In a rare departure from his party’s norms in an era of hyperpartisanship, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted the sentence of Tina Peters last week. Peters, the former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder, had been serving a nine-year prison term for non-violent offenses tied to 2021 election equipment access in which she attempted to get to the bottom of widespread electoral fraud claims that were being denied by the political mainstream. After Polis’ decision, Peters is set to be released on June 1 after serving about 17-19 months.
Peters had been convicted for allegedly allowing an unauthorized individual linked to election integrity activists to be given access to voting systems, aiming to preserve data revealing irregularities. A jury convicted her in August 2024 after a Soviet-style show trial on charges including attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, official misconduct, and failing to comply with Secretary of State rules. The trial judge made it clear the biased nature of the proceeding in the sentencing where she was lambasted as a “charlatan” peddling “snake oil” with no remorse.
An appeals court later ruled the sentence excessive, partly because it improperly penalized her protected speech and beliefs. Polis, citing this and the disproportionate punishment for a first-time, non-violent offender, stated. “We don’t punish people in this country for having strange beliefs.” This move has drawn ferocious backlash. The Colorado Democratic Party’s central committee voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to formally rebuke their governor, barring him from key party events and declaring the decision inconsistent with Democratic values on election integrity. Colorado Democratic Party chair Shad Murib called Polis’ decision a dangerous precedent yielding to President Trump’s pressure, and they hope to shame, humiliate and perhaps even cancel Polis for bucking the hivemind.
Polis, a progressive Democrat who is far-left on social issues, has championed policies that are soft on crime, including alternatives to incarceration and criminal justice reforms that have empowered criminals throughout his state. But with his decision, Polis has shown that his beliefs are rooted in sincere and consistent albeit misguided ideology. Polis looked at the case and understood that Peters’ sentence far exceeded those for similar public official misconduct cases. Polis is a Democrat who values fairness over partisan retribution—a rarity in the party that is now dominated by deranged Marxist radicals.
The vast majority of leftist Democrats champion leniency for violent offenders—releasing low IQ thugs who prey on the vulnerable with the tragic case of Irina Zaretska being a prominent example—while demanding draconian punishment for political opponents. The vast majority of Democrats wanted Peters, whose detractors even have to admit her actions involved no violence, theft, or ballot alteration, to rot in prison to send the message to those who fight for election integrity: Shut up or you will be next. Polis’ commutation of Peters humanizes Democrat opposition, and that cannot be tolerated in a movement that hopes to repeat communist atrocities in our homeland sooner rather than later.
Paleoconservative thinker Sam Francis coined “anarcho-tyranny” to describe the dynamic that now fuels the leftist pathology: a state that fails to enforce basic order against real criminals (anarchy for the lawless) while oppressing the law-abiding with excessive power (tyranny for the compliant). Under anarcho-tyranny, violent street crime goes under-punished, sanctuary policies shield illegal alien invaders, and soft-on-crime reforms empty prisons—yet political dissidents, election skeptics, and cultural traditionalists face the full weight of the state.
This is the overriding goal of much of the modern American Left. They decry “over-incarceration” for the dregs of society while pursuing lawfare against parents at school boards, pro-life demonstrators, or 2020 election questioners. Tina Peters’ initial sentence exemplified this: nine years for data access irregularities, while violent recidivists cycle through lenient systems as leftists work to remove cash bail. In the Soviet Union, gulags held political prisoners for “crimes” like questioning the party line, while common criminals often received lighter treatment or ideological rehabilitation. Castro’s Cuba and Mao’s China similarly weaponized justice against class enemies and dissidents while excusing “revolutionary” violence. Today’s American Left follows suit: protect the party line, no matter how insane it may be, at all costs while crushing opposition.
Polis deserves credit for this act of clemency. As a term-limited governor facing party fury, he prioritized what he saw as justice over political expediency. Yet this should not be misread as an olive branch or broader Democratic moderation. Polis remains an outlier. His party censured him resoundingly, signaling control by its most extreme wings. Democrats’ institutional commitment to “protecting democracy” translates to jailing grandmothers for procedural lapses while excusing threats to actual public safety.
America cannot thrive under anarcho-tyranny. The Left’s principles are anti-civilizational: erode trust in institutions through selective enforcement, import chaos via open borders and soft policing, then tyrannize patriots who notice. Defeating this requires that we never compromise with radicals who view opponents as existential threats. Polis deserves credit for having basic humanity and doing the right thing for Peters, but his decision was an aberration. The broader Democratic apparatus, lorded over by maniacal fanatics, does not share Polis’ inclinations. The days of bleeding-heart liberalism are coming to an end. The rising neo-Marxist Left replacing it is an existential threat that must be destroyed.
Tina Peters will soon walk free, her felony conviction intact but she will be able to spend the rest of her life with her family and be hailed by millions as a hero for election integrity—like she deserves. This rare instance of Democrat mercy changes little in the larger struggle, however. The anarcho-tyranny of the far-left Democrats must be dismantled root and branch if our Constitution Republic is to last for generations to come.
