Our Platform for Outlining Colorado’s Future

In the latter half of 2009, a wave of fear swept over hundreds of Toyota owners. They raised a terrifying claim: their cars were suddenly accelerating out of control. The aftermath was a whirlwind of activity - Toyota recalled 10 million vehicles, settled numerous lawsuits, and paid fines exceeding $1 billion. The conclusion appeared self-evident - there was a significant flaw in the world's most popular cars. Except, there wasn't. What transpires when hysteria supersedes common sense? Mentioned Podcast Our society teeters dangerously close to the precipice if we continue making decisions based on narratives, biases, anecdotes, and infotainment. It's time we pivot towards a more pragmatic approach - a political party that leans on reason and cost-benefit analysis to steer its decision-making process. Malcolm Gladwell's insightful podcast delves into the intricacies of public folly. Instances like the Toyota acceleration debacle wouldn't occur if we prioritized delib...

In the realm of political thought, a provocative idea has emerged - should we lower the voting age to zero but weigh votes based on voters' understanding of relevant information? This concept was recently discussed by Robin Hanson: "Can we extend voting to younger ages, but also weigh votes via informedness?" ( Link to source ) That would combine the liberal and conservative approaches, such as from @jasonfbrennan. Let me clarify - I'm not advocating for an immediate drop of the voting age to zero and the introduction of a test to rank votes. Instead, I'm more interested in questioning the roots of our current voting age limit. Is it a blanket assumption that older individuals possess more knowledge? That's certainly not always the case. So, why not consider testing knowledge directly, rather than using age as a loose proxy? One might question, "Who gets to decide what it takes to be informed?" A fair counter, but couldn't the same be asked of ou...

The internet has given rise to numerous discussions, debates, and ideological sparring platforms. From LateStageCommunism to LateStageCapitalism , these forums often present divergent views of the world. While critical discussions are essential for growth, it's equally important to acknowledge the need for nuance and compromise, especially when discussing economic systems like capitalism and communism. We indeed need to educate everyone about the gulags and the failures of communism, but simply mocking or belittling those who contribute to forums like LateStageCapitalism is not the solution. Winning hearts and minds is not about outdoing the other side in low-quality, over-simplistic rhetoric. It's about out-thinking them, out-facting them, and engaging them with empathy and respect. One common critique that often surfaces in these discussions is the issue of monopolies. While opponents of capitalism criticize its potential for creating business monopolies, they often overlook...

Kids like (and are are like) wild animals  Reasons to Agree : 2 Animals are cool . Seeing wild animals connects people to millions of years of hunting: which has historically included risk and adrenalin. It seems almost natural to start chasing wild animals.  Seeing wild animals connects kids to another world, and so it is eye-opening, which can be fun and interesting.. Videos that agree : James and Geese on the Payette Lake Images that agree Big Horn Sheep, Rocky Mountain National Park, 2014 Phil looking at an Elk in Estes Park, 2014 A bare we saw in Estes Park, 2014. Megan kept saying all the guys were trying to get closer, but the women were protecting the kids. Big Horn Sheep, Rocky Mountain National Park, 2014   This is a photo of a mother "merganser" with its baby riding on its back. My kids and I watched it on the Payette Lake which is in Northern Idaho (2012). A photo of a Stellar's jay, on the railing of my cousin's cab...

Ali did this awesome picture. I love the fish floating all around. It is a sketch within a sketch. She based it on my sketch of a sketch below.  The lake that I worked at in the summer of 1995, sketched from my freshman dorm room that fall.  Andre Breton is not the father of surrealism Pretty good detail I tried to do some combined art, but it needs some work... Ali hard at work . 

Background, Context, and Assumptions Links: https://www.facebook.com/plainscenter http://www.plainscenter.org/ We need conservation centers The state should pay for conservation centers. The state should have conversations centers near major towns? Perhaps not. They keep rattle snakes, which is OK I guess. But deer are not endangered. In fact, sense we killed off wovles their are probably too many of them. I guess it is good for for people who live in cities to see them, but they also get hit by cars a lot. When you put conservation centers in places where cities are trying to grow, you are forcing people to drive further. Sure, you could develop more densely, but your not so your only options for a particular piece of land is subdivision nearer the city, or on the other side of the conservation center, and their is an argument to be said to move all the "conversations centers" further away from the cities... But, I guess people need parks and stuff, and public spa...

My parents mailed my bike to me in Tennessee Background, Context, and Assumptions Wise can be economic Best reasons to agree  (+): I had a lot of good experience. Growing up with my closes brother being 8 years older than me, it was good for me to see what other people were like.  Going on a mission forced me to grow up, and become who I am. I lived by myself. Ever few months I could start over with a new co-worker.  You can find yourself better through hard work, and dedication to something better than through philosophy classes, or acting stupid with fellow vapid, ignorant teenagers.  Before I went, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I went into the home of some engineers, that seemed to have a pretty good life. I was a "business" major before my mission, and changed to "mechanical engineering" after my mission. That decision has greatly impacted my life, and I quickly made back the money that was spent on that decision. I always f...