Freedom Unaffiliated

About Freedom Unaffiliated

Did you know 46% of the voters in Colorado are unaffiliated? Have you ever wondered why? Hear from the experts at Independence Institute talk about the issues important to Colorado and how to bring some sanity to this increasingly leftist state.

Publisher

Independence Institute

Category

education · news · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

15 May 2023

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

216 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 Oct 2026

   The gangster-style government under Colorado’s gold dome

   The issues on your ballot aren’t just (https://i2i.org/2026-voter-guide/) questions about trains, taxes and spending. They are exhibits in a larger case: dishonesty, intimidation and political bullying have become standard operating procedure at the Colorado Capitol. The message from lawmakers is increasingly simple: Vote however you like — we’ll make sure it turns out the way we like. When voters might say no, they rewrite the question. When elected officials won’t cooperate, they replace them. When citizens organize an initiative, they sabotage it. And when the law becomes inconvenient, they exempt themselves from it. The kings of Colorado Consider the legislature’s devotion to “democracy.” Lawmakers exempted themselves from Colorado’s open-meetings law. Why? Because transparency is vital — right up until we want to see what they’re doing. They warn President Donald Trump threatens democracy, then strip authority from democratically elected officials. They removed two-thirds of the elected Regional Transportation District board so their own appointees could take over. Nothing protects democracy quite like replacing the people voters chose. Then there was Initiative 175 (https://web.archive.org/web/20261005103228/https://www.coloradopolitics.com/tag/initiative-175/), citizens petitioning to vote on road funding. So, lawmakers passed a bill to neutralize the initiative before ballots were even cast. Its supporters finally had to pull their now impotent citizens’ initiative. The legislature didn’t defeat the measure. It kneecapped voters’ ability to even vote on it. That same attitude is stamped all over this year’s ballot. Take Issue 7A, the latest choo-choo tax (https://completecolorado.com/2026/10/01/coco-10-reasons-reject-front-range-rail-tax/). Never mind taxpayers are still waiting, and paying, for rail promised in 1971. Never mind we’re still waiting, and paying, for the train to Longmont promised in 2004. Never mind public money is being used (https://completecolorado.com/2026/10/06/complaint-coco-rail-district-taxpayer-funded-advocacy/) to promote the cuckoo CoCo choo-choo tax. The truly impressive part is the “rail” voting district. Areas considered friendly to the tax — such as Boulder and Denver — were gerrymandered into the district. Less enthusiastic communities gerrymandered out (https://completecolorado.com/2026/04/30/changes-to-front-range-rail-taxing-boundaries-proposed/). Apparently, when you can’t win the vote, you choose the voters. Call it “curated democracy.” Gunning for TABOR Then there’s Proposition NN (https://completecolorado.com/2026/09/11/proposition-nn-a-recipe-for-more-colorado-budget-volatility/), which asks us to surrender our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR (http://taboryes.com/)) tax refunds, naturally, “for education.” But after 10 years, the earmarks disappear and the money goes, well, we don’t know. Unlike previous tax-refund grabs, Prop NN tinkers with the TABOR spending formula. This is a first in anti-taxpayer arrogance. If excess revenue ever threatens to produce refunds again, NN gives lawmakers the power to change the spending formula, so those refunds disappear. Your refund isn’t being stolen. It is being legislatively relocated. The graduated income-tax proposal offers (https://completecolorado.com/2026/09/09/perpetual-tax-hike-hidden-colorado-amendment-87/) another clever trick: Its brackets aren’t indexed for inflation. As wages rise with inflation, taxpayers drift into higher brackets even when their real purchasing power hasn’t increased. Their plan? Over time we will all be paying the top 8.4% income tax rate. Why the relentless attack on TABOR? Because TABOR is inconvenient for people accustomed to taking. Legislative leaders blame TABOR and Trump for Colorado’s budget squeeze. Yet their own analysts have identified the real problem: Legislators themselves treated temporary federal COVID money like permanent income and built continuing obligations around it (like Medicaid expansion to illegals). Other states used one-time money for one-time expenses. Colorado behaved like someone who won a scratch ticket, leased a yacht and then blamed the bank when the bills arrived. As voter-hating Sen. Jeff Bridges runs around leading literal cheerleading sessions against TABOR (really, check out the videos), he refuses to let people know his own Joint Budget Committee’s staff reported the budget problem was the legislature’s doing. In January, legislative staff told them if temporary revenue had been spent on temporary needs, the state budget should have returned to balance. That earned lawmakers what one news report called “a slice of humble pie.” But why man up and take the blame when you can blame your spending orgy on TABOR. Read the fine print So when you examine this year’s ballot, look beyond the soothing language about education, transportation and fairness. Look at the fine print and what lawmakers have worked so hard not to tell you. These measures reflect a Capitol culture that treats voters less like citizens to be persuaded and more like obstacles to be outmaneuvered. Our democracy is being worked over in broad daylight by the people claiming to protect it. Nice vote you’ve got there, Colorado. Be a shame if something happened to it.

2. 

   13 Oct 2026

   The Crimefighting Case for Flock License Plate Readers

   One of the most popular formats on network television and streaming services like Netflix and Prime Video has been police and federal-agent crimefighting dramas like Law & Order, Blue Bloods and NCIS. Within that category are formats like Chicago PD and FBI that routinely include high-speed car chases (and foot chases on FBI) that especially feature forensic investigative, pursuit and capture technology. Showrunners aren’t making this stuff up. Their production staffs obviously retain experienced expert consultants with state-of-the-art technical knowledge. If I were a fugitive on the lam from a serious felony, I’d now be well aware to instantly get off and staying off the grid. That means no credit card use. No cell phone calls, lest I’m “pinged” at a tower. Staying away from my LKA (last known address). Abandoning my own car on which there’s a BOLO (be on the lookout for) alert. Better, I should steal a car, although that info will be put out over the police network soon enough. Then there are the omni-present surveillance security cameras in airports, stores, businesses, hospitals, homes, and government buildings that Chicago PD and the FBI access to track where I’ve been and where I’m at. Anti-Flock paranoia To make matters even worse, criminals have to contend with the dreaded Flock cameras, an invention of the Atlanta-based Flock Safety Company whose crimefighting systems are highly-valued by law-enforcement agencies nationwide as force multipliers for solving homicides, kidnappings, assaults, vehicle thefts, jewelry store robberies, missing persons, human trafficking, and more. It was a Flock camera in Boulder that quickly located the car and aided police in the arrest and conviction for murder of the Islamist antisemitic terrorist who firebombed a crowd on the Pearl Street Mall. Flock’s automated license plate readers, installed at intersections all over town with the consent of local governments across the country, photograph the plate and record details, including GPS locations, of every passing vehicle and compares the data to a “hot list” stored in the Flock system of all wanted plates nationwide. Local police can be notified of the hot plate vehicle in as little as 16-seconds. Despite the claims of anti-Flock paranoids, their cameras don’t record your Social Security number or what takes place in the privacy of your bedroom. One critic equated Flock’s cameras with Big Brother’s mass surveillance of the entire populace in George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel, “1984.” But BB’s cameras were hidden in two-way TV screens in everyone’s homes! Flock’s cameras are only in public venues. As a law-abiding citizen who roots for the cops and FBI agents, I’m grateful for this modern technology. I have nothing to hide in public places. This technology makes me safer by helping to capture the robbers and other bad guys. As for personal privacy, don’t be naïve. We live in a technological era that already compromises much of our privacy through our own behavior in internet interactions with countless servicers, retailers, unknown scammers, and on social media. We’re easy prey for sophisticated computer and email hackers. Your only sanctuary is to become a recluse. Invoking the fourth Another silly ploy of the anti-Flockers is to falsely invoke the Fourth Amendment’s protection from unreasonable search and seizure, and the requirement of a warrant supported by a probable cause. This is beyond Flock’s capabilities. And the Fourth Amendment isn’t absolute; gray areas have forced many exceptions. Like allowing mass searching of travelers by TSA agents at airports without “probable cause.” This is a rational tradeoff to protect travelers from getting blown up in flight by terrorists or crashing into the World Trade Center and Pentagon again. Will the next contrivance to handcuff crimefighters be outlawing fingerprinting and DNA evidence? A large element of those who oppose Flock cameras are sanctuary-city activists who want open borders, and who coddle and defend illegal immigrants. They don’t want data from those cameras to be shared with federal authorities like ICE because they don’t want these people or any illegal immigrants (including the criminals among them) to be deported, even if Flock technology will assist crimefighters in apprehending criminals of all kinds. The organizations and lawyers that support those here illegally describe themselves as defenders of the rights of “undocumented immigrants.” More accurately, they’re defenders of “illegal immigrant aliens.” If you drive a car without a license, that’s illegal; you’re not an “undocumented driver.” This is another example of the mentality of Denver’s progressive prosecutors, judges, and juries who pander to criminals at the expense of their victims. Like rewarding, with multimillion dollar settlements and awards, violent leftist protestors who intentionally attack and provoke police attempting to keep the peace. Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for (https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/?s=MIke+Rosen) Complete Colorado.

3. 

   8 Oct 2026

   Mike Rosen’s 2026 Colorado election ballot measure picks

   Amendment 81 – Law Enforcement Reporting Requirements to Federal Authorities Recommendation: YES In essence, the purpose of this is to assist the Dept. of Homeland Security and ICE in doing their jobs. It would allow Colorado law enforcement agencies to cooperate with DHS and ICE when a person charged with a violent crime or with a prior felony conviction has an unverified immigration status. Currently, Colorado’s “sanctuary” policies handcuff police and sheriffs from doing so. If this passes it could result in outlawing sanctuary policies that protect illegal aliens and obstruct ICE. Amendment 82 – Right to Natural Gas Recommendation: YES Common sense to curb anti-fossil fuel radicals. Amendment 83 – Constitutional Right to Hunt & Fish Recommendation: YES Of course. Amendment 84 – Mail Ballot Voter Identification Recommendation: YES Requires mail voters to provide a signature and identification number. Discriminates against illegal voters, so progressives will call it racist. Amendment 85 – Plain-Language Ballot Questions Recommendation: YES Requires all ballot questions to be written in understandable language (not lawyer jargon) at no more than an 8th grade reading level. Good idea, even if most Denver Public Schools grads still wouldn’t understand it. Amendment 86 – Congressional Redistricting Recommendation: YES Would prohibit congressional redistricting unless approved by the Congressional Redistricting Commission and the Supreme Court. Amendment 87 – Graduated Income Tax Recommendation: NO Would replace Colorado’s flat income tax, in place since 1987, with progressive income tax rates. Ever since Democrats gained one-party rule in Colorado, government spending has been spiraling out of control. Facing huge budget deficits, this is yet another tax increase, and a mammoth one at that, driving an additional 2.7 billion dollars a-year flowing into government coffers and none of it subject to TABOR refunds. With this measure, Democrats are buying the votes of taxpayers in lower brackets with a slight tax decrease, while lowering the boom on individuals and corporations with incomes over $500,000, almost doubling their tax rates to as much as 8.4%. (Since the tax brackets won’t be adjusted for inflation, as federal tax rates are, “bracket creep” would automatically raise taxes on everyone each year.) As has happened in other Democrat-controlled states and cities, this will drive even more successful, taxpaying individuals and businesses out of Colorado, depriving us of any of their tax revenue, innovations, talent, and charitable contributions. Proposition NN – State Public K-12 Education Funding Recommendation: NO NO Another scheme to drive up government spending and reduce TABOR refunds. Some of it’s earmarked for public schools, so “it’s for the kids.” (Code for: it’s for the teacher unions.) Proposition 132 – Penalties for Fentanyl Crimes Recommendation: YES Discourages fentanyl sales, use, and related felonies; stiffens sentences. Proposition 133 – Penalties for Human Trafficking of a Minor Recommendation: YES Would further deter this heinous crime by expanding the definition of trafficking and increasing the penalty to life imprisonment. Proposition 134 – Male and Female Participation in School Sports Recommendation: YES Restricts participation on sports teams to members of the same biological sex, except for teams specifically designated as co-ed. This will protect girls from physical injury and loss of opportunity by bigger and stronger boys. Proposition 135 – Prohibit Certain Surgeries for Minors Recommendation: YES Prohibits sex reassignment surgeries on minors and bans government funding. Troubled kids lack the maturity to make this irreversible choice and should be protected from irresponsible parents who would allow it. At least, they can wait till they’re 18. Proposition 136 – Income Tax Rate Cap Recommendation: YES This is the antidote for Amendment 87 (“Graduated Income Tax,” above). Prop 136 would cap the individual and corporate income tax rate at the current level of 4.4% for all. With both measures on the ballot, if they both pass and Prop 136 gets more YES votes than Amendment 87, the top tax rate stays capped at 4.4%, but Amendment 87’s slightly lower tax rates under $100,000 of income would nonetheless take effect. If Amendment 87 gets more YES votes than Prop 136, then nothing in Prop 136 takes effect and all of Amendment 87’s measures take effect, especially its top rate of 8.4%. All the more reason to vote for Prop 136. Proposition 137 – Designate Sporting Goods Sales Tax Revenue for Conservation Recommendation: NO Another nitpicking sales tax. We have too many of those already. Ballot Measures for the People’s Democrat Socialist Republic of Denver. Recommendation: NO on all Denver voters are about to elect a communist to the U.S. House of Representatives. Anything sensible on the ballot will lose anyway. Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for (https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/?s=MIke+Rosen) Complete Colorado.

Who has been a guest on Freedom Unaffiliated

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Jeff Hunt
• Eric Sonderman
• Chris Hansen
• Jared Polis
• Julie McCluskie

Podcast Authority Score: 33 / 100

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0

YouTube

0

Engagement

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