I suppose it is second nature to look for silver linings, and this is no less true when one finds their political skies shrouded in overcast, as Colorado Republicans have. It would require an optimism bordering on insanity to believe that Governor-elect Polis will, anytime soon, experience a moment of epiphany liberating him from the shackles of dogmatic liberalism, but there are indeed a couple silvery threads that may be more than despair-induced mirages.

Quite a bit has already been said about Mr. Polis’ approach to education reform. One recalls the contentions that bubbled up during the primaries as Cary Kennedy attempted to take both Polis and fellow gubernatorial contender Mike Johnston to task for their education reform efforts. More telling than the political jabs though is Mr. Polis’ appointments to his education policy transition team, which include both Mr. Johnston and the head of Democrat’s for Education Reform (DFER), an organization enthusiastically declared persona-non-grata from the Democratic Party at their convention.

The most notable appointment however, and the one most distressing to the pro-union status-quo crowd, is that of former Congressman Bob Schaffer, whose esteemed and eminently informed leadership in the quest for improvement of education delivery is well established in the state. That leadership extends beyond the policy arena into the practical – Mr. Schaffer is a co-founder and headmaster of a spectacularly successful charter school in Fort Collins, Liberty Common High School – and his appointment almost can’t help but inject some positive movement into the cause of educational improvement.

There may be other points of light in the darkness besides education; the topic of taxation, of all things, offers a glimmer of promise. None other than Art Laffer – the renowned economist who introduced the world to the consummate principle of taxation illustrated in the “Laffer Curve” and is regarded as one of the founders of supply-side economics – is a long-time friend, advisor, and supporter. Polis has made some comforting pronouncements regarding his support for a reduction in the state’s income tax, which would be perfectly in line with the economic wisdom of his friend Art.

This all makes some sense; Polis does, after all, possess a pretty strong business background – he didn’t just stumble upon his millions by chance (which incidentally disrupts the conventional liberal narrative regarding the accumulation of wealth) – and as such has not been completely isolated from economic reality.

It would be a mistake to misread these hopeful indicators, or to read too much into them. There are clearly areas in which he will govern decidedly, even tendentiously, from the left, such as his well-publicized proposals for Medicare-for-all (or something akin to it), all-day kindergarten, government-provided family leave, and his expensive and quixotic 100-percent renewables idea – each of which would, paradoxically, require massive tax increases to even begin to realize. And his hostility to religious belief and relevant civil liberties, illustrated in a post-election interview in which he stated that citizens ought to “separate their own individual moral beliefs with what they believe in the public sphere” is troubling to say the least, and reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of human freedom, one which has proven tragic at other times and places in history

But he also hopes to be a two-term governor, with likely aspirations beyond that; ambitions which could serve as something of a natural check on excessive dogmatic overreach. That could also create some tension between the Governor’s Office and the now-firmly Democratic legislature, many of the new and ideologically hungry members of which will be chomping at the bit to institute a radically progressive agenda. How successful the left wing of the Democratic Party is in those negotiations will determine how many bills end up on Polis’ desk for which the requirements of ideological loyalty tempt a signature, but those of political aspiration and prudential governance demand a veto. What Mr. Polis does in such situations will provide the most concrete evidence of his willingness to govern from the center.

A fair number of people, following the 2016 presidential election, said that Mr. Trump ought to be given the chance to govern, despite his well-publicized personal shortcomings; it is only fair that Mr. Polis be given the chance to govern despite his rhetorical ones. He could assuage many of the skeptics by initially doing two things: a) suppressing the afflatus to tell the people of Colorado what they ought to want over and above what it is they do want and b) heeding fully the economic advice of his friend Mr. Laffer.

Kelly Sloan is a political and public affairs consultant and recovering journalist based in Denver. He is also an energy and environmental policy fellow at Centennial Institute.