You Be You, I'll Be Me - We Can Unite For Good
Curt Bear - September 30, 2025
As I finish this month’s blog, I’ve also just finished the final interview in our Hot Nugs Conversation Series of Bonus Episodes on The LoCo Experience podcast. Six of the seven City of Fort Collins Mayoral Candidates joined me for ~45 minute conversations about the hot topics for the city - while sampling rubs and hot sauces from Matador Mexican Grill and Old Town Spice Shop - my collaborators on the project.
I had a great time with each conversation, and it’s kinda cool that whomever wins - I’ll have had a one-on-one sit down with them - before they were famous. I’m not really a political guy - more philosophical I’d say - despite some of my friends saying I’d be great in the political realm. But - I’m the kinda guy that wants everyone to like me - and if I got into politics then the 49% of people who didn’t love me - would hate me instead! Perhaps I exaggerate, but it feels that way lately, and I’m not sure I could handle that - and I’ve been wondering what we can do about it - as a community, and as a nation.
Join me in my wonderings after the link.
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Last November, I had a special Bonus election night podcast episode with my friend Aaron Everitt, along with his son Emerson, and to our surprise - we were able to call it and go home much earlier than we thought!
Aaron and I were both first time Trump voters, and he and Emerson and family had had the opportunity to meet then-Presidential Candidate RFK, Jr. in Denver only a couple of months before and had a front row seat on the MAGA/MAHA union. You’ll have to listen to the pod to get that story, and our perspectives on the election, but the punch line is that I voted for the Libertarian, Gary Johnson in 2016; thought “Is this a joke?” when I saw the candidate slate in 2020 and played along - one of 471 proud voters for Kanye West in that election; and then prayed and held my nose and voted Trump in 2024.
And then - if you read my May Blog - subtly titled “Double Vision, Deja Vu, Manufactured Misconceptions, and Constitutional Conventions”, you saw that a big driver of my Trump vote was I hoped he would keep us out of national bankruptcy - and that I was solidly on the DOGE side of the bromance breakup between Musk and Trump - enough to call for a Constitutional Convention - because to me - that’s still my most important thing as a voter! - National Solvency is really important guys and gals!
But now, Charlie Kirk has been assassinated, and as a locally reviled (I think moderate but acknowledgedly outspoken) personality willing to talk or write about the things I think, I feel it’s important to be clear - for my own safety - that I AM NOT A RIGHT WINGER!
And, for the sake of our community’s thriving, to the extent that I have any influence, it’s also important to be clear - it should be ok if I was!
As mentioned in the opening, please do check out the Hot Nugs Conversation Series on The LoCo Experience podcast - find and follow on Spotify or Apple. This series of Bonus Episodes features yours truly, one on one with the Fort Collins Mayoral Candidates sampling hot sauces and spices from Matador Mexican Grill and Old Town Spice Shop, while answering questions posed by our collaborators and the greater community. Shirley Peel’s Episode is out now, and will be followed in order of appearance in studio - Adam Eggleston, Tricia Canonico, Scott VanTatenhove, Adam Hirshhorn and finally Emily Francis. Jeffrey Shumway - I emailed you and left you a VM with no response - ping me asap we can still get you in!
One of the last things Shirley said to me during our conversation was “You are so sweaty!” - and it was true. Though I love spicy food, in my older years my composition is such that I heat up from the inside from even medium spice, and so instead of seeing the candidates sweat - you can see me sweat - if you go to our LoCo Experience Youtube Channel for the video versions of the podcast.
Some might ask - why would I do this? And - my wife and team wonder the same at times, but the truth is I do it because I love the City of Fort Collins, and I’m pleased by the notion that whomever holds this important role in the years ahead. And - I’m still not sure who I’ll be voting for - or to whom my ranked choice votes will go to.
You know about that, right? - ranked choice voting for the Mayoral race and each City District Councilmember - approved by voters in 2022 and in place for the first time in 2025. Here’s a good info page from the City of Fort Collins on topic, which includes FAQ, slide show, and a Youtube video.
I’m not sure what I think about ranked choice voting, it’s tough for my discernment to understand whether the unintended consequences will be positive or negative. To the positive, perhaps it would help more moderate candidates gain traction - one of the crazy things about our system is that the Primary election voters are the most polarized, and therefore the General election candidates tend to follow that trend - so maybe this would be a dampening influence toward polarization if implemented widely?
One of the candidates - and I’ll let you listen to find out who - explicitly said in our conversation - “I want to be your first choice - but if I’m not - I want to be everybody’s second choice.”
And - we now have 7 candidates for a local Mayoral race - all across the ideological spectrum - as far as I can discern. That has to be a negative - marketplace confusion so to speak - and I’m sure there are other potential downsides yet to be discovered. Probably a topic I should have researched more before I wrote about it, but you know me - I write like I speak, which is generally off the cuff.
A couple of weeks ago, I got curious about whether the things I used to believe, were still the things I believe - a little self-examination if you will - and I asked Grok to give me a two paragraph definition of Classical Liberalism, which is what I’ve called myself since well before I became or called myself a Christian.
Classical liberals believe in the primacy of individual liberty as the foundation of a just society, emphasizing that people should be free to pursue their own goals without undue interference from the state or others, as long as they do not harm others. Rooted in Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Montesquieu, this philosophy advocates for natural rights—such as life, liberty, and property—that governments exist to protect through the rule of law, constitutional limits, and separation of powers. They prioritize equality before the law, rejecting privileges based on birth or class, and support democratic institutions that prevent tyranny while ensuring personal freedoms like speech, religion, and assembly remain inviolable.
Economically, classical liberals champion free markets and capitalism as engines of prosperity and innovation, inspired by figures like Adam Smith, arguing that voluntary exchange, private property, and minimal government intervention in trade foster efficiency and individual empowerment. Socially, they endorse tolerance and pluralism, with thinkers like John Stuart Mill promoting the harm principle to limit state coercion to preventing harm to others, thus allowing for diverse lifestyles and beliefs. While evolving over time, classical liberalism remains skeptical of expansive government welfare or regulation, viewing them as potential threats to personal autonomy and economic vitality.
From this definition, I created a poll, as to whether respondents felt aligned with this definition, or if they wanted more help from the state, or more regulation by the state - or just curious what others think. 67% were highly aligned, 7% wanted more help, 0% more regulation, and 27% - curious.
That last one is the most curious to me. Did they not want to be aligned with Classical Liberals? Do they want more regulation by the state - but didn’t want me to know about it? Have they not spent hundreds of hours reading the writings of the Enlightenment Thinkers and the Founding Fathers and formed a strong opinion on the matter?
I’m guessing it’s more the latter - most people don’t really know this stuff. And - it’s not a criticism - I was a weirdo for studying it at the age of 15, and I’m a nerd today for being so passionate about it. But - and - I’m passionate about it because through all of my study of economics and sociology, and ethics and human psychology, and later fully supported by my study of scripture and Jesus’ teachings - I do think this philosophy to be the best for human thriving!
It’s a philosophy that to me - almost anyone can get behind. It values freedom of speech and assembly, and diversity of lifestyles and beliefs, it grants natural rights and requires equality before the law, that we not harm others, and protects life and property.
Hardcore conservatives seek to return our nation to the days of yesteryear; to large families raised by a committed mother rather than the daycare and school systems, to safe streets free of violence, to something of a village lifestyle, where deviant acts are shamed into scarcity. I was raised in a village, where everybody knew everybody, and if you spouted off to an adult - they were sure to know your father and tell him later. That’s why we drove around on country roads and drank whiskey and listened to “Outlaw Country” music albums - we wanted a little deviance in our lives - but not enough to get into trouble.
And then - I went off to college at NDSU in Fargo - where I knew no one and no one knew me.
It only took me a few months to stop saying hi to everyone who passed by on the sidewalk - and didn’t say hi back - and it took me a while to adapt to this new leap in self-responsibility. Don’t get me wrong, I was raised largely free-range, but it was in the confines of the village and surrounding area, and the limits to behavior were largely known and followed by all.
But now, not only did no one care if I went to class or not - in a room with 180 other freshmen taking required classes - but I was surrounded by people of many different cultures and backgrounds. My freshman roommate was a lot like me - farm kid from about 80 miles away - but our suitemates - the other double-room we shared a bathroom with - were from the suburbs of Minneapolis. And - they had been following the Grateful Dead the summer before, and parts of their Junior and Senior years of high school! And they smoked marijuana! I mean, like everywhere in the midwest it was barely weed at the time - Compressed Mexican Brown - CMB for short, but weed was verboten in my culture and so I was cautious.
Well, I mean, not really - I only smoked weed a few times that first year+ but the rest of my lifestyle was a wreck. I skipped way too many classes and partied way too much, and was rockin’ a fabulous 2.13 GPA after 3 semesters - on the fringe of academic probation. And then, I got a DUI, literally parked at my apartment - if I’d just gone inside and closed the door I’d have gotten away clean.
“Well, I guess you’ll have to find a way to pay your own car insurance” was the first thing my dad said to me, and so I got a job on campus to pay off my fine, and another job at a local restaurant, and became self-reliant and more responsible. And I also purchased my first dugout box and a bag of weed, and pledged to cut way back on the booze, stop cutting classes altogether, and reward myself with a mild marijuana habit and some new Bob Dylan and Bob Marley CD’s. My grades went way up, (Deans List a few times), and my anxiety went way down - AND I was at risk of prison time if I got caught with an ounce - which I would buy most of the time, so that I could sell a couple quarters and eights and smoke for free - almost.
It was during those years that my study of economics and philosophy and history was really at its’ peak, and I became what I am today - a Classical Liberal - but I suppose more on the Libertarian side of the spectrum.
Libertarians are especially focused on the no harm principle, and sometimes - in my judgement at the time and still today - the rule of law conflicted with the no harm principle. In North Dakota at that day and age, marijuana was still verboten, but I had become far less likely harmful than my prior lifestyle, and I wasn’t harming anyone while listening to Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane” album on repeat and talking business and politics and ethics with my other overachieving - and highly closeted - fellow marijuana consumers.
“You do you, I’ll do me, and let’s all be cool about it” is probably the best one-line Classical Liberal definition I can think of, and that’s the crux of where it diverges with today’s liberal or progressive ideologies. The “being cool about it” part.
In the years since college, I moved to Fort Collins, met and married my wife of now 22+ years, and I’ve become a Christian, and in many ways I’ve become more conservative. I still favor “live and let live” as policy, generally, but I do also see that the society is likely to be healthier, and more united, if there is a target lifestyle. One that includes marrying younger, so you can navigate this world together with someone - which also helps to keep your own head on straight - and that includes having children and investing in their potential and character. That doesn’t mean we’ll all hit the target - Jill and I were unable to have kids and so we host exchange students instead - but even this gives us a purpose to point toward aside from having as much fun as possible, or planning for an early retirement. Whether driven by your faith, or your family, or your community, I think we’d all do well to have targets in our lives above our career or vocation.
One thing I’ve been through the last 15 years, in addition to a Christian and a Classical Liberal, is a Rotarian. Rotary International is an intentionally non-political, non-religious organization built on the principles of Service Above Self and the 4-Way Test. Each year, we have a theme, and this Rotary year, our theme is Unite For Good.
Unite For Good is a timely theme, and for me - and maybe for you - a good target. Whatever culture you find yourself in, or social media echo chamber, or political leanings you have - can we agree that we are stronger as a community, and as a nation - if we unite for good? Can we focus on the 80% that we can all agree on, and use our ears more than our mouths to address the remaining 20%?
I hope so, because there is much to be gained, and little to be lost, by uniting for good, moving past violent actions and rhetoric, and you being you, and me being me - without fear.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!
