Colorado GOP Picks Subtraction Over Reagan-Style Addition

The Denver Gazette piece is about the Colorado Republican Party asking a federal judge to stop the state from sending Republican primary ballots to unaffiliated voters. The legal argument is that Colorado’s semi-open primary system violates the party’s freedom of association, and the article traces that fight back to Proposition 108, the 2016 measure that opened party primaries to unaffiliated voters. Secretary of State Jena Griswold says the request defies Colorado law and would create confusion right before ballots go out.

Fine. That is the legal shell of the story. But the real story is uglier and more pathetic. This is what happens when a party that used to believe in addition starts worshiping subtraction. I joined the Republican Party because of Ronald Reagan. I turned 18 in December of 1980 and missed voting for him by a few weeks, but I joined his party proudly because Reagan believed in liberty, personal responsibility, lower taxes, less regulation, limited government, and the power of free people to build a decent life without the state riding shotgun. He also believed in the big tent. He understood you win by persuading people and inviting them in, not by shrinking the room and congratulating yourself on your purity.

And yes, I opposed Proposition 108. I campaigned against it. I voted against it. I believed then, as I do now, that the state should not be telling a political party who gets to choose its nominees. But we lost. That is how elections work. Proposition 108 passed. It became the law. Republicans used to be the party that respected laws, even the ones we did not like. Now too much of the Colorado GOP acts like a teenager punching drywall because the voters did not do what they were told. Meanwhile, the largest voting bloc in the state is unaffiliated, and instead of making our case to them, party bosses keep looking for new ways to tell them to get lost. That is not strategy. That is assisted political suicide.

The Bullet Point Brief

• The Colorado GOP wants a judge to block unaffiliated voters from receiving Republican primary ballots for the June 30 election, arguing the current system forces association with non-Republicans. Translation: rather than win over Colorado’s biggest bloc of voters, some geniuses in the party want to put up a keep out sign.
• This all goes back to Proposition 108, which voters passed in 2016. I fought it. I voted no. But the voters decided, and Republicans used to pretend they believed in law and order instead of only liking the law when it flatters them.
• The article notes that more than half of Colorado’s active registered voters are unaffiliated. More than half. And part of the Colorado GOP response is to treat that reality not as an opportunity, but as a contamination risk. Brilliant. Absolutely crack political thinking.
• The story also shows the internal farce. Delegates at the state assembly overruled party leaders who did not want to pursue this move, and they censured executive committee members who opposed it. So while Democrats focus on growing their coalition, Colorado Republicans are busy hosting another family knife fight in public.
• The Gazette quotes Shad Murib saying growth comes from inclusion, not exclusion. I am no fan of Murib, but on this point he is dead right, and it kills me to say it. His side understands political addition. Ours keeps acting like losing with conviction is a personality trait.

My Bottom Line

Reagan would not recognize this version of the Colorado Republican Party. He believed in principle, yes, but he also believed in persuasion. He believed in welcoming people into the cause of freedom. He believed normal Americans, given a plainspoken case, would respond to liberty, opportunity, and common sense. He did not sit around dreaming up procedural ways to make the electorate smaller. That is loser behavior, not leadership.

The tragedy here is that the underlying objection to Proposition 108 was never crazy. I made it myself. A party should have a say in choosing its nominees. Fair point. But once the voters settled it, the smart response was to adapt, compete, and go win the argument. Instead, parts of the Colorado GOP seem determined to turn every disagreement into a loyalty test and every election into a gated community. In a state dominated by unaffiliated voters, that is like opening a restaurant and announcing you hate customers.

And let’s be honest about why so many voters refuse to identify with either party now. It is because too much party politics looks petty, insular, self-important, and allergic to normal people. The unaffiliated voter looks at this nonsense and thinks, “Yes, this is exactly why I do not want your label.” They are not wrong. We should be asking how to earn their trust, not how to keep them out of our primary with a lawsuit and a pout.

So no, this is not the party of Reagan. Reagan knew politics was a game of addition, not subtraction. He knew you build a majority by persuasion, optimism, and confidence in your principles. Today’s Colorado GOP too often looks like a shrinking club for people who confuse exclusion with strength and grievance with strategy. And until that changes, Shad Murib gets to sound like the grown-up in the room. That should embarrass every Republican in this state.

Source: The Denver Gazette