Conservatives have always held that principles should govern power, not the reverse. Today that order is slipping. Too many in our movement have come to defend policies because of who advances them rather than whether they are wise: tariffs that function as taxes on American consumers, expansive industrial policy, and open hostility toward longtime allies. Whatever one thinks of any single measure, a movement that follows its leader wherever he goes has stopped being a movement of principle.
Tuesday’s sweeping rejection of Republican leadership demonstrates this larger failure within the conservative movement.
Just as serious is the failure to explain policy decisions. Some objectives are defensible, and preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is among them. But a president who asks the nation to bear risk and cost owes it a clear account of the goals, the stakes, and what success looks like. That work of explaining, persuading, and educating has not been done. Months into the conflict with Iran, Americans see a stalemate rather than a strategy with a path to conclusion. Meanwhile, promises made on tariffs and energy costs remain largely unfulfilled. After years of a constant daily barrage, many Americans are simply exhausted.
We say this as friends and fellow travelers of the conservative cause. Conservatives have failed to educate. We have not taught the principles of limited government, free enterprise, and ordered liberty to a new generation, and the result is a public that is too often economically illiterate and historically illiterate. A people who do not understand how markets work, or why the Founders built the structures they did, are easily led by slogans and grievances.
That is why the work of the Centennial Institute matters. We exist to teach first principles, to apply them with intellectual honesty, and to equip citizens and leaders to think clearly – whoever holds office. Our task is not to cheer or to jeer, but to recover the moral and intellectual foundations on which a free society depends.
Here in Colorado, the challenge is close to home. Too much of our energy goes to infighting, and too often we rally behind unserious and unelectable candidates. Governing requires seriousness, character, and the ability to win persuasion by persuasion. Colorado conservatives can do better, and we will help by continuing to provide forums for robust education and training to better equip our leaders with the resources necessary to govern well.
Colorado voters appear to have delivered victories for conservative principles as Propositions 132 (fentanyl penalties), 133 (child trafficking), 134 (school sports), and 135 (gender transition surgeries for minors) continue to lead in the vote count. Yet, with the majority of Colorado’s public offices moving further left, the threats to these citizen-led, voter-approved initiatives have already begun. Our newly elected officials now question how to adjust the implementation of these laws to better fit their political agenda.
We also saw ballot questions pass that further increase the financial burden on individuals and small businesses, which will undermine the state’s ability to foster prosperity and affordability. The narrative seems to be consistent in results across the nation — people want common-sense, conservative policies, yet continue to elect liberal candidates who’ve moved further and further to the left.
We can no longer sacrifice our communities by moving to friendlier places because those too are dwindling. It is our responsibility to take vested interest in our communities and state to preserve the principles which ensured Colorado’s prosperity in the first place.
Centennial Institute was founded to impact culture in support of Faith, Family, and Freedom for our Future. That mission is more important than ever – particularly in shaping the culture our young adults will carry forward. That future begins now, and we will continue to train up the next generation of thoughtful Christian conservative leaders to go forward and impact our state and nation for grace and truth.
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Centennial Institute is Colorado Christian University’s think tank, mobilizing ideas on faith, family, and freedom to strengthen America’s future. Colorado Christian University is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization that does not endorse or oppose any candidate or political party for public office.
