Moving forward post-election — Using the powers and tools we still hold

Just weeks ago, tens of millions of Americans were hoping and praying we would elect a president who would respect our nation’s laws and prioritize working people over billionaires. Now, we are grappling with feelings of sadness, fear, and anger as we face a second Trump presidency instead.

It will take some time to analyze all that led to Trump’s victory, but one key factor is already clear. Nations across the globe faced intense inflation following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In every developed country, the party that governed during the post-pandemic/inflation period was voted out. The US followed suit. 

Working people were already experiencing a system that was stacked against them when the post-pandemic inflation hit. Many lost faith in the idea that our government could make their lives better. Along with many others, they voted for change or chose not to vote at all. 

The US has become entrenched in a system that serves billionaires over working people. Between 1981 and 2021, spanning presidencies of both parties, about $50 trillion moved from the bottom 90% of Americans to the richest 1%. Essentially, the ultra-rich got even richer off the wealth that the rest of us created. This unjust system absolutely needs to change.

Trump presented himself as a change candidate, but his policies will make this outrageous income disparity even worse. His top priority is to give major tax breaks to the super rich. His plan to establish tariffs will increase inflation. His plan to dismantle unions will hurt workers’ wages and benefits.

Most Americans oppose the far-right agenda of Project 2025, which includes eliminating the Department of Education, restricting access to contraception and abortion, and weakening the development of renewable energy. Trump knew Project 2025 was deeply unpopular and tried to distance himself from it. Once he takes office, he’ll attempt to put those policies in place. 

So what do we do now?

Trump has stated that he plans to rule as if he is above the law and has unlimited power. He does not. That’s not how our government works. 

Historically, wanna-be authoritarian rulers have expanded their power by making people feel alone and powerless, convincing them that resistance is pointless. We can all play a role in stopping that narrative in its tracks. We do have power now. We need to use it and build it.

Wanna-be authoritarian leaders have lost power when people use their power to resist. We saw this eight years ago when Trump tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare. With Republicans controlling the House and Senate, many thought this was a done deal. But because ordinary people pressured their representatives relentlessly to keep the ACA, some Republican Senators feared for their own re-election and did not go along with Trump. The ACA was saved and millions of Americans were saved from losing their health insurance. 

As Trump attempts to implement his immensely unpopular policies, more and more people will recognize that the MAGA movement is making things worse for their families, not better. We can welcome these folks into our increasingly broad coalition of people who oppose the MAGA agenda.

The MAGA playbook relies on divide and conquer. They want us to fear and hate immigrants, transgender people, Black people, or whomever they decide to scapegoat next. If they can get us to turn on each other, they disempower all of us. Instead of taking their bait, we need to double down on protecting and caring for one another. 

America has faced dark times before and we’ve found our way through them. Thanks to the work of everyday people who never gave up, we made our way through the horrific exploitation of workers in the early 1900s and the legalized racism of Jim Crow. 

Our country has always been torn between those who hoard power and wealth at the top and those of us who believe that freedom, justice, and the right to a good life belong to all of us. That conflict will take new forms with Trump as president; we can take inspiration from past struggles and continue the good fight. 

Less than 48 hours after Election Day, over 140,000 Americans joined union leaders, tribal leaders, Members of Congress and others on a national call to begin the process of building our power and resisting the Trump agenda. Indivisible, Working Families Party, Rural Urban Bridge Initiative and other smart, strategic groups have been organizing mass calls as well. Attending these calls has given me the strength and inspiration to keep moving forward.

Whether you’re heartbroken by the election results or you voted for Trump and are having second thoughts, I encourage you to find a group that speaks to you and join the growing coalition of Americans committed to fighting for our loved ones, our neighbors, and our future.

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale chairs the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.

Bruell column: If we don’t shape our future MAGA will; Be a voter

The freedom to vote and have our vote counted is the heart of who we are as Americans. Our nation was founded to give people a say in shaping their future. Our constitution gives us the right to choose who makes the laws that impact our lives. 

Initially, only rich, white, men were granted the right to vote in our country. Since that time, many brave Americans have fought, and even died, to extend that right to all of us, whatever our race, gender, or income level. And our struggle for voting rights continues.

The January 6 attack on our country was an attempt to deprive 81 million Americans of their vote. Donald Trump and his allies conspired to violently overthrow the will of the American people and install Trump in the White House after he lost the election. But he did lose the election, and the people prevailed.

As the Republican-dominated Colorado County Clerk Association (CCCA) has pointed out, election deniers continue to spread lies and distrust in an attempt to “convinc[e] voters their vote doesn’t count.” When people think their vote doesn’t count, they don’t bother to vote. 

MAGA Republicans would love nothing more than for us to sit out this year’s election – that way they can decide our future for us, controlling what healthcare we can access, what books we can read, and who we can love and marry. 

MAGA Republicans have been going to great lengths to try to keep people from voting. In addition to eroding people’s faith in our election systems, they have pushed measures in many states to make it harder for eligible Americans to cast their ballots, including reducing the number of ballot drop boxes, shutting down polling centers, and making it illegal to provide food or water to people waiting in line to vote.

They’ve filled the airwaves with so much bigotry and lies that it can make us want to tune out November’s elections altogether. But if we don’t vote to protect our freedoms, MAGA Republicans are prepared to take those freedoms from us – the freedom to make decisions about our own bodies, to provide our kids with an honest and accurate education, to breathe clean air and drink clean water. 

Coloradans seem to understand the power of voting. In 2020 we had the second highest voter turnout rate in the nation. 

Colorado’s election system is considered the gold standard in terms of making voting accessible to all eligible voters. Here in Garfield County, we have Ballot Drop Boxes available in every town, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through Election Day on November 5. Our county clerk highly recommends that we utilize those designated Drop Boxes.

You can also mail your ballot by affixing one Forever stamp and putting it in the mail by October 28 to ensure it arrives by Election Day. (Postmarks don’t count; mailed ballots must be received by the county clerk’s office by 7:00 PM on Election Day in order to be counted.) Or you can vote in-person before or on Election Day. Details are on the Garfield County website. 

MAGA Republicans would like to take us back to a time when the powerful few had the right to control how the rest of us live. They know their current plans to rob us of our freedoms and give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy are unpopular, so they try to distract us from their policies by riling up fear and hatred toward already marginalized people in our communities. They hope that if they can make us fearful about immigrants or transgender folks, we won’t think about how their policies will negatively impact our families and neighborhoods.

Most of us see that sleight of hand for what it is. Now we need to turn that knowledge into action and make sure the people we know are voting. Talk with your neighbor, your hairdresser, the folks you visit with at the dog park, bus stop, or coffee shop… 

Eligible voters who don’t vote are significantly more likely to be left-leaning than right-leaning. Take a chance and ask the folks around you if they know about the upcoming county commissioner and state-wide elections. Many anti-Trump voters are unaware of the extent to which MAGA politics has crept into our local communities, from book banning to climate change denial. We need to help people understand that electing Democrats at the local level is crucial to keeping MAGA maneuverings out of Garfield County.

If we want to continue to have a say in our future, and not allow MAGA Republicans to take our freedoms from us, we need to vote the entire ballot this year. Voting is vital to our larger fight for a future where we work together to protect the rights and freedoms of all of us – no matter who we are, where we come from, or who we love.

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale chairs the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.

Garfield County rises above hate

Last month, voters in Rifle, Silt, and New Castle recalled far-right school board member Tony May by a huge margin. Their success is an inspiring example of what we can accomplish here in Garfield County when we come together across our differences and work for positive change. 

Nationwide, only 2% of attempts to recall a school board member succeed. Despite these odds, Re-2 Recall supporters gathered over 20% more signatures than they needed and the recall passed by a whopping 15 percentage points. 

The recall effort was led by the non-partisan community group Coalition for Responsible Education in Re2. The diversity of this group was key to their strength. The official three-person Recall Committee included a Republican, Democrat, and Independent voter; two Anglos and one Latina. The group endorsed Republican Scott Bolitho as their candidate to replace May. 

In contrast to the Coalition’s embracing of diversity, May’s backers employed the typical MAGA strategy of spewing hateful rhetoric and personal attacks. They enlisted far-right, anti-LGBTQ political figures from outside our community who are masters of this strategy, including former Garfield County resident Sherronna Bishop.

Bishop is Lauren Boebert’s former campaign manager and a close ally of Tina Peters, the former Mesa County Clerk recently convicted of four felonies related to election interference. Bishop’s Facebook page is filled with anti-LGBTQ+ posts and personal attacks.

Supporters of the recall effort were subjected to a barrage of baseless name-calling throughout the campaign, from horribly offensive insults like “groomers” and “pedophiles” to bizarre claims that they were “Marxists” and “communists.” 

These same accusations are hurled at teachers and librarians across the country who, for example, stand up for teaching the truth about slavery or including books with gay characters in our libraries. The far-right political agenda outlined in Project 2025 calls for teachers and librarians to be “registered as sex offenders” if they allow kids access to books that do not adhere to Project 2025’s “biblical definition” of marriage and family. 

Legislators are facing similar attacks. Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow was accused by a fellow senator of “grooming” kindergartners after voting in support of the rights of LGBTQ+ youth. McMorrow’s response went viral with over 14 millions views. “Call me whatever you want,” she stated on the senate floor, “We will not let hate win.” 

“It’s really easy to motivate people with fear,” McMorrow explained in an interview, and our kids are suffering as a result of the current fear-mongering against LGBTQ+ people. She described a visit to a high school in her district: “The first question was from a girl, probably 15 or 16, who said, ‘You know, I identify as queer. I’m LGBTQ. Why do they hate us?'”

MAGA politicians are riling people up to fear and hate members of the LGBTQ community, people of color, and immigrants in an attempt to get people on board with whitewashing our history and banning books with gay, Black, or Brown perspectives. These politicians are pushing the idea that only straight, white, Christian people can be true patriots.

Fortunately, the vast majority of Re-2 community members refused to be drawn into the anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry. They decisively rejected the attempt to impose whitewashed American Birthright Standards in their schools. Unfortunately, however, our libraries are now under a similar attack. 

This past year we’ve heard countless claims that the only people who could possibly be against restricting access to certain books in our local libraries are pedofiles and groomers, Marxists and socialists. Sound familiar?

Last week, the Colorado Library Association awarded the Outstanding Library Trustee of the Year to our Library Board President Adrian Rippy-Sheehy. They honored her for championing the freedom of expression and actively fighting against censorship and the suppression of ideas here in Garfield County. 

We can all support Rippy-Sheehy’s fight against censorship simply by voting in this November’s county commissioner elections. As the non-partisan community group Protect Our GarCo Libraries has documented, this election could fundamentally change the future of our local libraries. 

Before casting your vote this November, make sure you know where each candidate stands on these issues. Do they support the new Colorado law to protect libraries from partisan book-banning, or oppose it? Do they support the library operating as an independent public entity as it did from 2008 to 2023, or do they believe the commissioners should control the make-up of our library board? Do they support the library’s mission of providing free access to information, or do they think the library should restrict access to books they deem objectionable?

Let’s build on the success of the Re-2 Recall Election and take inspiration from Rippy-Sheehy’s award-winning work to resist censorship. Make sure your friends understand the stakes of this year’s county commissioner elections when it comes to maintaining free access to a wide diversity of books in our libraries.  

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale chairs the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.

Let’s honor our voting-rights heroes by participating in democracy

With Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz as her vice-presidential running mate, the buzz around this year’s election is growing. 

In Rifle, Silt and New Castle, an exciting local election is already underway: A bipartisan group of Garfield Re-2 School District residents took matters into their own hands last year and set in motion a Recall Election of a far-right school board member. Ballots have been mailed and are due August 27. 

Nationally and locally, now is a great time to be a voter.

This month marks the anniversary of two milestones in our nation’s history of voting rights. The 19th Amendment was ratified in August 1920, granting women the right to vote. The Voting Rights Act passed in August 1965, expanding federal oversight of elections and banning the barriers that local and state governments had constructed to prevent Black people from voting. 

It took decades of courageous activism by countless Americans to get these two major pieces of legislation passed – both of which moved our nation closer to its promise of treating everyone equally before the law and giving everyone a say in our government. 

The first woman’s rights convention in the US took place in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. Hundreds of women attended. Organizer Elizabeth Cady Stanton defined their goals as to protest “disgraceful” laws that “give man the power to chastise and imprison his wife, to take the wages which she earns, the property which she inherits, and, in case of separation, the children of her love.”

Convention participants passed 11 resolutions demanding equal rights for women, including the right to vote. It took over seven decades of brave activism – women wrote articles, circulated petitions, held house meetings, organized marches, undertook acts of civil disobedience, served jail sentences, and held hunger strikes – before they were finally granted the right to vote.

While the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, it wasn’t until 1965 that Black women and men were guaranteed the right to vote. Before that time, state and local governments used illegal voter suppression tactics such as poll taxes and literacy tests to keep Black people from voting. The Ku Klux Klan dominated many communities in the South, ensuring that Black citizens literally feared for their lives if they even attempted to register to vote.

In Selma, Alabama in the 1950s and ’60s, this reign of terror against Black people was particularly acute. The county sheriff, Jim Clark, recruited a posse of Ku Klux Klan members to operate as his “anti-civil rights force.” To raise awareness of the violent oppression that was keeping Black citizens from voting, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Council organized a 50-mile march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery in March 1965.

Sheriff Clark, along with his officers, his posse, and Alabama state troopers, rode their horses directly into the crowd of 600 peaceful protestors. Wielding whips and nightsticks, they beat the demonstrators back to Selma. The entire brutal scene, soon to be known as “Bloody Sunday,” was televised to millions of Americans. After decades of local activism, the situation finally garnered national attention.

Two weeks later, 2,000 people set out on the three-day march from Selma to Montgomery, this time protected by the federal army, as ordered by President Lyndon Johnson. By August of that year, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act.

Protecting our right to vote and pushing our nation to live up to its promise of voting rights for all is a struggle that continues to this day. Using Donald Trump’s false claims about massive voter fraud as cover, Republican state legislators have introduced over 250 pieces of legislation to restrict voting. A recent Florida law prevents ballot drop boxes from being used after work hours or on weekends. Texas banned all 24-hour voting centers, popular among low-income voters who work night-shifts.

Last month Trump told his supporters, “You have to vote on November 5. After that, you don’t have to worry about voting anymore. I don’t care, because we’re going to fix it. The country will be fixed and we won’t even need your vote anymore…”

Whether you’re progressive or conservative, we can all do our part to make sure Trump doesn’t get elected and “fix it” so that our votes will never be counted again. 

The countless activists who risked, and sometimes gave, their lives for the right to vote understood how precious that right is. Let’s honor those American heroes by casting our ballots in this year’s local and national elections and encouraging others to do the same. 

This could be the year we elect the first Democrats to our Board of County Commissioners in over a decade and the first-ever Black woman as President of the United States. Be a part of this history in the making.

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale chairs the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.

Everyday Americans stronger than MAGA hate

A secretly recorded Zoom video leads to national coverage of western Garfield County

Even though a jury of everyday people unanimously found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felonies, MAGA hardliners have not let up on pushing their fear-mongering agenda, even right here in Garfield County.

The Denver Post recently reported that the far-right hate group Moms for Liberty is active in Garfield County. This should come as no surprise as we’ve been seeing a rise of local controversies with a cadre of residents demonizing the LGBTQ community, vilifying immigrants, and manufacturing a moral panic around our libraries.

The anti-democracy MAGA agenda, which is outlined in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, is unpopular among Americans; it loses repeatedly at the ballot box. That’s why far-right leaders try to sneak it in underhandedly by instructing their followers to take over local schools and libraries. Rather than supporting schools and libraries as institutions that help us all become well-informed, critical thinkers, MAGA activists aim to use schools and libraries to advance their rigid ideology. 

Our county witnessed this strategy last fall when Garfield Re-2 School Board President Tony May tried to push the far-right American Birthright Standards. Community members rose up in opposition, leading the district to organize a Social Studies Committee to formally gather input. All Re-2 staff and community members were invited to participate. 

A wide cross-section of community members convened for a total of about ten hours, and discovered common ground around providing children an honest and accurate education. In the end, 83% of participants voted to adopt Colorado’s State Standards, rejecting American Birthright Standards.

Some committee participants then formed the Coalition for Responsible Education in Re-2, which is pursuing a recall of May. The Coalition is supporting Republican Scott Bolitho to replace May in the recall election.

The Coalition’s grounds for recalling May include that he has “repeatedly misused his position…(to) bully parents, staff and community members with whom he disagrees” and he “blatantly disregards District policies and processes.” 

The recall effort has broad, bipartisan support. The three-person Recall Committee includes a Republican, a Democrat, and an Unaffiliated voter; two Anglos and one Latino. The current mayors of Rifle, Silt, and New Castle all signed the petition as did over 20% more Re-2 community members than is required to trigger a recall election. The date for that election will be set soon.

Rather than addressing the issues raised by the Coalition, May and his defenders have attacked individual supporters of the recall, calling them “communists,” “predators,” and “Satanists.”  May also filed two protests, claiming Garfield County Clerk Jackie Harmon set an incorrect timeframe for the petition. In both hearings, May’s claims were dismissed.

A secretly recorded video, which has made national news, reveals the extent to which May is being directed by outsiders, including Sherronna Bishop, the fervent defender of indicted Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, and Killie Kohls of the far-right group Moms for America. Bishop and Kohls instruct May and his followers to put their “propaganda machine” to work, insist the school district cover May’s legal fees, and “make Tony look like a victim.”  Listen to the straightforward comments by Coalition founder Willow Brotzman at the May 8 board meeting, and May’s absurd attempt to paint himself as a victim by declaring, “I’m going to take that as a threat.” 

Texas School Board Member and Republican Courtney Gore has provided unusual insight into the disinformation campaign driving the far-right’s attack on schools. Gore campaigned as a conservative hard-liner, promising to root out from every classroom the “sexualization of children” and inappropriate teachings about race. After winning her election, Gore spread out hundreds of pages of curriculum across her living room and spent evenings and weekends poring over them.

She was shocked to find zero evidence of “leftwing indoctrination.” Excited to share this good news with her campaign-backers, she found they didn’t want to hear it. Gore said they were more interested in attacking schools for their “leftist indoctrination” than the reality that schools were simply teaching kids “how to be a good friend, a good human.” 

Gore was smart enough to realize she was being played by outside influencers and brave enough to speak out about it. “I refuse to be someone’s puppet,” she posted, “I refuse to participate in any agenda that will dismantle or abolish public education…I refuse to participate in divisive politics any longer… I am still a conservative, Christian and a Republican.”

In Garfield County local community members are also calling out attempts by the far-right to turn neighbors against neighbors. MAGA activists are outnumbered here by those who are standing up to hateful rhetoric and insisting upon kindness and respect for all.

From the twelve members of the jury that convicted Trump to Re-2 community members, we’re seeing how everyday people can resist the hate and bullying of the MAGA agenda, and shape our future for the better.

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale chairs the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.

Caring for our seniors in Garfield County and beyond

I believe we can all agree that we want older Americans to have food on their tables, a roof over their heads, and the healthcare they need. Local candidates often express support for taking care of our seniors here, but which candidates have what it takes to critically examine and improve our senior service programs so that they have a bigger impact on more people’s lives?

Protecting our reproductive freedoms in Garfield County

The vast majority of Americans value the freedom to decide when, if, and how we have children. We want our loved ones to have access to the reproductive care they need. Even in red states like Ohio and Kentucky, recent ballot measures reveal broad common ground on this issue.

Regrettably, many lawmakers have been out of sync with their constituents and opposing measures to protect access to contraception, fertility treatments, and abortion.

In addition to the twenty-one state legislatures that have passed anti-abortion laws in the last couple years, over 70 American cities and counties have enacted local abortion bans. Counties in Texas have made it a crime to use local roads to drive someone to get an abortion. Counties in New Mexico have made it a crime for mail carriers to deliver abortion-related medications within county lines.

Anti-abortion activists like Mark Lee Dickson are on a mission to create “sanctuary cities for the unborn” across the nation. He’s now targeting cities and counties in states like ours where abortion remains legal, hoping for a legal battle that would ultimately land in the Supreme Court, which is friendly to the anti-abortion cause.

While it may seem improbable that Garfield County commissioners would take action to restrict access to contraception or abortion in our county, the commissioners are certainly on a roll with inserting themselves into issues that, until recently, were outside the scope of our local politicians.

In March the commissioners weighed in on the issue of immigration, passing a non-sanctuary resolution filled with divisive and xenophobic language about immigrants. 

In February, in response to a small, vocal group pushing to restrict access to certain library books, the commissioners decided to give themselves more authority in relation to our libraries. They passed a resolution outlining an “alternative (library) trustee appointment process”

so that they could “take control” over all library trustee appointments. 

Just five months earlier, the commissioners had published a press release explaining that the authority to administer decisions regarding a special district like the library district “lies with the board appointed by the special districts, and not the county commissioners.” Concerns about library policy, the press release states, should be “directed to the library district board.” Through their February resolution, they put the power to influence library policies into their own hands.

Candidates for county commissioner often hide their unpopular views and avoid answering questions by saying that certain issues are outside the scope of their responsibilities. Given the BOCC’s recent decisions to expand their scope, we would be wise to find out sooner rather than later where the candidates stand on important issues like reproductive freedom.

I asked all the commissioner candidates their position on proposition 89 to protect Coloradans’ access to abortion. Democratic candidates Caitlin Carey and Steven Arauza responded that they support this initiative and are committed to protecting access to reproductive healthcare. The two Republican candidates did not respond. But their voting records are revealing.

Candidate Mike Samson bent to the pressures of anti-abortion activists and voted to pull funding from our local Planned Parenthood in 2012 and again in 2015.

Just last year, Candidate Perry Will voted against reproductive freedom multiple times in the state legislature. He even opposed Colorado’s Deceptive Trade Practices bill, which makes it illegal for “crisis pregnancy centers” to falsely advertise that they provide abortions or emergency contraceptives when they actually only push girls and women to continue their pregnancies. Will voted to allow these centers to continue their false advertising. 

Now that Texas and other states have “bounty laws” that allow private citizens to earn themselves a handsome “bounty” of at least $10,000 by suing anyone who helps a person get an abortion, Colorado passed the Safe Access to Protected Health Care bill last year. This law protects medical providers and others in Colorado from being sued or criminally prosecuted if they help people from other states access abortion or gender-affirming care in our state. Will voted against these protections for Coloradans.

Let’s not be fooled into thinking it doesn’t matter how far right our commissioners are because they supposedly only deal with local issues. These days, local politicians across the country are taking actions that erode reproductive freedoms, freedom of information, the separation of church and state, and the integrity of our elections.

Who would have thought in recent county commissioner elections we needed to ask the candidates their position on American Library Association policies? Had we asked, some candidates probably would have refused to answer, stating, “That’s outside our role as commissioners.” And yet, here we are now with the commissioners taking over the process of selecting library trustees in an effort to influence library policies. 

We should care where our local elected officials stand on important issues like reproductive freedom–and we should be concerned if they refuse to tell us.

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale chairs the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.

Our libraries are amazing – let’s keep them that way

Children deserve the freedom to learn and the freedom to be themselves. Public libraries actively support those freedoms for all kids, regardless of their background or identity. Garfield County libraries are a shining example of how libraries can create spaces where all kids feel like they belong.

Sadly, in another attempt to fuel divisions within our communities, certain politicians and far-right organizations are trying to turn people against our libraries. They are manufacturing a moral panic around certain books — supposedly for their sexually explicit content, but the books they are going after are disproportionately those by or about LGBTQ+ persons and people of color. Books with LGBTQ+ characters and books addressing racism are being targeted even when they include no sexual content.

Getting people riled up against our libraries and these books serves their larger political agenda, which is spelled out in The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a plan to guide a potential second presidential term for Donald Trump. Over 100 far-right organizations have endorsed the project.

The 900-page policy book Mandate for Leadership outlines the policy priorities for Project 2025. It calls for a “biblical definition” of marriage and family and eliminating the Department of Education, teacher unions, and all diversity, equity and inclusion programs. It refers to “transgender ideology” as “pornography,” and advises that teachers and public librarians who provide access to such materials “should be classed as registered sex offenders.”

One of Project 2025’s “coalition partners” is Moms for Liberty, a group that advocated loudly in favor of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and is currently leading the charge to ban school and library books across the country.

Last fall, the nation-wide attacks against libraries reached Garfield County. A small vocal group began pushing to restrict access to certain books they claim include “deviant sexual activity” — and the Garfield County commissioners jumped on the bandwagon.

At one county commissioner meeting, a community member characterized the American Library Association as being “very opposed to heterosexual Christian family values” and supporting “a climate agenda,” and Commissioner Mike Samson agreed.

“Everything you said is correct,” Samson said, “May God bless you for saying what you said today.”

The commissioners say they don’t want to ban books, they “just” want to ensure minors can’t access certain books. Restricting access to books, however, is a form of banning books, which runs counter to our libraries’ mission of providing free access to as wide a selection of books as possible.

The targeted books are currently shelved in the adult section of our libraries, as are thousands of other books containing content inappropriate for children. Librarians have never before been charged with the responsibility of preventing children from reading those books.

As Rifle resident Christy Ray stated at the Freedom to Read forum: “Is it the public library’s responsibility to decide what I or my family reads? And is it a government official’s responsibility to decide what I or my family reads? …(T)he answer to both is a resounding no.”

The vast majority of Americans agree: parents should have the freedom to decide what their children can or can’t read.

The local effort to restrict books has revealed itself to be about more than simply protecting children from sexually explicit content. One of the targeted books was not even part of our library’s collection until a leader of this group requested it. Another leader removed a book from the adult section of the Silt library and left it in the kids’ section, face up to a sexually explicit image. Recently, our libraries discovered over 100 books dealing with LGBTQ+ themes or Latino immigration that were removed from the shelves and hidden.

Rather than focusing their time and energy on addressing our housing crisis or the upcoming wildfire season, the commissioners have decided to start regulating the library by taking control over the process of selecting new library trustees, eliminating the longstanding practice of library trustees themselves selecting each new member.

Protect Our GarCo Libraries, a group of concerned community members, urges everyone to help maintain the integrity of our libraries by writing Letters to the Editor, speaking up at BOCC and Library Board meetings, and attending the commissioners’ April 30 meeting when they will be interviewing library trustee candidates.

Ordinary people throughout history have fought to make our libraries welcoming and accessible to all. Women’s clubs of the 1890s delivered library materials to remote rural areas. Black student activists in the 1960s held sit-ins to desegregate public libraries. Now it’s time for us to join together and ensure our libraries serve and honor all our kids equally.

Let’s speak up in support of maintaining our libraries as places where all kids — whatever their background, immigration status, sexuality or gender identity — can see themselves reflected in books, read about struggles similar to ones they may be facing, and celebrate their authentic selves.

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale chairs the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.

Let’s resolve not to play the blame game

Most of us here in Garfield County believe in treating each other like neighbors, no matter what we look like or where we come from. We know our community is stronger and safer when we take the time to get to know one another, and when we respect and support one another.

The Garfield County Commissioners’ recent “non-sanctuary” resolution undermines these values. The resolution invokes racist stereotypes and divisive rhetoric that can foster fear and resentment between neighbors. It blames immigrants for all sorts of community ills while doing nothing to actually move us toward solutions. 

The newcomer immigrants that arrived in Carbondale last fall were drawn to the area by the large number of day labor jobs that continue to be offered in unincorporated Garfield County. Many qualify and have applied for Temporary Protective Status so they can work here legally. While their applications are being processed, many are homeless.

Carbondale Mayor Ben Bohmfalk explained that their town council had considered a “do nothing” approach in response to the situation, but decided against it once they realized the likely consequences of doing nothing — from overwhelming law enforcement officers to people freezing to death sleeping outside in the winter months. The town chose a “do something” approach instead. As a next step, they are planning a regional conversation around the issue. The commissioners have said they do not plan to participate. Sound familiar?

Instead, the commissioners passed a resolution which takes no concrete action, promotes racial profiling, and targets immigrants as a catch-all villain for the challenges facing our communities.

Blaming immigrants and people of color for our country’s struggles has become a popular national trend among some lawmakers. The same week that Samson introduced his “non-sanctuary” resolution, Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) featured racist stereotypes of immigrants as a central theme in her melodramatic rebuttal to President Biden’s State of the Union Address. 

Britt exploited the story of Karla Jacinto, who was sex-trafficked as a young girl, to criticize Biden’s border policy, deceptively implying that the sex traffickers were immigrants to our country. In fact, Jacinto’s abuse happened in Mexico between 2004-2008 and had nothing to do with Biden or his border policy. 

This kind of baseless slandering of immigrants of color is typical among MAGA Republicans who would prefer that we spend our time attacking immigrants rather than looking at these lawmakers’ voting records or the fact that the current Republican-controlled Congress has been one of the most unproductive and dysfunctional in American history. The infighting and chaos within the House Republican majority, including repeatedly turning against their own leadership, has kept them from having much time for actual lawmaking.

Nowhere is MAGA Republicans’ lack of action more evident than around border policy. The staunchly conservative Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) represented Republicans in the border bill negotiations earlier this year. The bipartisan bill Lankford helped to negotiate included most of the measures Republicans have been demanding.

Nevertheless, Trump commanded Republican legislators to reject the bill because he didn’t want to lose his favorite campaign talking point of hammering the Democrats on their border policies. Most Republican lawmakers bowed to Trump’s demand. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) stated outright that he was opposed to a bipartisan border bill because it could help Biden’s approval rating.

When the border bill was released, many Republican legislators went on social media feigning alarm at the bill’s content, even though Lankford admitted he had briefed those legislators on the bill’s specifics weeks beforehand.

Less than two weeks after Republicans killed the bipartisan border bill, the three Garfield County Commissioners each took the opportunity at their February 20 meeting to take a jab at the Biden administration’s border policy, as if Republicans in D.C. hadn’t just killed a bill which would have tightened the border.

We rely on our local elected officials to make a positive impact on our lives, not to simply blame others for our struggles. In some Colorado counties, commissioners have taken concrete actions to increase the number of early childcare providers in their counties; in others, commissioners have established improved systems for communication with residents during wildfire emergencies. 

Meanwhile, Garfield County commissioners repeatedly let childcare credits from the state go unused and drag their feet when they’re invited to participate in regional efforts to address wildfire safety, affordable housing, public transportation, traffic, or homelessness. 

We have elections coming up in November. Together we can elect commissioners who have the energy and desire to roll up their sleeves, collaborate with others, and take concrete actions that improve our communities and foster a mutual respect among neighbors.

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale chairs the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.

Learning from 7-year-old Ayanna Najuma

In honor of Black History Month I want to share an inspiring story of a young Black girl who helped improve our country –  a story with a surprising connection to Garfield County today.

Ayanna Najuma was just seven years old in 1958 when she sat down at the “Whites Only” counter of Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City along with her teacher and several schoolmates. She asked the waitress, “May I have a hamburger and a Coke, please?” This simple, reasonable request had radical repercussions. 

The waitresses refused to serve these young Black customers, who refused to leave without being served. Dressed in their Sunday best, they sat at the counter for hours, with magazines and coloring books, preventing white customers from ordering lunch themselves.

Infuriated by the audacity of these Black children, some white customers yelled at them, spat on them, and poured ketchup and coffee on them. The children’s parents and the other adult organizers of the sit-in had prepared them for this kind of response; the kids remained calm and resolute. 

The next day, the children returned and the attacks by white customers continued. On day three of the sit-in, the children were served their hamburgers and Cokes, and Katz Drug Store eliminated their Whites Only policy at all of their stores across five states. 

When I first saw the photos of Najuma as a skinny little girl in her pretty white dress being glared at by enraged adults, my gut reaction was alarm that her mother allowed her to be in that situation. When my own two daughters were young, I did everything I could to protect them from being exposed to human cruelty, let alone being the target of it.

My gut response of protectiveness was the reaction of a white mom who had the option of shielding her young children from meanness and abuse. Najuma’s mom had no such choice. The degradation of segregation was inescapable for Black families in the south in the 1950s, as was the constant terror of never knowing when a family member might be arbitrarily thrown in prison or even murdered by a lynch mob.

In a recent interview Najuma was asked if she even understood what the sit-in was about when she was just seven. “Oh, absolutely,” she responded. “Despite the fact that we were asking for a hamburger and a Coke,” Najuma said, she was well aware that “really, we were asking for respect and dignity.”

Najuma said she was raised to believe, “I was just as good as anybody else and I wasn’t better than anybody else.” That’s what she kept in mind during the sit-in.

In 2017, Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books, printed a story about Najuma titled, Can Kids Change the World? They also invited kids to send letters to Najuma, and she has now heard from over 25,000 children.

Here’s where the Garfield County connection comes in: For several months, a local group has been berating county library trustees for not agreeing to restrict access to certain books this group finds offensive. The person spearheading this effort also urged Garfield Re2 school board members at their 12/13/23 meeting to stop promoting Scholastic and to ban Scholastic book fairs from the schools.

This person’s statements echo that of the far-right national group Moms for Liberty, which claims that Scholastic is “indoctrinating youth with radical viewpoints” by publishing books that address racism or include gay or transgender characters. Meanwhile, Moms for Liberty recommends W. Cleon Skousen’s The Making of America to teach history, a book which describes American slave owners as the “worst victims” of the slavery system. 

Fortunately, Scholastic agrees with the great majority of Americans that countering racism requires that we acknowledge its existence in our past as well as present-day society. Scholastic also stands with the majority of us who understand that including gay and transgender characters in books helps children learn that all human beings deserve the same respect. If we want all kids to believe, as Ayanna Najuma did, that they are as worthy as any other person, they need to see themselves reflected in the books they read.

Scholastic President Ellie Berger recently told their authors and illustrators, “We are committed to providing access and choice, and to helping young readers develop critical skills needed to exercise democracy and build a society free of prejudice and hate.”

Najuma believed that she could make changes to an unjust system. Those who oppose teaching stories like Najuma’s would prefer that we forget the power each of us has to help create a more egalitarian, just, and caring society. 

Black History month is a time to celebrate everyday heroes like Najuma who remind us we all have the power and responsibility to keep pushing our nation closer to its revolutionary ideals of equality and freedom for all. 

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale chairs the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.

Colorado’s county clerks stand strong but will our commissioners?

Thanks to Colorado’s bipartisan association of county clerks, I’m able to start this year off writing about a rare and refreshing instance of Democrats and Republicans working together to move our country forward in a positive direction.

Last month, the Colorado County Clerk Association (CCCA) published a letter to all of our state’s elected officials urging them to help restore confidence in our elections. “We need your courage and your voice to help us counter the lies and amplify the truth,” the letter reads.

Membership in the CCCA includes the Democratic and Republican county clerks of all 64 counties in our state. Seven Republicans and one Democrat serve on their executive board; the executive director is a Republican.

In their letter, the CCCA reminds us that, “all evidence and testimony from Trump’s own legal team completely reject the claim that the election was stolen.” Anyone who continues to support the lies about massive voter fraud in the 2020 election, the CCCA continues, is “undermining our Constitution.”

Here in Garfield County, I’m grateful that no groups have cast doubt on the validity of our local election system. Clerk Jean Alberico handed the reins over to Clerk Jackie Harmon in 2022, and I believe we can all agree that voting here has continued to be accessible to all registered voters and the ballot-counting process has remained fair and accurate.

In addition to asking elected officials to confirm the reliability of elections within their own jurisdictions, the CCCA urges our leaders to defend Colorado’s elections as a whole and help debunk the nationwide lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

One consequence of this ongoing lie, the CCCA states, “is the very real threats against our election officials here in Colorado and across the country…” 

Just before the 2022 midterms, the FBI identified Colorado as one of seven states with the highest number of threats against election workers, including death threats targeting some of Colorado’s county clerks. The threatening and harassing of election workers by election deniers is expected to increase nationwide as we approach the 2024 election.  

Earlier this month Attorney General Merrick Garland warned of a “deeply disturbing spike” in the number of violent threats against public officials as a whole, including law enforcement agents and judges. A recent study found that 41% of pro-Trump Americans believe that violence may be necessary to “save America.”

If we want to be a nation governed by the rule of law, and not by bullying and violence, we need to put to rest the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. The CCCA is urging every elected official in our state to do their part to correct the record regarding the 2020 election.

As Republicans who have been in their positions for decades, the Garfield County Commissioners are in a uniquely powerful position to root out the Big Lie here in our county. 

While we have been spared the hateful and racist attacks against public officials happening in other areas, plenty of county residents still believe and perpetuate the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. By sharing the facts in the CCCA letter with their constituents–including long-time friends, co-workers, and supporters–Garfield County Commissioners could influence local election-deniers in a way that few individuals or elected officials are in a position to do.

Unfortunately, when asked at their January 8 meeting if they would comply with the CCCA request by assuring their constituents that Biden was legitimately elected and there was not massive voter fraud in 2020, all three commissioners refused to answer. 

Commissioner Martin praised Garfield County’s elections, then proceeded to cast doubt on the election systems of other Colorado counties. Commissioner Samson said nothing during the 10-minute conversation except, “Nope,” when asked if he wished to respond. 

The commissioners are well aware of their potential to impact state and national issues. They’ve spent close to $2 million of taxpayer funds fighting statewide environmental and public health protections. Last year they spent thousands of taxpayer dollars attending and speaking at a national conference of an anti-conservation, climate-denying organization. 

When it comes to the Big Lie, however, the commissioners are hypocritically claiming they have little to do with state or national issues. 

Commissioner Jankovsky added that election-denying is irrelevant because it’s old news. “That’s old…really old,” he said, “Almost four years old.” 

The Republican-dominated CCCA board disagrees. They understand that lies about the 2020 election continue to justify the ongoing threats and political violence we’re experiencing as the 2024 election approaches. 

Please join me in contacting the commissioners and urging them to join the ranks of the bipartisan CCCA by bravely speaking the truth and affirming unequivocally that Trump lost the 2020 election and Biden was legitimately elected. As the CCCA states, “Now is the time for courage, not cowardice.”

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale chairs the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.

A New Year’s resolution to stop doomscrolling and do something

As 2023 draws to a close, I want to remind everyone of the victories we saw this past year as Americans came together to protect our freedoms and defend the dignity of all members of our communities.

In Kentucky, incumbent Governor Andy Beshear, a champion for the rights of transgender Kentuckians, won his re-election by a resounding five points. Beshear’s opponent had made his anti-trans sentiments a cornerstone of his losing campaign. 

In Virginia, after the governor endorsed a state abortion ban, candidates in support of abortion rights defied predictions by retaining and gaining enough seats in the state legislature to block the ban.

In Ohio, voters successfully adopted a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing individuals the right to an abortion, passing the measure by a large margin despite steep obstacles presented by anti-abortion groups. Ohio was the seventh state to vote on an abortion-related ballot measure since the overturning of Roe v. Wade; all seven states have voted to protect our reproductive freedom. 

In Wisconsin, Judge Janet Protasiewicz won a seat on the State Supreme Court, making it likely that the court will finally address Wisconsin’s extremely gerrymandered legislative maps, which have been particularly discriminatory against the state’s Black voters.

In a nutshell, MAGA extremism lost big time in the 2023 elections. 

The amazing victories of 2023 didn’t just happen; they succeeded thanks to people from every age group, race and political party who believed they could impact their future and who put in the time and effort to do just that.

Had all the polls and political pundits convinced Kentuckians that transgender rights was a losing battle in their red state, the anti-trans candidate might be sitting in the governor’s seat right now. Had the media convinced Virginians that fighting for abortion rights was pointless in their Southern state, being pregnant in Virginia now might be as dangerous as it is in Texas and Idaho. 

With polls and speculations about the 2024 election now filling the media, we need to remember that nobody has a crystal ball to see the future, but there is one thing we know for certain: If we allow the political pundits to depress us to the point of feeling helpless about our future, a Trump victory will be much more likely.

As AFL-CIO’s former political director Michael Podhorzer stated, “(A)s long as we have more confidence in the media’s ability to see the outcome than in our own ability to affect it, we surrender before the battle for our freedoms begins.”

MAGA Republicans continuously spout “bah, humbug” statements about our government, elections, and even democracy because they know they have a better chance of winning when large portions of Americans become cynical and hopeless and check out of politics. Let’s not fall for it. Let’s not be fooled into believing we’re powerless to impact an election that’s almost a year away.

We absolutely need to keep ourselves informed and remember what is at stake in next year’s presidential election. Trump’s plans to “come after” people who disagree with him and use the US military against US citizens are terrifying.

At the same time, we can be more thoughtful about how much and which news we consume. There’s no point in spending so much time reading bad news that we feel too deflated to do anything about it. 

We can also be more careful about the news we share and the conversations we have. Spreading panic about the prospect of a second Trump presidency can contribute to the false and dangerous notion that Trump represents strength. Americans love strong leaders. So rather than adding to Trump’s illusions of grandeur, let’s remind people of Trump’s weaknesses.

As Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman wrote, “Trump’s performance in office was feeble.” His puffed up promises to repeal Obamacare completely flopped, his grand plans for “Infrastructure Week” became a running joke, and the authoritarian leaders that he bent over backwards to appease managed to “play Trump for a fool.” 

“Like any bully,” Obama’s former advisor Dan Pfieffer noted, “Donald Trump pretends to be a dictator to hide his own weaknesses.” 

For a New Year’s resolution this year, consider a commitment to dedicate more time working to impact the results of the 2024 election than worrying or spreading panic about it. Join an organization, talk with your neighbors, write letters to the editor, and help out a local candidate. From Garfield County to Washington, the issues are all connected and we can often be more impactful at the local level.

This New Year, I hope you’ll join me in resolving to keep in mind the hard-won victories of 2023 and do our part to ensure another victory for American families and our freedoms in 2024. 

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale chairs the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.

Giving thanks to local champions of equality and inclusion

In this month of Thanksgiving, I feel so grateful to live in a community that actively defends the core American belief that we are all created equal.

A diverse group of Garfield Re-2 School District community members and teachers have come together recently to safeguard the idea that all of us — of every race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity — deserve to be honored and respected for who we are. 

Last spring, Re-2 School Board President Tony May introduced measures mirroring the undemocratic actions of the Woodland Park (WP) School Board — actions which have led about 40% of their school staff to resign.

The WP school board was taken over in November 2021 by a slate of candidates backed by the Truth & Liberty Coalition, which advocates for abstinence-only sex education, forbidding students aged 12-18 access to mental health services without full disclosure to their parents, and banning teaching about the privileges held by white people in our country compared to people of color.

Truth & Liberty’s founder, Andrew Wommack, is also the president of WP’s unaccredited evangelical bible school Charis and the founder of Andrew Wommack Ministries, which spans 18 countries and generated over $100 million in revenue in 2021. 

Wommack proselytizes that being gay is “one of the major threats of the devil” and that Americans who oppose Trump are victims of a “demonic deception.” Rep. Lauren Boebert, an adherent of Wommack, explained to his followers that engaging in politics is key to “ushering in the second coming of Jesus.”

Seven months after Wommack stated, “We ought to take over Woodland Park,” the candidates he backed were elected to the WP school board.

The new board has banned books, eliminated 15 mental health positions, forbid teachers from speaking publicly about the schools, fired teachers for speaking out, berated teachers for having a “psycho agenda,” and recruited a charter organization to take over a school that had just won the Governor’s Award for Distinguished Improvement. 

The WP board is the only one in the nation to adopt the American Birthright Standards (ABS), which explicitly opposes “current events learning…media literacy…and virtually any pedagogy that claims to promote ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ or ‘social justice.” ABS advocates for the federal government to “withdraw from regulating or funding any aspect of K-12 education.”

Despite this anti-teacher, anti-public school agenda, Re-2’s Tony May has pledged to follow their lead. “I too am a Patriot,” May wrote to a WP school board member, praising their board for supposedly rescuing the district “from the clutches of socialists.” 

May introduced a resolution against the state’s mental health services that copied WP’s resolution almost word for word. He also pushed Re-2 to adopt ABS.

Fortunately, the Re-2 community has pushed back. Dozens of community members have attended school board meetings to share their concerns that ABS provides a false, whitewashed version of history; erases the contributions of people of color; and emphasizes memorization over critical thinking. 

Latino graduates of the Re-2 schools have argued that without standards that “acknowledge and represent the student body,” which is about 55% Latino, we won’t stop the kind of bullying they experienced as kids in Re-2 schools. 

Through the amazing organizing of Re-2 community members and the willingness of so many to participate in the district’s standards review committee, working through their differences to discover their shared values, the community convinced the board to adopt the state standards over ABS; May cast the sole dissenting vote.

WP has seen similar successes. Eighty-one teachers and staff members bravely defied their district’s gag order by signing a petition and organizing a press conference; the teachers union sued the district for violating teachers’ first amendment right – and the district withdrew the policy.

Diverse community members are finding common ground in their desire to return to commonsense school priorities. WP parent Joe Dohrn, a self-described “life-long conservative,” narrated a campaign ad to oust WP board members. Rifle parent Angela Strode told May that his “outlandish” push for ABS has actually brought Democrats, Republicans, and Independents together as they seek to prioritize student learning. “People from across the spectrum are now united in our community,” Strode said.

This coalition is now working to recall May for being unfit for office. The three-member  Recall Committee consists of one Republican, one Democrat, and one Unaffiliated voter; one member is Latina and one is an Re-2 teacher. All have children in district schools.

The struggle in Re-2 is far from over. The new board could underhandedly adopt ABS as a “curriculum” rather than standards.

Thank you to the courageous community members and teachers in Re-2 who continue to stand up for equality and inclusion. To learn more about the recall effort or sign the petition, visit http://www.re2schoolboard.com or email the Coalition for Responsible Education in Re-2 at coalition4re2@gmail.com.

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale chairs the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.