Freedom Unaffiliated

Trump disruptors protest democracy not going their way By Mike Rosen Civil disobedience is a constant of history. Like the Boston Tea Party, a violent symbolic demonstration against British tyranny in 1773 that preceded the American Revolutionary War. An unelected English king appointed English governors who ruled with an iron hand in the colonies. There was taxation without representati...

Veto-worthy bills put Polis in a progressive-pleasing bind By Jon Caldara There are only three jobs worth having in Colorado. The first is fortunately mine. Any person who can make a living by indulging his passion is beyond blessed. I somehow have provided for my family by fighting for personal and economic freedom in Colorado. Running Independence Institute, Colorado’s machine to promote liberty...

The lowdown on making the Trump tax rate reductions permanent By Mike Rosen President Trump’s most significant first-term accomplishment was the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). It reduced tax rates across all income levels and doubled the standard deduction to $12,000 for single filers ($24,000 for married filing jointly). Consequently millions of lower- and middle-income Americans no longer pa...

House Bill 1327: Colorado’s latest homegrown threat to democracy By Jon Caldara Yes, yes — the threat to democracy is President Donald Trump. I’ve read the bumper stickers. But while we’re all hyperventilating about fascism from the White House, we might want to save some furor for the frontal assault on democracy from the Colorado state legislature. I’m talking  attacking actual direct democ...

Threats against TABOR are also threats to our democracy. By Jon Caldara TABOR simply means voter consent. TABOR is democracy. Weakening TABOR is weakening democracy. Every couple of years the spending lobby orchestrates an assault on our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. They are testing another onslaught likely for next year. I was around for the fights to pass TABOR in the early 1990s. Then- Gov. Roy R...

Sundancing on Colorado taxpayers with ‘economic development’. By Jon Caldara Hollywood is coming to my hometown. By now you’ve heard the Sundance Film Festival is moving to Boulder. What a relief! Finally, some common folk are coming to town. As you know, Boulder is home to the state’s most smug elite, those who know how the rest of us should live, what we should value. And they are thrilled to us...

Progressives stifle free speech with Colorado ‘deadnaming’ bill By Jon Caldara With apologies to Pete Seeger, and the 5,000 acts who covered his song. Where have all the liberals gone? Long time passing. Where have all the liberals gone? Long time ago. Where have all the liberals gone? Young progressives canceled them, every one. When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn? Longing for li...

Turnabout is fair play for government ‘acknowledgement’ propaganda By Jon Caldara You can file this under “and this is the kind of crap that got Donald Trump elected.” The job of government is to serve the citizens, not to indoctrinate them into victim identity ideology. We have choices of where to worship, to read politically persuasive literature or hear debates if we wish to weigh dogmas. Sadly...

Leftist language police: Coerced speech can backfire By Jon Caldara Renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” is obnoxious, needless and, well, just kinda stupid. And I love it. It’s just freakin’ awesome!   After a decadeslong leftist renaming orgy, like changing our beloved Mount Evans into Mount Blue Sky, Gulf of America gives them a taste of their own medicine. Every time you s...

Government secrecy all the rage under Colorado’s gold dome By Jon Caldara Last year, majority Democrats in the legislature voted to exempt themselves from large portions of our beloved Open Meetings Law because, as Mel Brooks famously said, “It’s good to be the king.” It took them no time to exploit this new power to operate in the dark. For the first time in half-century, starting at the special...

Trump’s out of the gate barrage sends Democrats flailing By Mike Rosen Early in the 2024 Republican presidential nominating process I wasn’t enthused about Donald Trump. While I approved of his accomplishments as president and his public policy agenda, I thought his brash style and the clumsy way he ended his presidency would be a drawback, and that someone like Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley wa...

Parents should police their kids’ social media, not the government By Jon Caldara Yes, social media sucks. Government tracking won’t make it better. As regular readers can attest, I am barely literate. If you find my work hard to read, be comforted by the fact I find, well, everything hard to read. It wasn’t until well into adulthood that I understood dyslexia. Giving me a book is like throwing te...

Female teachers targeting girls new plot twist in grooming students By Jon Caldara I was born in the wrong time. For instance, I completely missed the sexual revolution of the 1970s when people were having casual sex like it was shaking hands. As an eager young man with hopeful bad judgment and a rupturing libido, I couldn’t wait till I was old enough to join the party. Finally, when old enough I...

Nuclear the obvious answer to Colorado’s energy math problem By Jon Caldara Slowly, very slowly, Colorado environmentalists are learning basic math. Simple math is a wickedly dangerous thing. I strongly recommend you never learn it. Those fool enough to play around with basic math realize our lawmakers have painted us into an energy-starved corner that will, quite literally, kill people in the not...

Trump executive order tees up birthright citizenship for SCOTUS By Mike Rosen As expected, President Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship was immediately challenged by attorneys from four Democrat-controlled states, and a Seattle judge promptly blocked it with a temporary restraining order. This isn’t a setback for Trump, it’s an opportunity to set in motion an appeals proc...

RTD’s institutional racism on display with subsidized transit ‘equity’ By Jon Caldara I assume you felt the magic in the air a couple Tuesdays ago. We all did. There’s only one day of the year children get more excited than Christmas morning. And that, of course, is Transit Equity Day! As in most American homes, we hung up Transit Equity decorations as the kids helped with baking equity cookies. I...

CU Boulder’s institutionalized racism infests football program By Jon Caldara Racial discrimination is repugnant. Period. Our nation has made great strides during our nearly 250 years. And for that we should be proud, not ashamed. Too bad we’ve gone backward with government-sanctioned racial discrimination. I was born the same year of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, raised with our shared goal of a...

Obama’s third term as president ends with a gasp and wheeze By Mike Rosen The final month of the Biden presidency was the political left’s last gasp, punctuated with an unprecedented and shameful avalanche of pardons, commutations of brutal murderers from federal death row, spiteful executive orders, and public statements overflowing with bald-faced lies. Right after Trump’s inauguration, Joe and...

FDA spoils Denver’s “My body my choice” Zyn ban By Jon Caldara I quit smoking decades ago. I committed to smoking only after sex. The Food and Drug Administration has officially declared the Denver City Council is working to kill people. This counters the council’s stated fib they want to help people stop smoking. I know we’ve been over this before. But the timing of the FDA’s action is just too d...

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s virtue signaling backfires By Jon Caldara A warning to the left: obnoxious virtue signaling can be a two-way street. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has a nice warm office. So why instead hold a press conference out in the cold on the violence-ridden 16th Street Mall? Well, for image management, of course. What better way to show how safe and non-stabby the streets of Denve...

A conservative’s case for getting rid of the debt ceiling By Mike Rosen In late December, Congress passed stopgap legislation to avert a government shutdown. Of course this is hyperbole, the government doesn’t really shut down. The vast majority of government spending continues to flow, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, interest on the national debt, additional spending for...

Capitol committee hearings need a dose of sunshine By Jon Caldara Why won’t leadership in the Capitol livestream the entire legislature? In a previous life I was on the Regional Transportation District (RTD) board of directors. This elected position paid a whopping $250 a month, but it did include a free bus pass. And let me tell you, the ladies dig a man with a bus pass. In 1997 RTD (actually, th...

Prying open secretive government at the ballot box By Jon Caldara Hubris? Arrogance? Disdain? Contempt? What word describes the attitude of the Colorado legislature towards to those who elected them. What explains their actions? Long time political strategist Eric Sonderman described it to me in three simple words. “Because we can.” How can senator Chris Hansen run for reelection knowing that as s...

Pushing back on anti-school choice misinformation By Mike Rosen Amendment 80, which would have enshrined school choice as a right in the Colorado Constitution,  was defeated on the Colorado ballot  in November, although it got 49% of the vote. Had it passed it might have paved the way for private school vouchers throughout Colorado, a movement that’s being adopted by a growing numbe...

I get tired of all the double standards. When The Little Mermaid swims around half naked, singing to her underwater friends, she is “sweet” and “beautiful.” But when I do it, people say I’m “drunk” and “no longer welcome at the aquarium.” Modern society often makes knowing when you’re acting hypocritically difficult. I mean, burn a body at a crematorium, you’re “doing a good job.” Do it at home yo...