We have been warning that Colorado is being transformed into California for years. Tuesday’s elections will only speed the Californication of our once liberty-loving state.
Colorado has for generations been a magnet for those who wish to write their own biography, to risk their wealth and talents, and to work in free association with others to make their dreams reality.
At the Independence Institute we call this the “Colorado Culture.” It’s the craving to be free to make our own decisions.
But our Colorado is being replaced by a California culture of control – the demand to make decisions for other people. It’s something those of us who were raised here cannot fathom.
The progressives who were swept into every corner of state government last night are not like the Democrats who have on occasion controlled the governor’s office and the legislature in the past. No, those old-school Democrats helped create the first-in-the-nation charter school laws, the flat tax, and forced competitive contracting at RTD.
Today’s progressives want us to be California. Hell, our presidential hopeful, John Hickenlooper, has already made California our lord and master by signing an executive order that ties our electric vehicles mandates to whatever California law makers decide. California will have us on a leash.
Will the Left’s plan’s to take over Colorado’s healthcare system, drive up energy costs, attack our Second Amendment rights, and continue to starve our roads succeed? Well, not without us doing all we can to stop it.
Destroying their plan for a 21% sales tax increase and creating a centralized transit planning authority was foiled by our Fix Our Damn Roads initiative. It’s how we play smart. And while our Prop 109 went down, it achieved its primary goal – killing Prop 110. Thanks to all of you who made that a reality.
What will it take to stop us from becoming New California? How do we bring back our Colorado Culture? We must build on what we’ve been screaming to those few who dare to listen. We at Independence know that focusing on funding politicians before principle is what got us into this mess. We must think in terms of years, not just the next election cycle. We must build a foundation, a Permanent Freedom Infrastructure that leads to victory and keeps those in office pointing in the right direction.
Given the growth of the California culture of control in Colorado, it is time for the way we do politics to radically change. And that will require some uncomfortable changes.
But Colorado, and Freedom is worth it.
Stay tuned.
-Jon