Author: Jon Caldara

Jon Caldara I remember asking a Denver cop how the morale was among his peers. His answer, “Well, let me put it this way. Yesterday, I arrested a guy for stealing four cars. Two hours later, I arrested the very same guy for stealing a car again.” Criminals who are issued the equivalent of a…

Jon Caldara When a city’s major league sports team wins a world championship, celebrations get out of hand. Fans get intoxicated, they vomit and urinate on sidewalks, throw trash everywhere, light stuff on fire, break windows, get into brawls with police and more. In other words, they turn their city into what Denver already looks…

Jon Caldara Colorado’s Secretary of State Jena Griswold is responsible for running the state’s TRACER system. This is the public database where campaigns must file their contribution and expenditure disclosures. If you wanna see who’s funding a candidate, that’s where you go. But if you went there last week, you would have seen it was…

Jon Caldara What is it about Boulder? The shock of the latest pro-Palestinian violence reminded me of the magnetic field surrounding my hometown, which draws in crazy assailants to make national news. JonBenet Ramsey was murdered a stone’s throw from where I was living at the time. In 2006, surveillance video from a Boulder County…

Jon Caldara I have never shared this publicly, only with select friends and health care professionals. It is exceedingly personal and frankly awkward. But I know others have the same challenge. For them I share my story. I was born in the wrong body. I identify differently than what my body outwardly expresses. The world…

Jon Caldara This column is targeted to one reader: the iconoclast businessman and politico Kent Thiry. Many believe Colorado’s best days are behind her, and understandably so as Colorado turns into a dictatorial progressive experiment of exponentially escalating regulation, spiraling property taxes and fees, and forced social engineering. We don’t feel safe on our own…

Jon Caldara The Colorado Supreme Court is allowing my hometown of Boulder to sue oil-and-gas companies over their culpability in climate change. It’s about time. I wish Boulder nothing but success. It is my hope Boulder takes these energy corporations to task and forces them to dramatically cut the emissions being flung into our air,…

Jon Caldara There are only three jobs worth having in Colorado. The first is fortunately mine. Any person who can make a living by indulging his passion is beyond blessed. I somehow have provided for my family by fighting for personal and economic freedom in Colorado. Running Independence Institute, Colorado’s machine to promote liberty principles…

Jon Caldara A key part of the planned march toward socialism is, of course, endless propaganda. It’s not enough just to rely on the politics of envy. We need to take away those dangerous little opportunities where young people might accidentally experience the benefit of the free market in their own fledgling lives. So, how…

Jon Caldara Yes, yes — the threat to democracy is President Donald Trump. I’ve read the bumper stickers. But while we’re all hyperventilating about fascism from the White House, we might want to save some furor for the frontal assault on democracy from the Colorado state legislature. I’m talking attacking actual direct democracy. To my…