Colorado’s Progressive Colonization is the Bastard Child of Yankeedom and Left Coastism

“I was expecting the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this.

That John Denver was full of shit, man”

-Harry and Lloyd in Dumb and Dumber

In the rugged expanse of Colorado, a quiet but profound cultural war rages—one that pits the state’s freedom-loving, rural, Indigenous, and working-class communities against the progressive, urban elites of Denver and Boulder. This conflict termed here as “Progressive Colonization,” is not a mere political disagreement as a label to point out a modern form of cultural domination, echoing historical colonialism.

At its core, Colorado’s Progressive Colonization is the bastard child of two foreign ideologies: the reformist, state-centric moralism of Yankeedom and the progressive, environmentalist statism of the Left Coast. Together, these alien cultural forces have birthed a homogenizing, top-down agenda that erases the diverse identities of Colorado’s rural mountains, plains, and Indigenous territories, imposing an urban, “progressive” worldview that feels as invasive as the colonial projects of old.

The terms Yankedoom and Left Coast are derived from Colin Woodard’s book A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America which maps (some of¹) North America into 11 distinct regional cultures, each with deep historical roots that shape their political and social behaviors.

Credit: Colin Woodard

While not shown on the map or in Woodard’s book is that post “Gang of Four” Colorado really sits in a mixture or island composing of the combination of two primary regions—the Far West and the Left Coast.

Most of Colorado is in Woodard’s schema really part of The Far West which is the region originally defined by rugged individualism, self-sufficiency, and a deep distrust of centralized authority. The remaining parts of Colorado are part of El Norte, the region defined by its former ties to Mesoamerican indigenous empires, New Spain, and Mexico. In The Far West, pioneers, miners, and settlers forged this culture, resisting external control from federal governments, corporations, or distant urban centers. Yet, over the past 20 years, this ethos has been increasingly challenged by Progressive Colonialism emanating from Colorado’s urban hubs and resort towns, which bear the unmistakable imprint of Yankeedom and the Left Coast.

Yankeedom, originating from the Puritan settlements of New England, carries a legacy of communal governance, moral reform, shitty drivers, and state intervention aimed at achieving collective goals. Woodard traces how this region led historical “Progressive” movements, including abolitionism (with restrictions), women’s suffrage, and eventually the New Deal and Great Society, prioritizing a dominating centralized state run by “experts” as a moral force for social improvement.

Murray Rothbard’s analysis of the Progressive Era challenges the sanitized notion of these moral reformers, arguing that Progressivism was not a grassroots movement but a top-down project driven by urban elites, technocrats, and corporate interests. These individuals used state power to suppress individual liberties and local autonomy. Rothbard argues that Progressives, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, abandoned laissez-faire principles in favor of centralized control disguised as moral reform. This shift resulted in policies such as antitrust laws, Prohibition, war mongering, eugenics that inspired Hitler, the Income Tax, expanded gun control, and voter suppression measures that reduced turnout by homogenizing political participation.

In Colorado, this Yankee-driven Progressivism manifests in urban policies that impose social “equity”, “climate action”, and heavy regulatory frameworks, often disregarding the individualism and local traditions of rural and Indigenous communities or the free market.

Equally influential is the Left Coast, stretching from California to the Pacific Northwest, which Woodard characterizes as a progressive, innovation-driven region with a bent toward environmentalism, social justice, and state intervention. Over the past two decades, this cultural shit tsunami has washed into Colorado, carried by waves of migrants from California and the West Coast and similar waves from the North East, particularly spilling into Denver, Boulder, and into the mountain resort towns. These cities have become bastions of Left Coast ideology, embracing policies like renewable energy mandates, land conservation initiatives, and diversity programs that align with the region’s progressive ideals.

Thaddeus Russell

‘s A Renegade History of the United States challenges the sanitized narrative of Progressivism pushed in the mainstream including their failing government schools, arguing that its heroes—abolitionists, suffragists, and reformers—often suppressed the freedoms of working-class people, immigrants, women, and marginalized groups to enforce a rigid, moralistic order. Russell points out that Progressives, far from liberating, sought to control and assimilate “renegade” cultures, such as those of saloons, brothels, and urban subcultures, into a homogenized, state-approved norm. This control and assimilation included “educating” the vast numbers of freed slaves after the Civil War with the idea their cultures were inferior to that of the upper East Coast whites.

In Colorado, this Left Coast-driven Progressivism translates into urban elites imposing progressive policies that marginalize rural and Indigenous ways of life—seen in land-use restrictions, water policies, and climate initiatives based on the secular religion of Climatism that prioritize urban agendas over local autonomy and objective reality.

The bastard child of these two ideologies—Yankeedom’s moral statism and the Left Coast’s progressive environmentalism—has produced a Colorado where urban centers impose their values on freedom-loving, rural, and Indigenous peoples, creating a cultural and economic rift.

Over the past 20 years, Colorado has seen significant “progressive” reforms: the dissolution of right to bear arms, the legalization of recreational marijuana in 2012 and the subsequent pothead trust-fund transplant migration, aggressive climate policies, and social equity initiatives addressing racial and economic disparities. These changes are driven by Denver’s urban elites, Boulder’s disconnect from reality, and is aligned with both Yankee and Left Coast values. They’ve since reshaped the state’s political landscape. Rothbard’s critique of Progressivism as a tool of elite control and Russell’s view of it as a suppressor of cultural diversity however reveal the true colonial nature of these reforms. They are not genuine progress but a new form of domination, cloaked in the rhetoric of equity and sustainability, that erases the Far West’s individualism and Indigenous sovereignty.

The irony of Progressive Colonization is its resemblance to the very colonialism it claims to oppose. Just as Euro-American settlers imposed their values on Indigenous lands centuries ago, today’s Progressive Colonialists—infused with Yankee moralism and Left Coast environmentalism—impose a homogenized, urban worldview on Colorado’s diverse regions. Rothbard warned of Progressivism’s technocratic overreach, while Russell highlighted its suppression of renegade freedoms, both highlighting how these ideologies become colonial in their imposition.

For rural Coloradans and Native tribes, the result is a sense of erasure, as their cultural identities, economic livelihoods, and local autonomy are sacrificed on the altar of a progressive utopia crafted far from their mountains and plains.

To decolonize Colorado, we must understand and reject this bastard child of Yankeedom and Left Coast ideology. We must reclaim the Far West’s tradition of individualism and local self-determination, ensuring that rural and Indigenous voices shape the state’s future alongside urban communities. The imposing regional cultures of Left Coast and Yankedoom are not mere relics but living forces that continue to shape our politics and for the sake of true, freedom-loving Colorado must be forced back to the very places they came from.

1. North America spans all the way down Mexico and Central American nations to Panama.