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Colorado News Miner 42
State-party divorce, the attack on freedom of contract, Republican craziness, gun laws, and more.
Copyright © 2025 by Ari Armstrong
March 2, 2023; ported here May 11, 2025
Republican Craziness
At this point I am probably going to leave the Republican Party and join . . . the Democrats. If a free-market advocate joining the Democrats seems odd to you, read my November article on the matter. Why a reasonable Coloradan would leave the Republican Party is obvious: Its leaders are stubbornly, proactively, proudly, irredeemably crazy.
The AP has out this article: "Tina Peters lost the Colorado Secretary of State race but joined a wave of election deniers angling for state GOP chairs." As I Tweeted, "The [Colorado GOP] has one last chance to turn back from insanity and start to rebuilt a party based on reality and sensible policies. Or it can elect a nutjob as chair and relegate itself to long-term irrelevance."
Eric Sondermann opines:
The likes of Tina Peters, Dave Williams and Kevin Lundberg are battling it out to lead the Colorado Republican Party. In their world, the formula for a GOP resurgence lies not in acknowledging election results and pulling back from the sensational but in more of all of it.
The Colorado Sun headlines a new article, "The next Colorado GOP chair will either be an election denier or an election skeptic."
Quentin Young reviews:
By far the starkest sign of the GOP's slide into madness is the race for state party chair.
The slate of candidates comprises fringe figures, top to bottom, guaranteeing that no matter who wins the March 11 election, an extremist will lead the party for at least the next two years. The candidate with arguably the best chance of winning is former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, a national symbol of big-lie lunacy who is facing felony charges over her role in a security breach in her own election office. Given Peters' popularity among grassroots Republican members, it is not a stretch to imagine a GOP leader conducting state party business from behind bars.
The other candidate considered a frontrunner is former state Sen. Kevin Lundberg, who has long exemplified the far-right impulses of the party. Climate denial and anti-abortion zeal marked his tenure as a lawmaker, and in recent years, he has aligned himself with the state's most extreme election deniers.
I guess a reality-based Republican could try to stick it out inside the party and try to fight for a party oriented to reality and sensible policies. But at this point most (or at least the most vocal) activist Republicans oppose that.
One thing the continuing Republican implosion means is that Colorado probably will continue to go hard-left in its policies. This is not good news for people who care about things like free markets, economic vibrancy, quality education, the right to self-defense, and sensible use of public spaces.
Quick Takes
Guns: Dave Kopel discusses a bill to impose waiting periods on gun purchases.
Housing Restrictions: As I have argued, we need more freedom in housing, not more government controls. But the "progressives" in the legislature don't care what I think. A committee passed a bill making evictions harder and in effect imposing rent control.
Taxes: Jon Caldara wants to further reduce the state income tax.
Business: "Are Colorado legislators trying to drive businesses out?" Krista Kafer asks. For additional background, see my articles on bills attacking freedom of contract and freedom in the housing market.
Thefts: I tend to agree that the legal system should treat thefts of automobiles very seriously. A new bill increases penalties to felonies for all autos.