Can one county draw a red line to stop failing liberal policies?  

Douglas County wants to follow in the steps of others — including Pitkin and Weld counties — and create a home-rule charter. 

Leaders in the center-right suburban county are responding to a growing list of state laws and regulations that are out of step with the views of many residents and business owners. Health policy, local taxation, land use and illegal immigrant sanctuary policies are examples of how Colorado’s sharp left turn has folks in the county feeling left out. 

If voters agree — and I predict they will — Douglas County will be empowered to, where possible, assert a degree of autonomy from state laws and regulations that threaten the freedom and quality of life that has made it one of the fastest growing in the country. 

It’s not a conservative panacea for the constant flow of objectionable, ineffective liberal policies, but it is an important, and time-tested, way to push back on stifling and often unfunded hard-left mandates.

Consider the stand citizens in Pitkin and Weld counties took a half century ago. 

Like today, the 1970s were a time of unsettling and rapid political change. In Colorado at the time, these swirling winds affected parts of the state differently. County governments wanted to respond to the deepening concerns of their residents. 

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Pitkin County, home to Aspen and, even then a bastion of passionate liberalism, was faced with rapid growth pressure as its reputation as a celebrity mecca spread worldwide. Citizens wanted more power to manage explosive growth and enact environmental protections stronger than those in state law. 

Weld County also felt the political pressure but had — as today — a diametrically opposite worldview. At a time when government was expanding, Weld leaders wanted more flexibility to reduce costs by eliminating elected offices. Like Pitkin, they needed more local autonomy to chart their own course. 

For different reasons, these two counties, heeding the concerns of their citizens, wanted to break free of the straightjacket of state statutes. The answer: home rule.   

This is precisely where Douglas County finds itself today. 

The irritation has been growing for years. 

COVID became eye opening for how much power was ceded to unelected bureaucrats. Heavy-handed mandates were put in place for Douglas County by unelected bureaucrats at a multi-county health department. And there was little elected county officials could immediately do about it, no matter how loudly citizens complained.

The county had the power of the purse and wisely withdrew funding from the agency. It created its own highly effective health department that is directly responsive to county officials, and, by extension, local citizens. 

More recently, Douglas County has objected to the prohibition against local law enforcement cooperating with federal immigration officers to remove violent illegal immigrants from the county.  

If Boulder wants Tren de Aragua gang members on the Pearl Street Mall, that’s up to Boulder. Douglas County wants to put a priority on the safety of its citizens and its communities. 

Those are just two examples. 

As this civic conversation heats up, the liberal chattering class will try to pigeonhole Douglas County leaders as burn-it-all-down conservative ideologues. They’re not. They have created an effective model to reduce homelessness rooted in compassion and treatment, supported dedicated taxes for open space and parks and invested public dollars in solid school safety measures when the school district wouldn’t.

The only political risk they run is that Douglas County residents will be too eager to draw a big red line around the county and see home rule as a chance to redress every grievance — of which there are many. Home rule has limits,  so a bold vision with sharp clarity is required. 

Nonetheless, citizens are right to rise and demand a check on failing state policies, just as they did in the 1970s. That’s called freedom. 

Home rule is a home run.

Sean Duffy is a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bill Owens and Colorado-based strategic communications consultant. He now serves as vice president at a philanthropic foundation. The views expressed here are his own.