Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project
Where do you go if you’re liberty minded, but not a party adherent?
I am decidedly conservative, but I am not Republican. I haven’t ever been. I registered Libertarian at age 18 and would still be registered that way were it not for some unusual behavior of late from that party, along with the fact that Libertarians are excluded from participation in some things in this state since they are not considered “Independents.”
I switched over to be a registered independent a few years back and feel it’s the overall best fit for me. I had considered switching to Republican at the time I did it, but that party is such a shambles I couldn’t. The issues that are dominating party discussions right now, the constant churn and fighting, made this a no-go. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to help advocate for conservative values, that doesn’t mean I disagree on a wide swath of issues with the Republicans. I just don’t feel like that party is a good fit for me.
What do you do if you find yourself similarly situated?
If you have tried to get involved and help Republicans like I have, you’ve likely met with frustration. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to contact state-level Republican politicians with questions or to try and help get the message out only to find that I’d get as much response by sticking my head in a hole and yelling. E.g. I’ve contacted Kirkmeyer three or four times now about the “budget lookback” on SB26-135 only to get … nothing. From what I’ve heard of her talking in radio interviews, I think it would make a great story and piece of data to share. Apparently not.
I know of others who have had the same from other Republicans. This hasn’t made me want to stop advocating. It just means that I don’t think people whose values match Republicans might have to turn OUTSIDE the party to do so.
That brings me to the point for this post. If you find yourself, for one reason or another, not really lined up well with either party. Or if you find yourself wanting to help and not finding a good outlet for your energies, I have a recommendation.
The first and second links below are to the Independence Institute’s Independent Majority site, and a video introduction for same, respectively.
There are lots of what I would term, for lack of a better way to put it, issue and advocacy groups out there, and they’re doing great work. I’ve shared links for them over time. There are Second Amendment groups. There are Ag groups. There are wolf reintroduction groups. There are groups that monitor legislation.
What strikes me as valuable and unique about this one is that its issue is freedom. You can find bill searches, you can find community, you can find all the things they offer at Independent Majority on other advocacy sites, but you won’t find one that caters specifically to fiscal responsibility, government transparency, and good governance like this one does.
Give the site a look and consider signing up for notifications and/or speaking up on their current issue SB26-150 (one of the bills on my own watchlist).
Bills like this, issues like those Independent Majority are focusing on, typically have a small but devoted group of followers. I know that I personally see the same names testifying on these issues over and over. Adding your voice has the potential to have a big impact because you won’t be one of hundreds speaking. Your voice is louder on these important issues because the group is smaller.
Give it some consideration.
https://independentmajority.co/
When the cuts come, any bets on whether homeschooling gets axed?
The Complete Colorado article at bottom is a bit stale by this point, and the budget is even now far from complete, so I will phrase this as speculation rather than fact.
The article profiles a video discussion from the Learning Curve series which covers a whole lot of topics, but I want to zero in on one. Quoting:
“While legislators are reluctant to look at core K–12 funding, they are considering targeted cuts to these [homeschool] enrichment programs, which have grown in popularity as more families pursue nontraditional schooling, and include hands-on learning in areas like agriculture, construction, music, and outdoor education.”
If you want to learn a bit more about Colorado’s Homeschool Enrichment program, I put a link to that webpage second below. It seems like a really good program to me; I’m a big proponent of the idea that education is often a unique and personal endeavor, and thus having a variety of experiences for all students is a good thing.
I also think that it can often be the non-academic things that help motivate a student to stick with academics. I know many a student who has told me they only kept their grades up to stay eligible for sports or some other thing.
READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT
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