Colorado Republicans lost again: What happened to the party of Reagan?

By John L. Barry | Commentary, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Republicans have suffered another decisive defeat. The response must go beyond familiar complaints about campaign spending, media coverage or changing demographics. Republicans need to examine what has happened to their party — and why voters increasingly doubt its ability to govern.

I write as a Republican who remembers a different tradition. The party of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush was imperfect, but it stood for recognizable principles: constitutional government, fiscal responsibility, economic opportunity, national security and American leadership. Conservatism meant preserving the institutions that made the American experiment possible.

Today, I struggle to recognize that tradition in a party increasingly defined by personal loyalty, grievance and ideological confrontation. Colorado needs a competitive Republican Party. Rebuilding one begins with confronting how far it has drifted.

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