A political refugee in Colorado: The painful choice to leave my homeland

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

After months of prayer, deliberation, and heartbreak, my wife and I have made the decision to leave Colorado. We’ve accepted an offer on our home in Castle Rock. For the first time in my life, I am saying goodbye to the state of my birth – the mountains where I learned to hike, the skyline I memorized as a child, the people and culture I have served, fought for, and loved. 

This was not an easy decision. This is pain. This is grief. This is exile.

But I am not moving for a job. I’m not moving for a change of scenery. I am leaving because Colorado has made it abundantly clear that I no longer have a voice in the government of my own state. 

I am a political refugee. My family is being forced out, not by a singular law or politician, but by an entire governing culture that despises my values, silences my beliefs, and ridicules my faith.

A State I No Longer Recognize

Colorado was once a beacon of Western independence, rugged personal liberty, and community responsibility. Now it is ruled by a tyrannical, one-party regime drunk on power and wholly unaccountable to reason, morality, or the rule of law.

I’ve watched from the inside as the State Capitol has turned into a fortress – not just architecturally, but ideologically. Republican lawmakers – decent, earnest public servants – are routinely shouted down, cut off, and stripped of procedural rights. 

Committee hearings are theater. Debate is performative. Testimony from citizens is dismissed with visible contempt.

It doesn’t matter how strong the argument is. It doesn’t matter how many of us show up. 

They’ve made up their minds. Colorado Democrats do not govern for all Coloradans. They govern exclusively for their base, for their donors, and for their ideology. Dissent is treated as extremism. Conviction is treated as hatred. Facts are treated as threats.

The Price of One-Party Rule

What makes this worse – what makes this unbearable – is that I’m forced to bankroll it.

Every dollar I’ve paid in taxes will help fund abortions, has helped subsidize drug consumption, fuel an explosion of homelessness and crime, and reward non-citizens with entitlements that my own children will never receive. My property taxes fund schools that teach children to hate their country and question their very biology. My sales taxes prop up bloated bureaucracies filled with waste, fraud, and abuse. My income taxes help maintain the machinery of my own disenfranchisement.

No more.

My dollars will no longer feed this machine. I will not fund my own oppression. 

Colorado will no longer benefit from my property taxes, my income taxes, or the thousands I’ve spent each year on recreation, entertainment, restaurants, home improvement, charitable giving, and business development. 

The state has chosen to devalue and dehumanize those who think like me. Now it can do so without my contribution.

To My Fellow Republicans

To the Republicans still here, I salute you. You fight an uphill battle every single day. You show up knowing the rules will be bent against you. 

You speak knowing you’ll be mocked or ignored. And still, you speak. Still, you fight. Still, you remain true to your oath. That is courage. That is patriotism. That is service. And I honor you.

But we also must speak honestly.

Too many Republicans are complicit in our decline. Those who treat principled conservatives as the problem. Those who split the ticket, divide the movement, and sabotage our chances at relevance in the name of pride or pet issues. 

If your strategy is to “teach the party a lesson,” all you’ve done is deliver Colorado to the Left on a silver platter.

The division in our own ranks has cost us seats, legislation, and moral authority. If we don’t unify – not around personalities, but around core values – we will continue to lose, and more families like mine will be forced to leave the state we once called home.

I’m Voting With My Feet

I have no voice in the Capitol. My lawmakers are blocked, muted, and ignored. I have no protection under the law. My beliefs are not tolerated. I am governed without representation.

So I am voting with my feet.

My departure may not shake the halls of power, but I promise this: I am not alone. Thousands are leaving. 

Thousands more are preparing to. Families. Entrepreneurs. First responders. Tradesmen. Parents. Retirees. People with means, with skills, with principles. We are taking our dollars, our dreams, and our dignity, and we are relocating to places where liberty is still respected and our values are not treated as a threat to the state.

This Is Not the End

I leave Colorado with a heavy heart, but with eyes wide open.

This is not the end of my fight. I will not go quiet. I will build. I will speak. I will continue to defend the truth and the freedoms God gave us, regardless of the soil beneath my feet.

But let history record that I did not leave because I gave up. I left because I was exiled by a corrupt political machine that no longer recognizes the rights of men and women who think, speak, and believe differently than they do.

Colorado pushed me out. And they will keep pushing, until there’s nothing left but silence and blind obedience.

I refuse to be silent.  I will not obey.

And so I leave.

C. J. Garbo is a political strategist, cybersecurity expert, law enforcement veteran, and civic leader whose work has shaped policy, protected communities, and amplified the voices of the unheard across Colorado and beyond.

A native of Colorado, C. J. has served in nearly every corner of public life. He is the former Chairman of the Town of Castle Rock Election Commission, where he helped protect and uphold the integrity of the local democratic process. He has served as Chairman of the Douglas County Planning Commission, lending his voice to thoughtful development and community planning in one of Colorado’s fastest-growing regions. As a Community Safety Volunteer for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, he dedicated time to public safety in the neighborhoods he called home.

In politics, C. J. has worked at every level – from managing high-profile campaigns for candidates like Greg Lopez (Governor) and Joe Andujo (U.S. House, CD8) to developing data-driven voter outreach strategies and leading party communications efforts across the state. He has been instrumental in shaping Republican messaging in Colorado through his work on various Communications Committees, where he has championed bold, unifying, and morally anchored messaging strategies in an often fractured political climate.

C. J.’s technical and professional background is equally accomplished. With deep expertise in cybersecurity, infrastructure risk, and IT governance, he has held senior leadership positions at global technology firms, providing guidance to protect the assets, privacy, and operational continuity of major organizations. He is a sought-after voice on digital security, ethical hacking, and enterprise risk management.

In the arts, he has also left his mark. A classically trained musician and conductor, C. J. has directed auditioned community choirs and orchestras, bringing together people of all walks of life through choral and orchestral music. His passion for music, like his passion for public service, reflects a lifelong commitment to enriching and strengthening the communities around him.

Above all, C. J. Garbo is a follower of Jesus Christ. His work is animated by a belief in truth, justice, and the inherent worth and dignity of every person. He is a husband and a relentless advocate for integrity in public life.

Though leaving Colorado is a painful chapter, his mission continues. He leaves not in retreat, but in resolve – to build, to protect, and to serve wherever liberty still lives.

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.