Hundreds of thousands of Xcel Energy customers in Colorado recenlty lost power as high winds damaged power lines, and Xcel preemptively shut off the power to 55,000 customers to mitigate the risk of wildfires. Among the customers who lost power were homeowners and small businesses who received little to no warning The Denver Post detailed how families experienced entire refrigerators and freezers full of food spoiling, forcing them to refill them at a time when food costs are 25 percent higher than they were four years ago. Business owners without power lost tens of thousands of dollars due to ..read more

(You can listen to this column, read by the author, here) Every conversation about the Colorado state legislature should begin with this preface: “And these are the people who say Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. …” The legislature is moving forward with a bill to rip away direct elections of the Regional Transportation District Board (RTD), which encompasses the largest population of any local government in the state. Yes, they are willing to allow a couple of “window dressing” elected seats to “represent” the 3 million suckers in the Denver metro area, while minion political appointees ..read more

The Colorado Education Association elected a new president, Kevin Vick. Remarkably, Vick promised that, if a majority of Colorado students are not meeting or exceeding expectations on the the language, math, and science sections of the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) within five years, the union will endorse universal school choice. Ha! Just joking! The teachers’ union never in a million years would support parents overseeing their own children’s education, no matter how bad the public schools. Vick instead promised that the union will fight for more money for CEA members: “Togeth ..read more

In a major victory for taxpayers, a unanimous panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals agreed with the National Taxpayers Union Foundation’s Taxpayer Defense Center (NTUF) that an overnight doubling of the property taxes in a few Northern Colorado counties violated the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). We represented James Aranci and his neighbors, who were shocked to learn in 2020 that their property taxes to the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District doubled from 2019 to 2020 (and the years thereafter). TABOR mandates a ratification vote of any proposed tax increase or new de ..read more

The conventional definition of patriotism is love for and loyalty to one’s country. A 2023 survey published in the Wall Street Journal found that only 38% of respondents thought patriotism was very important to them, down sharply from 70% when that question was first asked in 1998.While 59% of seniors 65 and older feel that way today, only 23% of adults under 30 do. I vividly remember America’s 200th birthday in 1976.  Patriotic activities and celebrations abounded across the country leading up to a grand finale on the glorious Bicentennial Day.  What has doused that American spirit ..read more

State Representative Bob Marshall and I don’t agree on much, but I agree with him that his colleagues in the Colorado legislature don’t like the fact that the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) requires that they give us our money back. As we did last year (and as we likely will in coming years), we will have a TABOR surplus this year. This is good news, but careful readers will notice that I did not use the word “refund” after TABOR. That was no accident. Just as nature abhors a vacuum, politicians abhor giving you back your money. Why do that when they know how to spend it better than yo ..read more

DENVER — Doing what he is well known for, Independence Institute president Jon Caldara has started the process to let Colorado voters decide whether legislators should be treated differently than other elected officials when they meet in groups of more than two. Last Friday, Caldara and his co-proponent, Vanessa Rutledge appeared before the Legislative Council staff to answer questions about Initiative 287, which would repeal Senate Bill 157. Rutledge is the communications and marketing manager for the Independence Institute, a Denver-based free market think tank, which is also the publisher o ..read more

(You can listen to this column, read by the author, here.) State Sens. Kevin Priola and Chris Hansen are doing their very best impersonation of Carrie A. Nation, the early 1900s prohibitionist who attacked liquor establishments with a hatchet in one hand and a Bible in the other. But “Mother Nation” just beat up drinkers. She didn’t steal their money and give it to opium users. Do you know why bailing out student loans feels so morally broken? It’s because people who didn’t go to college are forced to pay people who did. The working class pays so the economic class above them can go to college ..read more

Have you ever noticed how many of the same people who claim to champion parents’ rights also want to ban various books in public libraries, even though other parents want their children to have access to those books, and ban transgender care for children, even when other parents approve of it for their own children? If you support “parents’ rights for me but not for thee,” you don’t really support parents’ rights. You support forcing other parents to conform to your dogmas. At the same time, every sensible person recognizes a limit to parental rights. As a parent, you do not have a right to ab ..read more

(Editor’s note: The following is written testimony of David B. Kopel on Colorado House Bill 24-1310, which mandates gun owners to carry liability insurance, submitted to the Colorado House Education Committee.) It’s fair criticism to say that some pro-gun advocates are sometimes too ideologically rigid, even about proposals that would not affect defense, hunting, or any other exercise of the right to arms. It’s equally fair to say the same is true sometimes for some anti-gun advocates. Endangering school safety to score a culture war win is an example. Summary Fifty-seven percent of voters be ..read more