Once again, the contrast between our national leadership and the work being done by our Colorado state leaders could not be more stark. Apparently, President Trump is getting ready to issue an executive order designed to shut down or censor Twitter and other social media that the King, I mean the president, has deemed unacceptably critical of his dishonesty. With Trump kicking out over 100 tweets per day recently (one might be forgiven for wondering what actual presidential duties he fits in around his, well, fits on twitter), that private company had the impudence to add a fact check link where readers could see that mail-in voting is actually quite legitimate and free of major fraud. Alternatively, the president could merely check with his own press secretary, who has voted by mail the last dozen times or so. And, I can’t help but imagine the outraged yelps of those on Team Trump had, say, a President Hillary tried to shut down Fox News for their faulty reporting, but I digress…

Here in Colorado, I’m happy to see that we have grownups running things, as illustrated by a couple of recent news stories. In the first story, we learn that the state legislature has tabled quite a few non-COVID-19-related bills, in order to focus laser-like on the challenges of the current pandemic and to chart our path out of our current shutdown back to a more normal business world. I say “more” normal, because I fear that the old (meaning four months ago) way of the world is forever altered. 

While transportation concerns are usually particularly important in the legislative session, our elected reps have decided to suspend work on bills that would, for example, increase the penalty for driving with a cell phone in your hand. Oh, they tabled a bill that would rename the section of I-25 that runs past Mile High (I know that’s not the stadium’s real name, but…) after President Obama, at least for a while. Interesting side note: when you drive from Pueblo to Colorado Springs, you start off on the John F. Kennedy highway until you hit the El Paso County line, when it becomes the Ronald Reagan highway, and if you are on I-70 through Vail, you are on the Gerald R. Ford highway. I hear there is a stretch of a dirt road, way out on the prairie, where hot winds blow all the time, that doesn’t really go anywhere, and cost way too much money to build, that may be named for Trump.

The other example of Colorado being run by adults was Denver Mayor Hancock’s naming of two distinguished gentlemen to chair his COVID-19 recovery committee. Both men are well-known in Colorado politics – Alan Salazar and Albus Brooks (full disclosure: I kind of know both of these gents, in the sense that if we met, they’d have that vague “I think I know him from somewhere” look in their eyes).

The mayor shows he is an adult in a couple of ways here. First, unlike that other leader, who wallows in the past, rages against imaginary foes, and doesn’t appear to have a plan for the future, Hancock demonstrated what leadership is by seeing past the current acute crisis. He understands that we need long-term planning that goes beyond the immediate situation. His choice of Salazar and Brooks to lead this effort also points to his maturity, in that both chaps are experienced and respected leaders. Similar mature leadership is being shown in Colorado Springs, where Mayor Suthers has shown a reasoned response to the crisis while also looking toward the future in the short and the long term. Unlike that particular national leader I could mention (cough…Donald J…cough… too subtle?) Suthers did not reject Governor Polis’ COVID-19 actions just because he was of a different political party. Rather, Suthers accepted the reality of the risks we face and worked toward the best possible outcome for everyone. I differ with Suthers on many issues, but his pandemic response has been admirable.

My grandparents were young Iowa farmers during the 1918 flu pandemic. I remember them telling me about the fear and worry that swept the nation, even reaching their small farm near Manilla, Iowa. My parents told me of the fear they felt in the 1940s, when their first born, my older brother, was struck down with polio, and they spoke of the fear of that horrific disease that returned every summer when the mosquitoes came out. In neither of those calamites did we need to worry about social media or a president more obsessed with his own image than the safety of the nation. And while I am grateful to live in Colorado with quality leaders on both sides of the aisle, I remain deeply troubled by a president who sees enemies behind any disagreement, fraud behind any science he doesn’t like, and a First Amendment malleable enough to allow him to censor a free and open press. I’m glad we live here, but we also live there, and that is an ongoing source of a deep and worrisome disquiet.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.