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Home Archives for General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

A Chance for Denver Tax Day Tea Party Protestors to Clarify the Record

Update, 9:40 AM: Rossputin has a more thorough and comprehensive debunking of the ProgressNow nonsense. It's simply a must-read. Also, Joshua explains the "astroturfing" myth and why the Left is pushing it. Here's a shock: the local Soros-funded Lefty media hack is completely misrepresenting the Tax Day Tea Party here in Denver and as a nationwide movement. What else would you expect? Mike Huttner has to earn his keep from the sugar daddy somehow. The vapid silliness coming from ProgressNow includes: Selectively finding the few offensive signs of the common sense-challenged out of thousands to paint the crowd with a broad brush of ignorance and hatred (here's a video that helps give lie to this tactic) Parroting discredited CNN … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, PPC Tagged With: astroturf, clarification, CNN, common sense, corporate, courteous, Denver, George Soros, grassroots, hatred, ignorance, Lefty, media hack, Mike Huttner, misrepresenting, movement, nationwide, offensive signs, partisan attack, Peoples Press Collective, press release, ProgressNow, public figure, response, silliness, spoke, stereotype, sugar daddy, talking points, Tax Day Tea Party, transparent, vapid, video

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Ryan Frazier Fires Up Crowd at Colorado Tax Day Tea Party

El Presidente has posted video of the Denver Tax Day Tea Party, but the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel has the video coverage of Colorado's largest Western Slope gathering. The apparent highlight of the event was the rousing speech of Ryan Frazier, who also announced a formal step toward a U.S. Senate campaign (watch the video below the fold): … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, liberty, My Life, National Politics, PPC, Sports and Leisure Tagged With: American League Central, automotive bailouts, beloved team, campaign, Colorado, Denver, Detroit, Detroit Tigers, dismal, economic doldrums, El Presidente, event, first place, football, formal step, gathering, Grand Junction, Grand Junction Sentinel, highlight, performance, persistent, rousing speech, Ryan Frazier, Tax Day Tea Party, U.S. Senate, video coverage, wayward path

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

The Principled Politician Brings True Tale of Colorado Statesmanship to Life

It's been awhile since I've done any sort of book review. But having just completed Adam Schrager's The Principled Politician: The Ralph Carr Story, it seemed an apt time to change that. Those who won't want to miss this book include students of Colorado history, fans of the World War II era (especially the home front), and anyone interested in a sadly forgotten inspirational story that seems foreign in today's all-too-jaded and polarized world of politics. As introduced to readers in The Principled Politician, Ralph Carr (1887-1950) -- Republican governor of Colorado from 1939 to 1943 -- was a rare model of statesmanship. Fittingly, he held deep admiration and adulation for our nation's 16th president Abraham Lincoln. He recognized the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Book Reviews, Christianity and Faith, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, History, Random and Miscellaneous, World Events Tagged With: Abraham Lincoln, absence, absolute, accessible, account, Adam Schrager, administration, admiration, adulation, all-too-jaded, Americans, ant-Japanese, book, book review, burdens, Carr Street, circumstances, citizens, Colorado history, commitment, constitutional rights, cost, demigod, devastating, disagreements, domestic terrorism, elected officials, engaging, era, essential, ethnic origin, ex-governor, exhibits, fans, fiscal responsibility, flawed, forgotten, fresh, frustrations, happen, History, home front, humane, hysteria, inspirational, intimately, invasion, Japanese-born, lessons, liberty, limited government, major theme, marble man, maxim, model, narrative, national origin, nationwide, originally researched, overreaching, paean, passions, Pearl Harbor, poignant, polarized, political career, politics, power, principles, public opinion, question, quirks, Ralph Carr, rare, recognition, refusal, Republican, respectfully, responding, sadly, sense of humor, statesmanship, steadfast, story, students, The Principled Politician, ultimately, vindicated, World War II, written

2/7/2026 By Ben 7 Comments

Posting “a think on Cleve Tidwell”

So yesterday I receive this verbatim email message from a mysterious "Victorila Rasheem" (all errors of spelling and syntax preserved):I think taht your website should do a think on Cleve Tidwell. Most say that he has the support of most if not all of the major donors in the state. Also much of the grassroots is excited for him and is backing him to be the senator for colorado. I do not know if Dick Wadhams found him or not but if he did it was a good find because he is a good candidaet and wiill win. He is a very good speaker and will be at most events when he is senator because he will represent people in Colorado. Also, he has not spoken with the press so whatever you might hear if anything is probably just their way of trying to create … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, My Life, PPC, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: actual effect, bizarre, blogger, campaign contribution, claims, Cleve Tidwell, coincidence, Colorado, coloradovoterinthesenaterace@gmail.com, comment, disavow, drop a line, email message, errors, far-fetched, hopes, insult, intelligence, meaningless, motive, mystery, Nigerian benefactor, post office box, publicly, quasi-candidacy, random, scheme, spam, spelling, state legislature, supporters, syntax, tactics, testify, tracking down, undermine, Victorila Rasheem

2/7/2026 By Ben 2 Comments

HB 1342 Hearing Tuesday: Democrats’ Latest Attempt to Bypass TABOR

We have heard Democrats in the state legislature talk out loud about exploiting a partisan Colorado Supreme Court overreach to violate the state constitution and repeal tax credits without a vote of the people. Via an emergency update from the Republican Study Committee, the Democrats' first real attempt to test their theory comes up for a hearing tomorrow: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, PPC Tagged With: adjournment, Colorado Supreme Court, Democrats, Dennis Apuan, emergency update, exploiting, HB 1342, hearing, illicit, overreach, partisan, repeal, Republican Study Committee, state constitution, state legislature, tax credits, tax revenue, test, theory, tobacco, violate, vote of the people

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

RMA Blog Talk Radio Tonight at 8:30: Clear the Bench & State Budget Debate

Tune in tonight at 8:30 PM local Mountain time for the 23rd edition of Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio. Our confirmed guest for this week is Matt Arnold from Clear the Bench Colorado to discuss his grassroots campaign to recall four state supreme court justices. We also hope to have on Senator Mark Scheffel, R-Parker, to talk about the contentious state budget debate. If you miss the live show, you can go back and download the podcast, or just use the handy widget on my sidebar to listen directly from Mount Virtus. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Judiciary Tagged With: Blog Talk Radio, budget debate, Clear the Bench Colorado, download, guest, justices, Mark Scheffel, Matt Arnold, podcast, recall, Rocky Mountain Alliance, state senator, state supreme court

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

How Many Coloradans Know about Michael Bennet – and Which Republican Should Challenge Him?

Politics West points out a newly-released survey from a Democratic polling firm finds that support among Coloradans for both Barack Obama and "senior" U.S. Senator Mark Udall is slipping. The Public Policy Polling firm is slated to release results today for newly selected Senator Michael Bennet, up for re-election in 2010. What I'll be looking for first is not the favorable-unfavorable rating but the percentage of Colorado voters who know enough about Bennet even to form an opinion, and whether they ironically might view the man as indecisive. Face The State also has an online poll to see your preference for a Republican opponent for Bennet: Bob Beauprez, Ken Buck, Dan Caplis, Ryan Frazier, or (the write-in campaign for) Cleve … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: Barack Obama, Bob Beauprez, challenger, Cleve Tidwell, Coloradans, Colorado, Dan Caplis, Democratic, Face the State, favorable, indecisive, Ken Buck, Mark Udall, Michael Bennet, newly-selected, online poll, opinion, percentage, Politics West, polling firm, reelection, Republican, resulted, Ryan Frazier, survey, U.S. Senator, unfavorable, write-in campaign

2/7/2026 By Ben 4 Comments

A ‘Nonpartisan’ Reason to Challenge California Anti-Taxpayer Media Bias

It's quite often the subtle bias in the dominant liberal media that can make a significant difference. Witness yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle piece on a California ballot initiative to impose tax-and-spending limitations on state government. Writer John Wildermuth quotes from two Colorado sources to establish views on our own state's experience with the stronger Taxpayer's Bill of Rights limit (emphases added):"Nobody disagrees that (the cap) kept government spending lower," said Carol Hedges, a senior fiscal analyst for the nonpartisan Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, which opposes the state's budget cap. "But supporters don't like to talk about the human cost of keeping government smaller."... Across the nation, anti-tax … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, media bias, PPC, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: accurate, adjective, anti-tax advocates, argue, ballot initiative, budget cap, California, Carol Hedges, Colorado, Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, conclusion, credibility, degree, Democratic, descriptor, difference, dominant liberal media, downhill, establish, experience, fiscal analyst, fiscal conservatives, free market, full disclosure, Independence Institute, John Wildermuth, Jon Caldara, machine, misleading, newspapers, nonpartisan, objective, out of business, outsourced arm, predetermined, President, primary source, progressive, quotes, rolls, San Francisco Chronicle, significant, sources, story, subtle bias, tax-and-spending limit, Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, technical sense, think tank, undeserved, views, writer

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Random Monday Morning Musings

Monday morning -- The world of Colorado politics is quiet ... too quiet. About 9 days left in the legislative session, and some version of Senate Bill 228 is still lurking out there. Will Democrats really rush ahead with this taxpayer-unfriendly idea? In other random news, Ken Buck is in the U.S. Senate fray. Immigration almost certainly figures to be a hot-button issue in the primary, if not the general election itself. But what does it all mean, with incumbent appointee Michael Bennet's apparent weakness among Hispanic voters? In other words, it's simply too quiet out here. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, PPC, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: Colorado Politics, Democrats, general election, Hispanic, hot-button issue, idea, immigration, Ken Buck, legislative session, lurking, Michael Bennet, primary, quiet, random news, rush, Senate Bill 228, taxpayer-unfriendly, voters

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Limited Government Week: An Awareness Raiser To Rally Behind

No day, week, or month passes that isn't officially commemorated for some reason. Take April, the month we're in for a few more days: What have you done the last 27 days to honor National Poetry Month, Stress Awareness Month, or even Fresh Florida Tomato Month? That's what I thought ... In the meantime, there are important causes that definitely deserve greater awareness, like this one: Limited Government Week. If you can get down to Colorado Springs anytime in the next few days, you may find one or more valuable events to attend. The highlight is a Tuesday dinner with keynote speaker Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression (an excellent book). For more details on the week's activities, go … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Commemorative, Cultural Conservatism, General, liberty, PPC Tagged With: Amity Shlaes, angels, April, assessment, author, Barack Obama, believe, CASE, causes, Colorado Springs, commemorated, controls, crowd, devout, dinner, elements, Federalist Papers, Fresh Florida Tomato Month, greater awareness, highlight, honest, hopey-changey, human nature, important, James Madison, Limited Government Week, men, National Poetry Month, principle, Stress Awareness Month, The Forgotten Man, Tuesday, understanding

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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

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