Last Wednesday evening Colorado Governor, Jared Polis, had the chance to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Polis was one of the Democrat governors who were given such an opportunity alongisde Kathy Hochul of New York, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and of course Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz of Minnesota. Polis has been the governor of the Centennial State since 2018 and most recently won his reelection bid in 2022 by an almost 20-point margin. Polis has helped drive Colorado in a progressive direction and while it was a Democrat specific event, Polis’ comments were broadcasted to a national audience. Polis used such an opportunity to say the following,

As a Redditor, gamer, entrepreneur and Swiftie from the free state of Colorado, I’m excited by Kamala Harris’ vision for protecting and expanding our personal freedom, Internet freedom and economic freedom. Democrats welcome weird but we’re not weirdos telling people who to marry, whether or not to have kids. These Project 2025 guys, like Trump and Vance, are not just weird, they’re dangerous.

Weird has become the Democrat approved label for Trump and especially Republican V.P. candidate, JD Vance. In his first rally as the Democrat V.P. candidate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota said this referring to Trump & Vance, “You know it, you feel it. These guys are creepy and yes, just weird as hell.” There really is not a better description of the battle in America today than the battle over what is normal and what is weird. For radical candidates like Harris & Walz to be at the top of the ticket for the Left means they are trying to legitimize their positions or in other words, they are trying to normalize their strangeness. In a recent Federalist piece, Vagrant of Rhodes explained this concept as such, “The abnormal, once relegated to the fringes, use their newfound power to chase normality out of all systems and institutions, actively seeking to eradicate any reminders of their aberrational existence.” Essentially, the society they envision is built around catering to the exceptions and the weird rather than defending the norms of life. In his book “No Place for Truth”, David Wells helpfully explained this dilemma,

Worldliness is that set of practices in a society, its values and ways of looking at life, that make sin look normal and righteousness look strange. It thus gives great plausibility to what is morally wrong and, for that reason, makes what is wrong seem normal.

Furthermore, it is noteworthy that Governor Polis deems Trump and Vance dangerous without any real explanation. As political commentator Stephen Wolfe has pointed out, “Anyone who calls your ideas ‘dangerous’ is subtly declaring that he’s a threat to you. Don’t get fooled. He or she is the danger.” Wolfe elsewhere explains, “In gynocracy, ethics is not good and evil but safe and scary.” Polis’ measure of Trump and Vance is not that they promote good or bad ideas morally or prudentially for the nation, but rather it is an appeal to emotion by saying they are “dangerous” or “weird.” He doesn’t want you to think, he only wants you to feel and for those labels to stick in your mind when you think of Trump and Vance.

Most strikingly, perhaps, were the comments Polis made describing himself as a “Redditor, gamer, entrepreneur and Swiftie.” A 49-year old man publicly declaring himself a ‘Swiftie’ is certainly an indictment of our culture. Polis, in that one sentence, communicates to every listener that he is without dignity. He does not want you to take him seriously because he does not take you and the challenges you face seriously. Societies that are governed and ruled by men and women without dignity are in serious jeopardy of retaining order. This is why transgenderism, abortion, and homosexuality issues are so critical and important to the Left. Those issues are attacks not just on morality or ethics but fundamentally are attacks on reality and nature. In turn, because participants of those activities are self-degrading, they have no concern seeing those around them degraded and disrespected. A person willing to self-mutilate or kill her own child or participate in unnatural sexual relations is actively working towards the desecration of man. Polis, a practicing homosexual himself, has proven his ability to degrade and denigrate the people of Colorado. He actively encourages illegal immigration, abortion up to birth, promotes homelessness and drug use, and celebrates perversity. This is not to mention his handling of Covid issues in which he locked down the state for an extended period of time, closed schools and did all he could to force Coloradans to get vaccinated. It should be no surprise then that the government of Colorado would try to limit who you are able to vote for or cancel public services offered for citizens in order to provide services for illegal immigrants. They have made it clear, they do not care about you and have no respect for themselves or others. Once again, this is the antithesis of why a government is actually in place. Pastor Rick Davis gets to the heart of what a civil magistrate or government is truly for when he said, “A government’s job is to secure the good of its citizens/subjects. Its job is not to secure the good of all the other countries of the world or of their people.”

This lack of dignity does not have to be the case. There was a time when the natural beatuy and grandeur of the Rocky Mountains encouraged its nearby residents to lift their eyes upward and in response, aim for excellence. One of Colorado’s famous pioneers, General William Jackson Palmer, described it beautifully,

A sight burst upon me which was worthy of God’s own day. The Range, all covered with snow, arose, pure and grand, from the brown plains. As I looked I thought, ‘Could one live in constant view of these grand mountains without being elevated by them into a lofty plane of thought and purpose?’

Many of the policies of the Left are aimed at keeping you distracted, indoors, obese, lonely and quiet. This is why the Right is slowly becoming the side which cares more about actual environmentalism, health and nature, as evidenced by Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s recent endorsement of Donald Trump. Kennedy is certainly not a Christian himself and yet recently on the Tucker Carlson Show he explained the effects of an assault on nature, “When we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine.” Colorado has the opportunity to pioneer a new identity of the Right which respects and honors both humanity and nature. Governor Polis can keep listening to Taylor Swift and browsing Reddit. Republicans should instead acknowledge and give thanks to God, as the author of all creation, and do so explicitly. A restoration of dignity will come only as a result of a renewed devotion to God. It is only God Himself who assigns to humanity dignity and value. Christians believe man is far more than just a soul and yet also far more than just a body of flesh and bones. Our politics and culture should reflect and serve the whole man. Carl Trueman, writing at First Things, summarizes the need of the hour well,

Only a reclamation, and a proclamation, of the living God in the vital worship of the Church will consecrate man and bring him back from the brink of a nihilistic, dehumanized abyss.