Every election is apparently “pivotal” now.
Turn on cable news for seven minutes, and you will be told democracy, civilization, your dishwasher, and possibly the last decent parking spot at King Soopers all depend on whatever race they are discussing before the commercial break.
So let’s take a breath.
CBS Colorado looked at Tuesday’s Colorado primary through the eyes of longtime political hands Dick Wadhams and Mike Dino, one Republican and one Democrat, and the useful part was not the usual breathless election drama. The useful part was their shared admission that both parties are fighting ideological wars inside their own houses.
Which is what everyone with a functioning porch light already knew.
Primaries are where the adults either take the keys back or let the loudest people drive into the ditch. I fear we’re headed for the latter.
That matters because in many places, the primary is the real election. Turnout is lower. Activists are louder. Donors are watching. Consultants are billing. Normal people are trying to remember where they put the ballot under that stack of mail from their insurance company.
And that is exactly when serious voters need to pay attention.
CBS notes Democrats are watching whether democratic socialists and Working Families Party candidates (basically, communists) gain more ground. Republicans are wrestling with Trump-aligned candidates and the question of whether the party wants to win elections or just hold emotional support rallies with yard signs touting purity.
Both parties have a problem.
Democrats lecture constantly about “democracy,” then act surprised when their activist wing keeps dragging them toward policies normal Coloradans never asked for. People want safe communities, affordable energy, decent schools, responsible growth, and a government that remembers it works for citizens.
They are not begging for another experiment from somebody who thinks a city council meeting is a graduate seminar.
Republicans, meanwhile, talk Constitution, liberty, family, and common sense, then too often nominate candidates who treat winning like a suspicious establishment hobby. Purity without victory is not courage.
It is performance art with a flag lapel pin and another defeat.
Voters are exhausted. Not mildly annoyed. Exhausted.
They are tired of political theater. Tired of activist fantasies. Tired of consultant grifts. Tired of donor-class vanity projects. Tired of being told the only choice is between smug incompetence and loud incompetence.
Most people are not asking for miracles.
They want the border to mean something. They want schools that teach. They want police supported and held accountable. They want energy they can afford. They want taxes respected. They want boys and girls treated with honesty – and to have their own, actual locker room. They want roads, water, housing, and public services handled by adults who can read a spreadsheet without needing applause.
That is not extremism.
That is Tuesday.
Colorado’s future will not be decided by who yells “extreme” the loudest. That word has been abused so badly it now means “someone my campaign mailer dislikes.”
The real question is whether either party can produce serious candidates for serious times.
Candidate quality matters. Temperament matters. Experience matters. Judgment matters. So does the ability to look voters in the eye and talk about real life without sounding like a cable-news segment trapped in a human body.
The primary ballot is not junk mail.
It is the place where citizens decide who even gets considered for leadership.
So open it. Read it. Think. Ask who can govern, not just who can trend. Ask who can solve problems, not just perform outrage. Ask who respects regular people enough to speak plainly and tell the truth.
The loudest voices want the keys.
Primary voters still get to decide whether to hand them over.
Source: CBS Colorado
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