t even give you a list of names I’d consider.” That doesn’t pass the pants-on-fire test.

I’ll answer for him. It’s Jared Polis, Jason Crow, Joe Neguse, or maybe Brittany Petterson. See, not that hard.

And if he did announce his choice before the primary? That wouldn’t save him either. Every campaign stop would suddenly include a second race: not just “why should you be governor,” but “why should this person be senator?” No matter who he chose, it would anger some factions of his own coalition, and they’d meander over to Weiser.

We little people kind of like knowing who we’re voting for. But one guy who knows but won’t tell us gives off a distinctly Trumpy vibe — which is ironic, given the number of Democrats who can smell Trumpism from three counties away.

And let’s remember the backdrop to this sham — “democracy is under assault!”

Colorado voters who see anti-democratic evil lurking everywhere are not going to vote for a guy who is pulling a Trump-styled power play.

Coloradans like voting. It’s one of the reasons an attack on our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights(the ultimate in democratic institutions) at the ballot box will face headwinds. We like knowing what we’re voting on. Mystery packages don’t pass.

These same headwinds, even if voters don’t articulate them out loud, will blow in the primary. It will blow voters toward Weiser

For voters who like Bennet as senator, the problem is even worse. Why throw away 17 years of hard-to-get seniority — real power in Washington — for a mystery senator? That’s not bold leadership. We’re being asked to marry a blind date.

Bennet will lose unless he resigns his Senate seat before the primary — or at least promises to resign immediately after the general election so Gov. Polis can choose his replacement.

Jon Caldara is president of Independence Institute, a free market think tank in Denver.

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 since they forced masks on those of us who didn’t want it during COVID, there is offensive poetry here), but they have absolutely no authority to instruct the federal government how to operate. Still, virtue signaling is the political sport of our time.

Masking is an issue thanks to the ICE immigration crackdowns, where nuanced conversations are not just ignored, they are violently throttled. So, let’s address that first.

I don’t think anything in recent history has damaged the bond between civilians and law enforcement more than the actions of ICE in Minneapolis. And that bond is critical not just for our safety, but our republic.

Even to those of us who support deportation, these heavy-handed raids come across as a thuggish police-state maneuver. (Though it’s been enjoyable to watch inner-city progressives start reconsidering the Second Amendment after one of their own gun-owning protesters was killed. Maybe a world where only government has the guns isn’t the Utopia they dreamt of. Odd how reality interrupts theory.)

I support ICE doing their jobs, but the optics of unidentifiable masked strangers pulling people off the streets and breaking down doors is politically counterproductive to ICE’s own stated ends. And that sucks because I support deporting people here illegally.

You want — scratch that — NEED civilians to support sending illegal immigrants back over the border. Otherwise, the political will disintegrates.

The question is not if the feds have the right to go into cities and grab illegals this way. They do.

The question is, can they do their job if most of America, including many Trump voters, hate how they’re doing it? Trump is bleeding political support on the main issue that got him elected — reversing the open-border debacle.

And though sanctuary-state sycophants are making more Hitler comparisons during their pastime of “democracy is under threat” tantrums (it isn’t, by the way), they too need to be held accountable for their half of this poop-show.

If local law enforcement cooperated fully with federal agents, none of this would be happening. Those sanctuary-state sycophants are equally responsible for the deaths in Minneapolis.

American law enforcement is truly unique in the history of mankind. Throughout world history police answered to the thug in charge — a cartel kingpin, tyrant, or monarch. How comfortable are you with Mexican cops?

American police are the first line of defense for rule of law, which is why they take an oath to the Constitution, not a king or thug. Before America, that simply wasn’t the case.

That uniqueness rests on the relationship between police and the people they serve. Trust works only because the police are us — the neighbor down the street, the guy next to you in church, whose kid goes to school with your kid.

When police become “the other,” it all breaks down. Masking is a big step toward that. Cops wear masks for the same reason bank robbers do: they don’t want you to know who they are. Not exactly a winning branding strategy.

Yes, I concede when police are identifiable it can present risks to them and their loved ones. We feel that risk all the time because we civilians are identifiable (ask a health insurance chief executive). The answer to that risk is the same for cop and civilian alike — enforce the law.

Cops are scared dangerous people will target them. Well hello, same for the rest of us. So, let’s do what Denver and the Colorado legislature refuses — keep bad guys in jail. Radical huh?

There was a time the neighborhood cop was known to all the shop owners he walked by. The community trusted and welcomed him and his mission.

Apart from the Lone Ranger, we don’t connect with or trust people wearing masks — be it Klan members, Islamic terrorists, kidnappers, or cops. They’re not “us.”

A policy that alienates the public doesn’t strengthen enforcement — it eventually kills it.

Jon Caldara is president of Independence Institute, a free market think tank in Denver.

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.

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 insiders about President Joe Biden’s mental decline. Thanks to party discipline and an all-too-complicit media, it took a nationally televised debate and the political equivalent of elder abuse for them to come clean.

In Colorado, the secret isn’t mental decline (I’m resisting about a dozen jokes here) so much as the growing hatred under the Gold Dome between Democrats and the socialists in their own party.

So far, the state’s Democratic Party has been very disciplined in keeping the ugliness behind closed doors. And thanks to the legislature voting to exempt themselves from the state’s open meetings law, they can pull hair and go all “Real Housewives” in private.

Then there’s Colorado’s media. They are enthralled by the Three-Stooges-like antics of the state’s Republican Party. Be it the gubernatorial clown-car team racing to be beaten by either Bennet or Weiser, or the plans to tunnel Tina Peters out of jail, our crack squad of TV news “truth-tellers” just can’t get enough of Republican dysfunction.

The problem is Republicans have absolutely, positively no power in Colorado politics. Broadcasting their squabbles is meaningless. It’s beating up toddlers just for the sport of it and calling it journalism.

The fights among Democrats over construction defects, AI regulation, crazed woke policies and attempts to remove fellow Dems from office in primaries are bringing them close to fisticuffs.

No wonder leadership didn’t want video streaming of their committee hearing rooms. Democrats are about to start slapping each other, Korean-parliament style.

Reports are flying some Democratic socialists will not co-sponsor a bill if the “wrong” person in their own party is already a sponsor.

If some Democrats have sinned by joining the Opportunity Caucus — a group of Dems who don’t hate all businesses all the time — they might find themselves primaried by their good friends, the Democratic socialists. Basically, it’s socialist-on-progressive violence.

Business-friendly progressives helped defeat unhinged leftists like Reps. Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernandez. And the communists are about to return the favor this year.

You might remember when Republicans went through this insanity. Crazed people like charlatan Dudley Brown of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners would run smear primary campaigns against decent incumbent Republicans who wouldn’t tow their extremist line. Fanatical Republican challengers might win a primary only to lose to comparatively sane Democrats in the general election. (This was a big reason Republicans lost the legislature.)

We could be seeing that happen again — only with the other party. So, grab your popcorn.

How did the communists — sorry, democratic socialists — get such immense power in the legislature in the first place? A lot of it came from vacancy committees appointing them to fill the seats of legislators who have had enough and left. More than 20% of our legislators got there by appointment, not election.

Remember when Colorado Democrats were not communists? I mean, Colorado has been under Democratic control before — Dem governors, Dem legislatures. But that was back when Democrats understood you can’t redistribute wealth until wealth is first created by industry.

Our current governor has been a venture capitalist — and a damn good one — but not a day-to-day business owner.

Previous Democratic governors who had run businesses, be they restaurants or John Deere dealerships, had a better instinctive sense of how corrosive government controls can eviscerate our state economically.

Though a capitalist — thus the term “venture capitalist” — Jared Polis has ushered in an unworkable, unsustainable worker’s paradise regulatory state.

You’d think the socialists in the legislature would be throwing roses at him. Instead, the socialists are in open contempt of the governor who’s given them 95% of everything they’ve wanted.

There are still Democrats in the state legislature who see the world like Roy Romer, John Hickenlooper, and even Jared Polis. But will they survive the systematic Soviet purge their socialist party colleagues are planning?

Jon Caldara is president of Independence Institute, a free market think tank in Denver.

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 deranged.

TABOR passed in 1992. If it really were the government-killing death ray its critics describe, Colorado should look like a ghost town by now. Abandoned government buildings. Empty parking lots at the Capitol. Bureaucrats reduced to bartering staplers for food.

Instead, we have (drumroll…) more government than ever.

According to recent analysis from Independence Institute’s Nash Herman, the state didn’t shrink. It swelled like Oprah in a Krispy Kreme shop.

Let’s start with the budget. Since the early 1990s, the state’s General Fund has grown by 44%. That’s where all our tax money is supposed to go. We elect representatives to approximate our values and debate how to spend it.

And thanks to TABOR they can’t spend more of that fund than what they spent last year plus population growth and inflation.

Except that while the General Fund has grown 44%, the new taxes they don’t call taxes (fees) has grown by 588%. It now makes the General Fund look like a tiny slice of the pie by comparison.

To modify a quote from Ghostbusters’ Dr. Egon Spangler, “Let’s say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of taxation in Colorado. According to this morning’s sample, when you add the taxes we’re not allowed to vote on, it would be a Twinkie 35 feet long weighing approximately 600 pounds.”

That’s a big Twinkie.

Yep, those “Cash Funds” exploded by 588%. And federal funds (still our tax money) spent by our state ballooned by 278%. That’s the cash we temporarily get from the feds our legislators get addicted to spending, so they can scream “budget crisis” when it turns out temporary means temporary.

Those who believe democracy is in danger need to focus on this next part, because they’re right:

Back in 1993, the General Fund made up 56% of the state budget. Today, it’s only 35%.

Do you see the threat to democracy? Might require a second look.

Our democratic republic was based on a battle cry, “no taxation without representation.” When TABOR passed the large majority of our taxation had our direct representation. Today only a third of what is taken from us is controlled by those we elected.

Thanks to the engorged orgy of taxes we can’t call taxes (like “fees”), two-thirds of our government is now operating outside of our democratic control.

Despite what the TABOR-deranged say, state spending has been growing faster than the economy itself. Colorado’s GDP has averaged about 5% growth since the late 1990s. State spending? About 6%.

Well, let’s look at it just a little differently. Since 1993, private employment in Colorado is up 61%. Solid. But state government employment? Up 189%.

Apparently, TABOR is so “crippling” the bureaucracy tripled.

Which explains why lobbyists are doing so well. Since 1995, professional lobbyist incomes have risen 374%. When government grows, so does the industry dedicated to feeding on it.

Then there’s Medicaid. Since 2009, Colorado’s population has grown about 20%. Medicaid enrollment? Up more than 200%.

And if you think taxpayers have been protected, think again. Since 2001, the average effective state tax rate has increased by almost 14%.

So dear TABOR-deranged folks, PLEASE tell me again how TABOR is “starving” government.

Those with TDS believe unchecked government spending is moral virtue and the simple consent before increasing their spending and our taxes is cruelty.

You see, TABOR is democracy. The gob-smacking growth of state government could only happen when they work around TABOR.

Which is why their sky-is-falling, democracy-destroying obsession never ends. Every year there’s a new attempt to “fix” TABOR, “modernize” TABOR, “adjust” TABOR, or “temporarily suspend” TABOR.

Funny how all those fixes move in exactly one direction.

TABOR’s real crime is not shrinking government, because it doesn’t. It’s reminding government who it works for.

Jon Caldara is president of Independence Institute, a free market think in Denver.

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 capabilities of our U.S. military forces.

That’s the good news. However, this singular exercise is overshadowed by a far more serious, even existential, problem. The US is not prepared for the potential of WW III, a growing threat in recent years given China’s massive military buildup and international expansion, with Taiwan the next designated target. (In this context, alarmism and paranoia about climate change in the next century is a mere distraction.)

Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus was a 4th century Roman military strategist renowned for the Latin maxim: “Let he who desires peace prepare for war.” Ronald Reagan called this “peace through strength” and his buildup of our military deterrence ultimately led to the West’s victory in the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, avoiding the alternative of a “Hot War.”

With WWII already in progress overseas, the US – woefully short on military personnel and weaponry – got caught with its pants down on Dec 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, as an island nation far from Europe and Asia, we had time to recover and convert our industrial infrastructure to wartime production, which ultimately played the major role in the Allies’ victory as both sides devastated each other’s industries overseas. President Franklin Roosevelt dubbed this the “arsenal of democracy.”

Today, ICBMs, hypersonic missiles, drones, and satellite warfare make our “island” vulnerable at a moment’s notice. An active-duty military of 12 million in WWII and 3.5 million during Vietnam is now down to 1.3 million. Reagan’s buildup to a 600-ship Navy (597 in fact) is down to 296 warships today, while China has 370. (True, advanced offensive and defensive technology make these ships far more capable but they still can’t be in two places at the same time.) The US Navy has just 4 shipyards, which only perform maintenance. Just 5 of our private shipyards are capable of building warships. We need many more. Weapons and material recently expended to support our allies have yet to be replenished. You can’t flick a switch to convert industry to wartime production. This long overdue renovation will take years to complete.

Our government’s budget priorities are out of whack. In 1960, when John F. Kennedy was elected – after the Korean War and before Vietnam – defense spending was 52% of all federal spending and 9% of the nation’s GDP. In the 1980s, Reagan’s defense buildup averaged 26% of the budget and 6% of GDP. Today, defense spending is just 12% of the budget and 3% of GDP.

The federal budget categorizes Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and a cornucopia of welfare programs as “payments to individuals.” In 1960, that accounted for one-quarter of federal spending. Last year, it was three-quarters of the budget, most of which is treated as “mandatory spending,” meaning it’s on auto pilot and requires no new congressional appropriations each year. The remaining one-quarter is for “discretionary spending,” about half of which for national defense at $900 billion. Oh, I almost forgot. Interest on the national debt of $1 trillion soaks up another 12% of the budget and is a hundred million more than we spend on national defense. Interest payments are the carrying charge on borrowed money the feds have already spent and are nonsensically not included in “mandatory spending.” Defaulting on domestic and worldwide holders of US Treasury Bonds isn’t an option.

The US gross national debt is now $39 trillion, $8 trillion greater than our GDP, the total output of our economy. During WWII, when defense spending took 85% of the federal budget our national debt peaked at 119% of GDP. Today, with the nation at relative peace, our debt burden is even higher at 128% of GDP. (In 1981 it was 32%.)

This is worsening and unsustainable. Creeping socialism is driving us to fiscal insolvency. Taxes are already too high. National defense is our government’s paramount duty, the prerequisite for security, freedom, and prosperity.

The military needs a raise and the fraud-plagued welfare state needs a haircut.

Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for Complete Colorado.

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 her history.

A postmortem on the Polis years will reveal the eruption of Colorado’s regulatory Leviathan. Unworkable energy mandates, spiraling minimum wage laws, skyrocketing insurance premiums, taxes and “fees,” an avalanche of new unelected committees, commissions, and boards all with one goal – impede business.

No one from the private sector would say Colorado is better off than it was seven years ago.

Civil libertarians were betrayed over anti-gun laws which leapfrogs those of California and Massachusetts, speech codes like the new crime of misgendering, and the first-in-the-nation regulatory noose around artificial intelligence development. So much for our “computer code is free speech” high-tech guv.

And now this governor is reviled by many of his own party for, on rare occasion, siding with sanity.

There is chatter of big labor backing another bill this session to repeal Colorado’s Labor Peace Act, destroying a near century of business-labor détente. Polis wisely vetoed it last year. (Side note: We must pressure Michael Bennet and Phil Weiser for a clear “yes or no” on whether they will sign it. It will land on one of their desks in 2027.)

The all-powerful teacher’s unions are angry Polis has agreed to include Colorado in the federal Educational Choice for Children Act, created by Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, allowing taxpayers a tax credit for donating to private scholarship organizations.

Polis, like every governor, holds aspirations of becoming U.S. senator or president. A successful run for the White House seems very unlikely at this point. There is no way he could make it through a Democratic primary.

First, he is not a rabid socialist, spitting at anyone who has a dollar more than he does.

Polis has stated his support of a low, flat income tax, and even no income tax at all. That’s commendable but absolutely detested in a party now defined by Bernie, AOC and Zohran Mamdani.

Good God Almighty, the “democratic” socialists are ripping him apart for his simple social media post: “Today is a moment to celebrate the ouster of the brutal socialist dictator of Venezuela, who has cruelly impoverished this once-prosperous country that sits on greater oil wealth than Saudi Arabia.”

Then there’s a challenge of how God made him. No, it doesn’t matter he’s gay. In fact, that’s a box to check when running as a Democrat. The problem is he was born Jewish.

The Israel-hating, “from the river to the sea” style of antisemitism now rampant in Democratic ranks would never allow a Jew to be their presidential nominee.

Polis for VP? Again, no. Colorado’s ultra-blue electoral votes will go to whomever the Dems nominate. The VP slot will go to someone who brings the ticket a swing constituency; Colorado is a “sure thing.”

So basically, Jared Polis is now Colorado’s Rodney Dangerfield. The question is, will he lean into it?

There can be a great deal of power when you know no matter what you do, they’re going to dislike you. That power is multiplied being term-limited — free from fretting about reelection.

Maybe he’s had enough of being pushed around from his left?

Polis is not anti-gun, but his signature unleashed the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. He’s not anti-tech, but he unleashed the most dangerous anti-AI law in the nation (even the Europeans couldn’t dream up something this anti-innovation). He wants a lower flat income tax rate yet signed the bill to make tax cuts unwinnable at the ballot box (it forces the ballot language to say a “yes” vote will destroy education and health care and starve old ladies).

If there was ever a time for our governor to stand up to the crazed progressives who’ve bullied him for his entire tenure, now is it.

Jared, show us the real you! We might like it.

Jon Caldara is president of Independence Institute, a free market think tank in Denver.

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.

Now, as the new year dawns and another legislative session lurches to life, prepare yourself for the mother of all contradictions: “I will fight Trump’s assault on democracy,” followed immediately by, “and on an entirely unrelated note, here’s my bill to destroy democracy.”

Watch as our governor and his legislative allies solemnly virtue signal us about the grave dangers of authoritarianism — while quietly consolidating power into unelected boards, commissions and hand-picked appointees who never have to face voters or awkward town halls.

The Regional Transportation District, RTD, is a good place to start. After all it is arguably the largest stand-alone government in Colorado after the state government itself. So of course, Governor Polis wants to jettison most of its elected board and install his own appointed stooges. This trumps Trump. Because nothing says “democracy” quite like removing elections.

This, apparently, is what fighting tyranny looks like now.

Let me spell this out slowly, since subtlety has never been Colorado politics’ strong suit. Our elected officials lose all moral authority to lecture us about President Donald Trump’s threats to democracy when they’re busy dismantling it themselves — right here, in plain sight.

They howl about Trump wanting to fire bureaucrats and install loyalists, then turn around and do the same thing, only with better press releases and more use of the word “stakeholder.”

Put it on steroids and you get Gov. Jared Polis pushing legislation to gut the elected RTD board and replace it with appointed insiders — all in the name of “efficiency,” “equity,” and other words that usually mean “you don’t get a say anymore.” Forget democracy. He wants to install his cronies and build a rail line up to Longmont and the next steel-wheeled pipe dream of a choo-choo from Pueblo to Fort Collins.

RTD’s board exists because the people of Colorado directly voted for a 15-member elected board. That part matters. Or at least, it used to. Now it’s apparently just an inconvenient obstacle to progress.

The irony here is truly epic.

To fight the kind of Polis-like things Trump might do as president, Polis launched “Governors Safeguarding Democracy” (GSD) after Trump was reelected. Polis commanded, “In this moment, protecting democracy has never been more relevant or important, and doing so demands strong leadership at the state level.”

He was right: the Polis era has been one long transfer of power away from voters and into the hands of unelected boards, commissions and regulatory bodies that never appear on a ballot. Colorado is now governed by appointment not election, by regulation not legislation, by committee meetings not public debate.

In 2019, with Senate Bill 181, the legislature upended the longtime goal of fostering responsible oil-and-gas development in favor of an appointed panel to execute the industry. The new Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission then did his dirty work of regulating oil and gas to a torturous death.

House Bill 19-1032 “updated” Colorado’s human sexuality education requirements by taking the authority away from elected school boards and the publicly elected state Board of Education. Even grant-giving authority was assigned to an unelected, trans-indoctrinating board.

Recommendations on clean air was once provided by the Air Quality Control Council. That wasn’t enough. An unelected group of automobile-hating environmentalists needed to be endowed with unchecked regulatory authority. Thus, the unelected Air Quality Control Commission was recently created with power on par with the Public Utilities Commission.

And let’s not even start on how the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights is the ultimate form of democracy. Yet the legislature chooses to label tax increases as “fees” to avoid our direct consent.

The question isn’t whether Colorado leaders believe in democracy for America

It’s whether they believe in it for Colorado.

Jon Caldara is president of Independence Institute, a free-market think tank in Denver.