Author: Vince Bzdek
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It’s time to let unaffiliated voters caucus | Vince Bzdek
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There’s no getting around it: Colorado’s 3,000 county caucuses, which just wrapped up recently, left half the electorate out in the cold. Since unaffiliated voters now make up 51% of all Colorado voters, a majority of Colorado electors are barred from participating in our first round of democracy, which is reserved exclusively for card-carrying Democrats…
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Can deliberation save democracy? | Vince Bzdek
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In September 2019, 523 Americans traveled to Dallas for an experiment called “America in One Room.” The gathering was designed to test a theory: Could representative citizens deliberate productively even in an era of intense polarization? The event focused on policy proposals in five polarizing issue areas: immigration, the economy, health care, the environment and…
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More people are now leaving Colorado than moving here from other states | Vince Bzdek
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By Vince Bzdek It’s finally happened. Buried in all the self-congratulatory reports about Colorado reaching the 6 million mark in population last year was news that should be keeping our political leaders up at night. For the first time in 20 years, more people left Colorado to go to other states than moved here from…
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Greenland is now Colorado’s problem. And that’s a good thing. | Vince Bzdek
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The conclusion to the dizzying odyssey over Greenland this week reminded me a little of the ending of the “Wizard of Oz.” If you recall, Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Lion and the Tin Man finish a great and frightful quest only to discover they already had what they sought on the quest all along: brains,…
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Colorado oilmen may play key role in Trump’s Venezuelan oil takeover plan
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When President Donald Trump summoned oil executives to the White House recently to push for major investment in Venezuela, an interesting sprinkling of smaller independent companies from Denver was invited along with the big names of American oil. One of those was Raisa Energy, which is based in Denver and Cairo and led by Luis…
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Vince Bzdek: Coloradans are fed up with the high price of cars
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Car buyers in Colorado – and America – are fed up. Cars are too damn expensive. The average price of a new car broke the $50,000 barrier last fall, according to Kelley Blue Book stats. The Wall Street Journal recently noted that the price of cars and trucks in the United States has increased 33%…
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Ben Nighthorse Campbell was a Colorado original | Vince Bzdek
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One day in 1982, Ben Nighthorse Campbell walked into a political caucus in Colorado to kill time after thunderstorms grounded his flight. He ended up volunteering to run for office that day and wound up serving two terms as a state legislator, three more in Congress and 12 years as a United States senator. Campbell,…
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‘The canary in the democracy mine is local journalism’ | Vince Bzdek
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Colorado could do a lot more to save newspapers – and democracy – in rural areas By Vince Bzdek As another new year and another legislative session dawn for Colorado, it’s a good time to ask what the absolute most important things are for our state to focus on in the coming year. Affordability is…
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Suddenly, Colorado has a private school choice program │ Vince Bzdek
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By Vince Bzdek When I was a kid going to St. John’s Catholic grade school in Denver, I remember asking my mom if she and dad minded paying taxes for public schools since all her kids attended Catholic ones. We don’t mind, she told me. It’s our choice to send you to St. John’s for…
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Clash of the titans: Democratic race for governor pits two candidates similar in focus, but very different in style | Vince Bzdek
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By Vince Bzdek The race for governor is shaping up to be a clash of Democratic titans, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser. They are two of Colorado’s highest profile politicians with deep track records who are remarkably similar in their visions for Colorado’s future, and their choice of our state’s…