Since the disastrous election of 2018, I’ve heard many theories put forth on why Colorado Republicans fared so poorly. In electoral terms, it was a walloping. Democrats seized a 3-seat majority in the Senate, increased their majority to 41 in the House, retained the governorship and won every elected statewide office including Secretary of State, Treasurer and Attorney General. In addition, several other Republican officeholders who were well liked and eminently more qualified than their opponents lost.

Since the 2019 legislative session began in January, we’ve seen a hard left turn from the Colorado Democrats, aggressively ramming through legislation that they claim their voters support yet which has antagonized and alienated large segments of the Colorado population.

In the midst of this “reign of terror”, conservatives are talking about recalls and court fights; sanctuary counties and training “moderates” to run for office.

There are several theories out there for why Republicans lost so bad, but none of them address what I believe to be the key factor.

While I fully recognize that Colorado was never Trump country, and that dislike of the president fueled a lot of the “blue wave”, I also recognize that no matter who resides in the White House, Colorado Democrats have a significant advantage over Republicans. It is: The Progressive Infrastructure.

We conservative/libertarians do not have a permanent campaign infrastructure in place. Yes, we have the Independence Institute, the Leadership Program of the Rockies, the Centennial Institute and Americans for Prosperity, but the Democrats have an entire universe of organizations that fulfill various functions yet work together to ensure that the progressive agenda advances no matter what. Electorally speaking, it’s like a dogfight between Sopwith Camels and F-15s. It’s just not a fair fight.

The Progressive Infrastructure includes organizations, many of them 501(c)(3)s, to perform the following functions:

• Fundraising and moving dark money (though they pretend to be against dark money)
• Rabble-rousing, silencing the opposition and boots on the ground activism
• Think tanks to provide intellectual support and move the Overton Window
• Organizations to recruit and train progressive candidates (men need not apply)
• Organizations to register voters and get out the vote, including ballot harvesting
• Organizations to promote their various policy goals with regard to taxation, the environment, social programs, income redistribution and the like

In the PowerPoint presentation linked below, I take a look at many of these organizations and groups. Obviously, as a “conservatarian”, I don’t have any “inside” information; all I have is what is publicly available information from their websites and making links where I can. I’m sure there are groups and links I’ve missed. If anything, the true picture is very likely far more dire and diabolical.

Until we can meet and counter this progressive advantage, Colorado conservatives and libertarians are in for a difficult time in winning elections. I hope the observations contained herein sparks a conversation and a starting point to Reclaim Colorado.

Read the definitive book about how Democrats turned Colorado blue (The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans EVERYWHERE Should Care) or my review of this book.

Watch the short movie based on The Blueprint called “Rocky Mountain Heist”.

Don’t take my word for it! Listen to one of the architects of the Democratic takeover of Colorado, Ted Trimpa, talk about it with Jon Caldara on “Devil’s Advocate”.

By Richard D. Turnquist

March 24, 2019

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“Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction.” – President Ronald W. Reagan