My mom, Pat James, gave me a lot of things. Among them a razor-sharp wit, a rather large butt, and uncommon common sense. I guess you take the good with the bad. That common sense has never failed me. As I have progressed through my tenure as a public servant, I have applied it to every decision I have made on behalf of the people I have been honored to represent.
As our politics have polarized over the last decade, I have attempted to ferret out the commonsense solutions and positions. They have been increasingly hard to find. With the ascendancy of Jared Polis, Colorado became a single-party, democrat ruled state. And it shows.
Under Governor Jared Polis, Colorado’s Democratic leadership has implemented policies that have strained the state’s economy and public safety. The enactment of Senate Bill 20-217, intended to enhance law enforcement integrity, has inadvertently led to decreased police morale and a surge in crime rates.
Simultaneously, the administration’s aggressive push for renewable energy has resulted in mandates that limit personal choice and escalate living costs. Policies favoring electric vehicles and renewable energy sources often disregard the financial realities of many residents, particularly in rural areas. Additionally, legislative efforts have aimed to restrict constitutional rights, including Second Amendment protections, while lawmakers have exempted themselves from transparency laws designed to hold government accountable.
In short – Polis and Company have made Colorado more expensive, less safe, and centrally controlled – where’s the common sense in that?!
While Republicans at local and state government have given it a solid try and have put forth sound efforts, the Colorado GOP is a chaotic clown show that would make the circus blush. Under the leadership of Dave Williams and his merry band of Davidians, the once Grand Old Party of small government, fiscal conservatism, and pragmatic common sense has become a joke.
From calling members of the LGBTQ community “godless groomers” to turning his tyrannical vitriol toward fellow Republicans who dared to not fall in line with the king, Williams has grifted and goaded and left the party fractured and its credibility in tatters. In its current state, it’s feckless.
But Coloradans need leadership. There was excitement with the election of Donald Trump. In his inaugural address on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump declared the onset of a “revolution of common sense” aimed at restoring America’s prosperity and sovereignty. But Trump supporters and commonsense conservatives in deep-blue Colorado looked on with envy, knowing that Polis and Democrats would only double down on their progressive insanity. And if the 2025 legislative session is any indicator, they have. How tone deaf?!
#ColoradoCommonSense is what is needed. Together, let’s start that movement. You wanna? I’ll take a shot at a beginning by defining Colorado Common Sense. Here are a few paragraphs. Tell me what you think.
Colorado Common Sense? It’s the no-BS, get-the-job-done attitude of folks who wake up early, work hard, and don’t have time for the performative nonsense that’s infected politics. It’s that Rocky Mountain mindset that says, handle your own business, don’t wait for some bureaucratic clown to do it for you, and for the love of all things holy, stop trying to turn Colorado into a failed experiment from the coasts.
Colorado isn’t some overpriced latte-sipping, policy-wonking, feelings-first utopia. It’s about practicality. You fix what’s broken, leave folks alone to live their lives, and expect the same damn courtesy in return. There’s an understanding that freedom and responsibility are two sides of the same coin—you don’t get one without the other.
And yet, somehow, the folks running this state seem hellbent on testing just how far they can push regular people before the whole thing breaks. Imported ideologues parachute in, start lecturing everyone about how things should be, and then wonder why people who’ve lived here for generations aren’t thrilled about being governed like they’re in some failed policy experiment cooked up in San Francisco or Washington, D.C.
Coloradans don’t like being told what to do, especially by people who’ve never built a fence, worked a ranch, or had to dig their truck out of a snowbank. They believe in personal liberty, common decency, and that your rights don’t end where someone else’s outrage begins.
The problem? Too many regular folks have been too busy working, raising families, and making the state run while the ruling class elites turn Colorado into a playground for activists with more degrees than sense. That’s why it’s time to cut through the nonsense.
Colorado Common Sense means remembering who actually makes this state great—not the politicians, not the activists, and sure as hell not the transplants who show up and immediately start trying to fix a place that wasn’t broken until they got here.
So yeah, it’s time to rise up—not in some abstract, rah-rah way, but in a real, pragmatic, show up, speak up, and stop letting idiots run the show kind of way. Because if regular folks don’t, Colorado’s gonna need a new name—something like East California or Boulderfornia—and frankly, I don’t think anyone with common sense wants that.
How’d I do? Is that Colorado Common Sense? Leave your comments below. In the meantime, I am going to start drafting a Common-Sense Conservative Contract with Colorado.
You are saying exactly what so many of us are thinking. The frustration of feeling voiceless is overwhelming. Thankfully, there are representatives like you, Scott, who stand up with common sense and honesty. We need more leaders like you. Please, consider running for Governor – you’d have our full support!