Creation, Purpose, and the Battle for Colorado’s Future

On May 15, 2026, guest host Marshall Dawson fills in for Kim Monson, who is away filming the sequel to A Climate Conversation. Dawson welcomes evolutionary biologist and author Cathy Russell, land-use advocate Mike Rawluk, Spartan Defense owner and State Senate candidate Teddy Collins, Free State Colorado founder Brandon Wark, and Cherry Creek parent Molly Lamar for a wide conversation on creation, property rights, and Colorado’s direction.

Data Centers, Setbacks, and Property Rights in Jefferson County

Start listening at 14:51 – Hour 1

Mike Rawluk tracks a Jefferson County data-center moratorium that returns for a rehearing the following Tuesday. The proposal would bar a data-center application unless the site sits at least 1,500 feet from a home, a sharp change from earlier rules that set no meaningful setbacks at all. Rawluk argues the county is being proactive rather than anti-business, asking where such facilities belong and how the water and electricity demands get answered before approval rather than after a fight.

He walks through the harder questions: data centers that can draw hundreds of thousands of gallons of water a day, ratepayers in places like West Virginia absorbing higher bills to subsidize private operators, and low-frequency noise that standard decibel meters miss. Rawluk wants private enterprises to fund their own infrastructure and wants engineers, not just planning staff, hearing the technical merits of complex land-use cases.

“If I’m doing something that gets over my property line onto yours, then it’s your discussion, whether it’s water, air, noise, traffic, things like that that are going to impede you or cause you to have to spend more taxes for infrastructure, more fees for infrastructure.”

Mike Rawluk, Land-Use Advocate

From Takers to Makers: A Creation Story for Young Minds

Start listening at 29:57 – Hour 1

Cathy Russell, an evolutionary biologist and president of Liberty Toastmasters North, explains that her book Evolution’s Arc grew out of a question her six-year-old son asked: where does everything come from? Researching the answer changed her own outlook. She had absorbed a university-era belief that the planet was overcrowded and in decline, and instead found evidence that the universe trends toward greater complexity, order, and creativity.

She frames the book as seven building arcs, from the radiant energy of the Big Bang to the social and creative arcs of human society, narrated by Lux, a droplet of light who has been present since the beginning. The throughline is her central argument: drawing on economist Walter Williams, Russell contends that humanity has moved from taking wealth by force to creating it by serving others, the same upward arc she sees in the Declaration of Independence’s recognition of individual sovereignty. That argument drives her call to action, asking parents to examine the creation story their children are taught and to choose one that leaves them empowered rather than demoralized.

“And as I started doing the research on this book, I discovered something so radically, profoundly amazing, which is that the entire universe is progressing.”

Cathy Russell, Author, Evolution’s Arc

Self-Defense, the Second Amendment, and a State Senate Bid

Start listening at 61:47 – Hour 2

Teddy Collins, owner of the Colorado Springs firearms retailer Spartan Defense, argues that training and the firearm itself are the great equalizer for anyone learning to defend themselves. He describes a deep inventory built around real-world needs, including dozens of state-exclusive brands, a price-match guarantee, and shipping to states where it is legal.

Collins is also running for Colorado Senate District 4, the seat formerly held by Mark Baisley, and says he won his primary at assembly and faces no primary opponent ahead of November. Talking with voters, including unaffiliated voters, he hears frustration after years of one-party control and frames the election as a chance to restore balance at the statehouse.

“We’ve had close to eight years of complete Democrat control. And when we started that partisan control, we were one of the best states in the country. Now we’re one of the worst.”

Teddy Collins, Owner, Spartan Defense

End-of-Session Bills, Surveillance, and the Front Range Rail Push

Start listening at 70:52 – Hour 2

Brandon Wark, founder of Free State Colorado, walks through how a promising food-freedom measure, HB26-1033, the so-called Tamale Act, was reshaped late in the session into tighter control of the cottage-food industry through a stricter revenue cap and registration requirements. He testified against the amended version after originally celebrating it.

Wark also flags HB26-1430, which he says was introduced in the final weeks specifically to blunt a citizen-led ballot initiative directing transportation taxes to roads, and raises civil-liberties concerns about Colorado Springs deploying drones as first responders. He calls a $3 million taxpayer-funded contract to market a Front Range passenger-rail plan a likely boondoggle, and closes by urging listeners to engage at the local level, where he says ordinary people have outsized influence.

“I really believe, Marshall, this is going to be the biggest boondoggle in Colorado history.”

Brandon Wark, Founder, Free State Colorado

Cherry Creek’s Budget Cuts and Administrative Bloat

Start listening at 98:40 – Hour 2

Molly Lamar, a fourth-generation Coloradan, former teacher, and a parent in the Cherry Creek School District, describes a week she calls sobering: the board terminated nearly 100 probationary teachers and is moving to cut 159 staff positions even as state funding rises. She says declining academics and enrollment sit alongside growing administrative payouts, with leadership perks adding roughly $60,000 to a $330,000 superintendent salary and taxpayers reimbursing district leaders for their own retirement contributions.

Lamar questions a $250,000 audit overseen by the same CFO who writes the checks, and points to a finding that the district violated the civil rights of 11 deaf students left without interpreters for three months. She wants deep cuts at the top and the savings redirected into classrooms, where she says nearly half of students are not at grade level.

“We’re getting a $5.3 million increase in state funding, yet we’re cutting $23 million from the budget.”

Molly Lamar, Cherry Creek Parent and Former Teacher