I’m very tempted to wax on in great detail about the clown car of candidates the president elect has chosen for his cabinet. Unlike his first time around back in 2016, Donald Trump hasn’t promised to get the “best people” which, I assume, meant people with actual qualifications for office. As reported in Colorado Politics, this time he has chosen a stunning array of people who are wholly unqualified by expertise and/or temperament, most recently a former pro wrestling executive to be Secretary of Education, because, you know, wrestling and education I guess?

Previous presidents of both parties have directed the FBI to conduct careful background checks on nominees to, in part, make sure they are not prime blackmail material or have any nasty secrets they have tried to keep hidden.

In previous administrations, nominees have been forced to withdraw their names for things like not paying all your taxes or unknowingly hiring an undocumented person as a nanny. Heck, one of President George W. Bush’s nominees withdrew her name from consideration because she had housed an undocumented person and provided that person with some financial support (a kindness in my view) a full decade before she was considered for Bush’s cabinet.

It even happened to Trump in his first term, when he bizarrely tried to get his personal physician, a Navy admiral, appointed to head the VA, despite the admiral having no management experience and who was accused of creating a hostile work environment in the White House medical unit. When GOP senators objected, his name was withdrawn. Ironically, after that rejection, the admiral, Ronny Jackson, ran for U.S. Congress as a far-right MAGA type and won a seat in Texas.

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I can only assume those previously withdrawn folks are staring in wonder at the current Trump show, where qualifications and character are not required. No, the only thing Trump requires is absolute loyalty, not to the Constitution, but to Trump himself. And how do you get around that pesky FBI doing actual background checks? You just skip the FBI entirely, and don’t actually vet any of your nominees.

That’s how you end up with a guy being nominated to be our top national law enforcement officer whom even his fellow GOPers in the House despise, in part for showing videos on his phone, on the floor of the House, showing him, well, engaging in sexual relationships with a woman who may well have been only 17, and whose Venmo payments to a couple of women added up to tens of thousands of dollars, presumably paid for their silence. Stunning but oddly not surprising.

Happily for America, as I was literally typing this paragraph, Matt Gaetz just withdrew his name from AG consideration. Maybe he sensed I was writing about him? (Editor: not likely). So at least that particular Trumpian blowhard won’t be deciding which laws to enforce. We’ll see whom Trump picks next, and it won’t surprise me if it is a person just as dangerous to liberty but without the massive baggage.

But I’m not going to talk about that.

Instead, I want to draw your attention to another CoPo story, about something closer to home and that will, frankly, be more important in your daily life than the duds Trump is picking as his minions.

As reported, Gov. Jared Polis announced a new “vision” for Front Range transportation. This plan, Vision 2035, will pay some attention to the mountains, but given the huge majority of Coloradans live along the Front Range, that is where the primary policy efforts will be.

It is an interesting idea, as outlined by Gov. Polis, in that it is not so much about what type of transportation support there will be, but more of a focus on how and where we will live, which will then impact the transportation needs of the area. The plan for development involves people being able to live and work within, optimally, walking distance of grocery stores and other shopping. Polis hopes this new way of developing population areas will dramatically reduce the need for cars to go everywhere you need to go. In expanding transportation options, the plan calls for dramatic increases in bike paths and support for electric vehicles.

I admire boldness and this is a bold idea. It will require far more than just a budget line item. Rather, to implement the plan Polis will need the cooperation of builders, transportation infrastructure professionals, the business community and more. As Polis noted, “It’s not just we’re going (to) add a bus service here. It’s really about a way of life that is consistent with livability and affordability and sustainability for our climate and for our air quality,”

Not surprisingly, especially after the election, there will likely be GOP opposition. The Cato Institute, as quoted in the story, is calling for the repeal of the entire Inflation Reduction Act, which has worked wonders so far, and the GOP is more likely to call for more automobile support than things like bike paths.

We don’t know how much, if any, of Vision 2035 will actually come to pass, but I like the idea and the direction that it points Colorado for the future. And I like the fact we have a governor who thinks big picture. What will be the outcome?

Stay tuned.

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.