Who are we?
As we’re drawn inexorably into 2016 presidential election coverage, it’s worth considering where Colorado stands at this point in history.
Colorado can seem an island of sanity in the midst of our wacky union, owing in large part to its ideological diversity. Consider the poles of Colorado Springs and Boulder, a mere 100 miles from each other. Our state contains both the beauty of a Telluride and the, um, industrial magnificence of a Commerce City.
We made pot legal, and our state yet stands. We have pull from the right (personhood and gun-driven recalls) and the left (renewable energy mandates, gun control) with a split legislature and a centrist, business-focused governor.
We’re a purple state, a “battleground” state in electoral parlance; a red state in nomenclature and partly by political persuasion; a blue state by dint of our skies (well, usually) and our liberal enclaves.
We’re no Texas, where gun ownership may soon be mandated starting at birth and military exercises are viewed as potential government takeovers.
But while we don’t have Louie Gohmert, the dimmest bulb in a very dim Congress, Colorado Springs voters did put Gordon Klingenschmitt in our state House, a demon-fearing gay-hater who apparently once tried to exorcise a woman out of lesbianism. (I think even Springs folks are embarrassed about that one.)
On the corruption scale, we don’t come close to New York, where “indicted” is as common a political résumé item as party affiliation. Nor are we Wisconsin, where labor foe Gov. Scott Walker hopes to parlay his war on the middle class into a bid for the White House.
Crazy Florida, wacky North Carolina, loony California, sleazy New Jersey, backwards Kansas and socialist Vermont. Political labels like this stick, despite all the other wonderful things these states have to offer.
So who are we?
It’s been interesting to see Colorado portrayed in the mainstream media over the past few years, largely due to legalized marijuana. Lazy out-of-state journalists mount their stories on a frame of Cheetos and ski-bum references, then home in on all the negative aspects of legal weed they can sniff out.
As a result, those who might take these reports seriously are left with an impression of our state that’s skewed and inaccurate. How, I wonder, do they imagine we’re doing all this high-tech stuff, remaining one of the fittest states in the union, and posting impressive job growth if marijuana has truly become our raison d’être?
It’s a mystery, to some. For Coloradans, we shrug it off and go about our business. Our split personality gives us plenty to chew on internally without having to worry much about what CNN or Fox News think of our weed shops. We seem to relish our inconsistencies. After all, Colorado in 2006 passed an anti-gay marriage bill. By April 2014, we had approved civil unions and a Quinnipiac poll showed 61 percent of voting Coloradans supported full marriage rights for same-sex couples.
You can’t buy liquor, wine or full-strength beer in most supermarkets or convenience stores, but you can get an ounce of high-quality pot any day of the week. And pistol-packing, diesel truck-driving cowboys are about as common as Subaru-driving suburbanites, who’d as soon buy a gun as they would a can of Spam.
Even if they don’t quite get us, we continue to fascinate the Beltway press and the rest of the mainstream media. This square state in the middle out there somewhere, somehow is untangling some of the things bedeviling the rest of the country. Sure, we’ve got fracking all over the place, but we’ve put in place some tough measures to keep the oil and gas industry somewhat in check — and we’re having big, noisy discussions about it. It’s a logical outcome in a state that’s got lots of valuable, burn-y stuff underground alongside engaged residents with strong opinions about clean water, air and public safety. Yes, we say, we need some of that oily mess to run the show until we get flipped over to renewables, but we won’t sell our souls for it.
It’s this practical side that led to legal weed, and as I assure those who still say they’re mortified by the whole thing: Just wait. As other states join in, the Cheech & Chong jokes will die down and the day will soon come when future generations say, “What? Pot was illegal? People back then knew it’s way safer than alcohol, right?”
Progress is the highest calling of civilized society and its politics. But in many states — yep, red ones — critical discussions about moving forward are supplanted by ongoing efforts to turn back the clock on things like voting rights, reproductive rights, environmental gains and same-sex marriage. I’d imagine even many conservative Coloradans see the folly in allowing personal opinions to trump individual rights. Moreover, it’s clear the states on the other side of this fence do not represent the part of the Union that’s going to lead us to a better future.
Colorado, still far from perfect, nevertheless does a better job functioning as that working lab of democracy, where wildly divergent views on all matter of subjects are hashed out and mostly decided. While it was disappointing to watch the recent state legislative session unfold like a spinoff of our deadlocked U.S. Congress, voters will no doubt shuffle things again in 2016, and we’ll continue to lead.
So who are we? More than anything, a work in progress. Unwilling to wallow in the past, cautiously — and sometimes messily — moving toward better things. Our common love for our state tempers some of our worst impulses, and our purple persuasion allows most voices to be heard.
Throw in a heap of natural beauty and this square state is indeed “Colorful Colorado.”
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