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Drawing Nearer to God: An Average Joe’s 7-Part Journey of Faith
ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Drawing Nearer to God: An Average Joe’s 7-Part Journey of Faith

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com Drawing nearer to God sounds great – but how do ordinary believers actually do it? Join this 7-part Scott Sheet Sunday series to find out. Last Sunday, my pastor said something that’s stuck with me all week. He talked about “drawing nearer to God in times of trouble.” That sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Poetic. Comforting. Instagram-worthy. But here’s the question I couldn’t shake: how, exactly, do I do that? Because if you’re anything like me, you’ve heard these phrases in church for years. “Seek God.” “Pursue His presence.” “Draw near to Him.” They roll off the tongue like we all have a built-in GPS that beeps every time we’re taking a step closer to the Almighty. But let’s be honest: most of us are just Average Joes and Ja...
Government Isn’t God: Why Broken People Need More Faith, Not Bigger Bureaucracy
ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Government Isn’t God: Why Broken People Need More Faith, Not Bigger Bureaucracy

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com America doesn’t need bigger government. It needs bigger faith. Romans 13 shows government is a servant – not the savior. Since the tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church, I’ve watched the same battle lines get drawn. The script writes itself: “Take the guns. Prayer doesn’t work. Faith isn’t enough.” It breaks my heart – not only because of the lives shattered, but because half of America’s first instinct is to strip away our God-given rights. But the answer isn’t taking things away. The answer is realizing that people are broken, and only God – not government – can heal broken people. And if the church shooting wasn’t proof enough of how far we’ve drifted, the recent Colorado General Assembly Special Session sealed it. It...
Colorado’s green building code mandates drive up housing costs and do little for the climate
ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s green building code mandates drive up housing costs and do little for the climate

By Scott K. James | Commentary, Scott K. James New ‘green’ building code mandates in Colorado reek of virtue signaling, drive up housing costs, and do jack squat for the environment. The Denver Post recently dropped a fun little read about how Colorado’s unelected bureaucrats have found yet another way to make housing completely unaffordable while pretending they’re saving the planet. The Colorado Legislature cedes authority to unelected bureaucrats in the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) to whip out new codes. The Denver Post piece highlights how the CEO has done just that, and – viola – Colorado will now require cities and counties to adopt updated building codes focused on cutting emissions – because if there’s one thing this housing market needed, it was more ...
One third fixed two thirds punt: Colorado’s special session shrugs off hard cuts
ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

One third fixed two thirds punt: Colorado’s special session shrugs off hard cuts

By Scott K. James | Commentary, Scott K. James Dems filled about $253M of a $783M gap by ending tax breaks, then handed the real cuts to Polis and the reserves. One-third fixed. Two-thirds punted. The Denver Post reports that the Special Session Show wrapped after Democrats plugged about $253 million of a $783 million shortfall by ending tax breaks and other revenue moves. Roughly $530 million still yawns open. That hot potato now rolls to Gov. Jared Polis, who is expected to mix mid-year cuts with a deep dip into reserves. Eleven bills head to his desk. The biggest moneymaker, HB25B-1004, auctions tax credits for a one-time cash hit this year while sacrificing future revenue. The Post also notes the partisan script. Democrats...
Dear Colorado Legislature: Here’s Your $1 Billion Cut List
ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Dear Colorado Legislature: Here’s Your $1 Billion Cut List

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com Colorado’s $1B budget hole isn’t rocket science – we found the cuts. From illegal immigration perks to bloated credits, here’s the fix. (And Yes, We Found It In the Couch Cushions) Colorado lawmakers are about to lock themselves in a special session cage match because they’ve managed to spend themselves $1 billion into the red. Cue the finger-pointing, cue the “hard choices” speeches, cue the “we just need more revenue” crocodile tears. Well, guess what? We did your homework for you. We found your billion. And unlike your staff memos written in bureaucrat-ese, this cut list is in plain English – with receipts. Brace yourselves, this will be long, but I’ll give you a TL, DR version right up front… TL;DR: Colorado’s ...
Colorado State Board of Ed opens remote testimony: Parents urged to speak up
ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado State Board of Ed opens remote testimony: Parents urged to speak up

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com Colorado’s State Board of Education just made it easier to give public comment. Remote testimony is live – no excuses, no pants required, just show up and speak out. In a move so uncharacteristically efficient it might give some people whiplash, the Colorado State Board of Education has overhauled its public comment process to include remote participation. That’s right, no more schlepping to Denver or arranging your entire week around a three-minute mic drop. Whether you want to go full mom-rage or teacher-sass, now you can do it straight from your kitchen table. Public comments can now be made in-person or virtually using Microsoft Teams – no downloads, no fuss, and no excuses. This isn’t just a footnote buried in bureaucr...
Lord Polis now plans your town through ‘strategic growth’ mandates
ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Lord Polis now plans your town through ‘strategic growth’ mandates

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com One smart post about Colorado land-use policy sent me digging – what I found says a lot about where the state is really heading. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – being a Weld County Commissioner has its perks, and I’m not just talking about the bad coffee and the occasional angry email in ALL CAPS. I’ve had the good fortune to meet some dangerously smart, surprisingly cool people in this gig. Case in point: Chris Richardson. Chris and I crossed paths back when he was repping Elbert County as a County Commissioner. Then, in a moment of what I can only assume was temporary insanity, he decided to run for the Colorado House. Somehow, the voters in HD 56 took the bait, and now he’s down at the Capitol, actually doing the job ...
James: Metro elites power down rural Colorado energy while calling it a ‘just transition’
ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

James: Metro elites power down rural Colorado energy while calling it a ‘just transition’

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com As Craig faces a coal plant shutdown, rural Colorado communities are being gutted in the name of environmental virtue-signaling. Jobs, power, and people are being discarded—and the so-called “just transition” is anything but. Rural Colorado towns like Craig are being sacrificed on the altar of metro-area environmental guilt—and no amount of “just transition” branding is going to save them. In a July 19, 2025, piece for The Denver Gazette, reporter Scott Weiser rather artfully dives into the coming shutdown of Tri-State’s Craig Station—one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the state—and the ripple effect it’s having on energy, jobs, and entire communities. It’s a wonderfully written story, but the outcome sucks. Mean...