Freedom Unaffiliated

About 35 years ago, Steve Schuck, a good friend and political ally called me and proclaimed, “There’s someone you must meet.” “Who, why and when,” I asked. “Immediately, he replied, “time is of the essence.” So, a meeting was arranged for the next day. The man was Bob Coté. We met at Bob’s workplace, a somewhat dilapidated building at 21st Street and Larimer St. in what was then Denver’s skid row....

GAWD, I hate the rich. The top hats. The monocles. The dinner jackets. The way they twirl their mustaches while evicting orphans. Before we drag them into the public square, though, we should probably define “rich.” Amendment 87, the temporary “graduated” income tax, defines rich as earning $500,000 a year. And yes, it is temporary. Unlike the federal income tax brackets, 87’s brackets aren’t inde...

The issues on your ballot aren’t just questions about trains, taxes and spending. They are exhibits in a larger case: dishonesty, intimidation and political bullying have become standard operating procedure at the Colorado Capitol. The message from lawmakers is increasingly simple: Vote however you like — we’ll make sure it turns out the way we like. When voters might say no, they rewrite the ques...

One of the most popular formats on network television and streaming services like Netflix and Prime Video has been police and federal-agent crimefighting dramas like Law & Order, Blue Bloods and NCIS. Within that category are formats like Chicago PD and FBI that routinely include high-speed car chases (and foot chases on FBI) that especially feature forensic investigative, pursuit and capture...

Amendment 81 – Law Enforcement Reporting Requirements to Federal Authorities Recommendation: YES In essence, the purpose of this is to assist the Dept. of Homeland Security and ICE in doing their jobs. It would allow Colorado law enforcement agencies to cooperate with DHS and ICE when a person charged with a violent crime or with a prior felony conviction has an unverified immigration status. Curr...

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?

My prediction for this election: Voters will vote against … themselves. Voters will elect Democrats to run virtually everything — and then approve ballot measures telling those Democrats to stop doing virtually everything. Democrats for office. Limited government for policy. Colorado has reinvented ticket splitting without the inconvenience of electing Republicans. The new ticket splitting We used...

Proposition 135 on this fall’s ballot would prohibit sex-change surgery on minors. Call it “gender-affirming surgery” if that makes the amputation sound more compassionate. I’ll admit, I struggled with how to vote. Not because I think children should undergo these surgeries, but because I’m suspicious whenever government barges into a family’s decisions. The question is whether stopping these surg...

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?

Do you want the Broncos to win the Super Bowl? Then you’d better hope Amendment 87, which brings back Colorado’s economy-strangling “graduated” income tax , loses at the ballot box this fall. Seriously. Forget Republicans and Democrats. Forget tax policy. This is about Xs and Os, and whether Denver can afford the players who execute them and win a Super Bowl. The Manning effect Every successful bu...

Ayn Rand recommended a technique for understanding, if not resolving, irreconcilable differences of opinion: “First, check your premises.” It’s pointless to argue with someone when your basic assumptions and goals are unalterably different. In politics these aren’t discussions, they’re unproductive exercises in rhetoric, gamesmanship and grandstanding ,at least on one side. Imagine an argument on...

“Youth is wasted on all the wrong people.” That’s one of my favorite lines from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The older I get, the less it sounds like a joke. Every generation inherits victories it did not win. Young Americans never experienced the Cold War, the draft or stagflation. Double-digit inflation is something grandpa now mentions in one of his rambling monologues about how good we have it. Th...

Who’d have believed that Bernie Sanders, a ranting disheveled old man could rise to become the modern-day reincarnation of Vladimir Lenin, with a Brooklyn accent, evangelizing for socialism in the USA and building a legion of useful idiots? (Clue: Bernie and his wife honeymooned in the Soviet Union.) He’s certainly not charismatic. So, he shrewdly recruited AOC as his partner, a weird May-December...

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?

Mayor Mike Johnston proclaimed, “It is past time Big Tobacco cleaned up the big mess it’s created.” Yep. Denver is suing tobacco companies for the cigarette butts littering the city. Because Denver’s Big Mess couldn’t possibly be the fault of the mayor, the city council or the people actually dropping garbage on the ground. It must be the fault of — let me check the Progressive Wheel of Blame here...

Hey, Colorado Democrats! All the fun you’ve had watching Republican dysfunction in Colorado for the last 20 years was just a preview of what is about to happen to you. The Colorado Republican Party no longer exists as a competitive institution. Republicans did it to themselves. They built a culture around purity tests, with no curiosity about winning elections. Anyone suggesting an appeal to unaff...

Ethical historians condemn the practice, known as “presentism,” of judging historical events, people or cultures, through the lens of today’s moral standards, political beliefs or social norms, rather than understanding them within their own time frame. This is an element of the strategy of the radical left to undermine our pride in America by magnifying our faults and downplaying our virtues and...

We are finally getting a clearer picture of what happened during COVID. Not because the people who locked us up, masked our faces and forced unproven chemicals into our bodies have suddenly become transparent, but because Anthony Fauci’s COVID-era diary is coming into public view . This long document makes one thing painfully clear: the people who forced us to surrender our lives to their expertis...

Colorado wants taxpayers to spend another $4.73 billion on passenger rail. Don’t worry. They have a plan. Which is a little like your brother-in-law announcing he’s launching another exciting restaurant venture after his last three restaurants ended in bankruptcy. Please. Tell me where to send the check. The money train This week the Front Range Passenger Rail District released its “plan” for thei...

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 was no surprise that the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s executive order denying citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who were here illegally or were birthright tourists visiting the country on a temporary visa. The latter group is made up of foreigners who game the system by coming here for the sole purpose of birthing a child (or twins) to get the kid(s) U.S. citize...

Why is it that Victor Marx is going to become a superb governor? Because he’s the self-proclaimed world’s fastest at disarming someone holding a gun to his head. Seriously, watch the videos. It’s pretty impressive. How could I not vote for him? Think that’s ridiculous? During negotiations over the Colorado River Compact, things will get heated. A governor who can snatch a pistol away with his bare...

Happy 250th Birthday, America! You look fabulous. As all the cool countries are saying, “250 is the new 230.” The Declaration of Independence wasn’t merely an announcement of war against a tyrant. It was the most revolutionary political document ever written. The Declaration was a landmark in human development, perhaps the landmark of all human history. For the first time government was no longer...

On June 23, 2026, the federal U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas sentenced eight violent protestors convicted of assaulting the Prairieland Detention Center, an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas, in an anti-Independence Day attack on July 4, 2025. Their stiff punishments ranged from 30 to 70 years in prison for rioting and providing material support to terrorists, among other cha...

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 serio...