If you grew up in rural Colorado, you know the drill. You left the truck running while you ran into the hardware store. You didn’t lock the house when you went to town. The keys stayed in the ignition because who was going to take it — your neighbor? That was Colorado in 2018, when about 21,000 vehicles were stolen statewide. Not great, but manageable. Then something changed.
By 2022, that number had nearly doubled to 41,520 stolen vehicles. Colorado hit number one in the nation for auto theft. Not number one in a good way. People watched their trucks disappear on Ring cameras while they slept. Denver International Airport became a hunting ground — 713 vehicles stolen in a single year from the parking lots alone. The state that kept the windows down to keep the dust out was now the worst place in the country to own a car.
Over the next several weeks we’re going to connect the dots between what happened to public safety in this state and the legislation that made it possible — named legislators, recorded votes, real consequences. That full investigation is available to paid subscribers at the High Country Advocate. Subscribe now at https://highcountryadvocate.substack.com/subscribe and be ready when it drops. Because votes have consequences, and these are yours.
The story starts in 2018, the last year Republicans held the Colorado Senate. That session produced 39 bills that expanded government, raised costs, or restricted individual rights — even under divided government. Then November 2018 happened. Democrats won the Senate and the governorship simultaneously. In a single 120-day session in 2019, the number of consequential bills doubled. Nine new employer mandates. Fourteen energy bills including a complete overhaul of oil and gas regulation. Thirty-four healthcare bills. Thirty-eight new government programs. A permanent waiver of Colorado’s constitutional spending limit referred to voters and passed. A red flag gun law that cleared the Senate by one vote — with the Democratic Senate President voting No.
The full record — every bill, every vote, every legislator named — is documented in the High Country Advocate’s Votes Have Consequences series, launching August 2. Read the complete series summary at highcountryadvocate.org. Then subscribe. Because the next six years get worse.
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