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Home Archives for General

2/7/2026 By Ben 6 Comments

New Conservative Joins RMA 2.0

The Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0 keeps growing: Welcome aboard Steve Nielson from The New Conservative (also a new father!). In his spare time, Steve is a Lockheed engineer, as well as the secretary of the Douglas County Republican Party. He's also the third RMA member to be a graduate of the Leadership Program of the Rockies. Make sure to bookmark his site for regular visits if you haven't done so already. Welcome aboard, Steve! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, General, My Life Tagged With: New Conservative, Rocky Mountain Alliance, Steven Nielson

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Mark Udall Ran Away from a Bipartisan Online Debate: Wrap-up Edition

The hackles have been raised over at the Dead Guvs, as a post by reliable conservative blogger El Presidente has been promoted to the front page: For whatever it's worth, he highlights the revelation of the story behind the online debate between Bob Schaffer and Mark Udall that never materialized. The debate was the brainchild of respectable liberal blogger David Thielen, who had hosted several of these debates during the Democratic primary. For the U.S. Senate race, he sought the fair and balanced approach, and I agreed to co-moderate. Kudos to David for promoting El Presidente's entry, for verifying the facts presented, and for defending the truth against the slings and arrows of outrageous insults. My already significant respect … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Colorado Politics, General, My Life, National Politics Tagged With: a watcher, Bob Schaffer, Colorado Pols, David Thielen, El Presidente, Mark Udall, name-calling, Online debate

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Romanoff Missing Summer Fun to Put Anti-Taxpayer Measure on Ballot

The Rocky Mountain News reports today on outgoing House Speaker Andrew Romanoff's intense efforts to place an initiative on the ballot that would forever end TABOR refunds for Colorado taxpayers. Of course, the skewed way the Rocky describes the ballot measure, you wonder what sensible person could oppose it:While the rest of Colorado is hiking, rafting, barbecuing or putting in some serious hammock time, Romanoff, D-Denver, and a group of volunteers will hit the streets attempting to gather about 120,000 signatures from registered voters.... The proposal aims to unsnarl the fiscal knot of conflicting spending mandates and limits embedded in the state's constitution. Called SAFE (Savings Account for Education), the effort would seek … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General Tagged With: Amendment 23, Andrew Romanoff, Ari Armstrong, ballot initiative, barbecues, Democrats, petition signatures, Referendum C, Rocky Mountain News, SAFE, Statist Alternatives to the Freedom Epidemic, TABOR

2/7/2026 By Ben 4 Comments

John LeGrew, Who Are You?

If you want to know how bad a state the national Republican Congressional campaign is in, look no further than my own backyard: Colorado's 7th Congressional District. Once a nationally targeted toss-up swing district defended by Republican incumbent Bob Beauprez, the GOP cannot find anything approaching a credible candidate to square off against the first-time Democrat incumbent Ed Perlmutter. According to the Colorado Statesman handed out at Saturday's Republican State Convention, the GOP's candidate for the 7th is none other than (drumroll, please) ... John LeGrew. "No information was available to the Party as of press time," it reads under his picture. No offense or anything, I'm sure Mr. LeGrew is a nice guy and all. But just who … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, My Life Tagged With: 7th Congressional District, Ben DeGrow, Bob Beauprez, British Army, Colorado Statesman, Crimean War, Ed Perlmutter, John LeGrew, Light Dragoons, Republicans, Will Grow

2/7/2026 By Ben 3 Comments

Wrangling Colorado Center-Right Blogs

Hooray, a positive - and promising - development in Colorado's center-right blogosphere has emerged. The conservative-leaning news site Face The State announces its "Blog Wrangler". The Wrangler features some of the latest posts on this page. It doesn't update as quickly as the Rocky Mountain Alliance feed (see sidebar of any member's page), but then again it's more attractively laid out and covers a broader collection of blogs. Face The State also has what looks like a comprehensive list of Colorado center-right bloggers - I'll have to compare it to my own blogroll some time. Several of us bloggers out here are glad to see Face The State take on this complementary role, even if we wished it had come sooner. (But "don't look … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Blog Wrangler, blogroll, blogs, center-right, Face the State, Rocky Mountain Alliance

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Mark Hillman’s Turn to Ask Taxpayers’ Nagging Question for Bill Ritter

In a column for the Sterling Journal-Advocate, newly elected Republican National Committeeman Mark Hillman (be ready to be greeted by his smiling face) asks the nagging question on the minds of many Colorado taxpayers:Is it typical political spin or something more tangible that makes Gov. Bill Ritter so incredibly confident that the Colorado Supreme Court will vindicate his strategy to raise your property taxes without your permission? If you get a chance, read the whole thing. Last week I similarly asked what Bill Ritter knows about the court's coming ruling that makes him so confident to wager taxpayer money on the previous ruling being overturned. I'll second Mark Hillman's question, but I'm not very confident the governor is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General Tagged With: Bill Ritter, Colorado Supreme Court, Mark Hillman, property tax hike, Sterling Journal-Advocate, taxpayer money

2/7/2026 By Ben 2 Comments

Bill Ritter’s Fox News Stumble May Point to Bigger Problems Lurking

Rocky Mountain Right has posted a video from last night's Bill O'Reilly Show that demonstrates Colorado Governor Bill Ritter isn't ready for primetime:Bill Ritter recently was approached by a Fox News reporter asking a simple question about sex offender laws. Ritter proceeded to stammer, become visibly frustrated, and try to escape as soon as possible. Other Governors approached with the same question (Butch Otter of Idaho and Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming) performed far better and calmly responded. The observation is correct: Bill Ritter sure doesn't look ready for primetime in this video. But maybe there's another explanation, or some sort of mitigating circumstances that haven't been explored. The stresses and frustrations could … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, National Politics Tagged With: Bill O'Reilly, Bill Ritter, Brian Schweitzer, Butch Otter, campaign finance scandal, Colorado Supreme Court, Dave Freudenthal, Democrats, Denver Post, Fox News, legal defense fund victims, not ready for primetime, one-term governor, Property Tax Increase, Rocky Mountain Right

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

“Slightly Incoherent”? Not Bad

Joshua Sharf yesterday had the mild misfortune of having to endure our Independence Institute's candidate briefing. Glad to know my highly-compressed 15-minute presentation on school finance and teacher quality only came across as "slightly incoherent," and that Joshua seems to have had a good time. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: candidates briefing, Independence Institute, Joshua Sharf, View from a Height

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Mark Udall’s Dishonesty about 9/11 and Other Recent SvU Blog Highlights

Today at the Schaffer v Udall blog, I gladly take the opportunity to quickly correct a small mistake while getting another chance to emphasize a major point:As the National Republican Senatorial Committee documented well, it took Mark Udall two-and-a-half years after 9/11 to drop his co-sponsorship of the Department of Peace: March 17, 2004. Coincidentally, though, it came one week after he first announced he was running for U.S. Senate. Does anyone still want to argue credibly that he changed his position on the issue because of 9/11? Or is it much clearer now that the move is part of Boulder liberal Mark Udall's careful calculation to remake his image as he runs for statewide office? You can read the whole thing here. Other recent … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: 9/11, Bob Schaffer, Department of Peace, Mark Udall, National Republican Senatorial Committee, Schaffer v Udall

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Jason Janz and Juneteenth

Jason Janz - a personal acquaintance I met through his launching and running the successful Christian website Sharper Iron - wrote a Speakout published in today's Rocky Mountain News about Denver's upcoming Juneteenth celebration:I am not African-American and I am going to Juneteenth. In fact, I believe that people of all ethnicities should attend if they are able. Why? Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom and equality, values that every American should embrace. Just because the peak of the civil rights movement has passed does not mean that racial tension in our community is gone. There is still much work to do. By standing next to the African-American community, you are showing solidarity with them as a partner for peace and harmony in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, Commemorative, General, History Tagged With: African-American culture, Denver, emancipation, Jason Janz, Juneteenth, Providence Bible Church, Rocky Mountain News, Sharper Iron

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Inside

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About Me

Ben DeGrow
Grateful and growing Christian, devoted husband and father of 3, public policy analyst, returned to Michigan by way of Colorado, conservative writer, lifelong learner, Detroit Tigers fan.

Recent Posts

  • AI-Enhanced Cyberbullying: The Dark Side of Teen Innovation
  • My Baker’s Dozen of Top 2023 Reads
  • Common Learning Disabilities in Children
  • Tips to Teach Kids to Set and Achieve Goals
  • The Christmas Music Countdown You’ve Been Looking For: 2022 Edition

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Completing the Blogroll

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Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

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To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

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