Now that Democrats have tightened their blue-knuckled grip on state offices more tightly than ever before, and the expected national red wave turned out to be more of a pink ripple, where does the Republican Party go from here in Colorado? How can this setback lead to renewal?

First, Republicans in Colorado must “purge some of the poison in the system,” a phrase Newt Gingrich applied to the party after his resignation from Congress in similar circumstances a quarter-century ago.

“The Republican Party needs a hot bath with a wire brush and lye soap,” said Karl Schneider, vice chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party.

I asked the vice chairman his thoughts because the chairwoman, Vickie Tonkins, is part of the problem for Republicans in Colorado.

She is among the first who needs to be purged. Her efforts to divide the party in its very stronghold, to censure mainstream Republicans right before the election who did not subscribe to her extreme views, has cost the party dearly. El Paso County should have been the engine driving Republicans throughout the state to wins instead of the tailpipe spewing divisiveness.

“Vickie had to go a year ago,” said Schneider. “Without reservation, Vickie Tonkins has done more to damage Republicans than if she were a Democrat. El Paso County could do a lot more for Republicans.”

Just before the election, members of the county party’s central committee approved a resolution to “censure and condemn in the strongest possible terms” more than 30 current and former elected officials, GOP nominees and party volunteers associated with Peak Republicans, an effort launched this spring by local Republicans who said they couldn’t count on the county party to get behind Republican candidates

It’s those Peak Republicans who are the real Republicans, though; Tonkins and her band of reactionary Republicans, most of them election deniers, are the ones who need to be purged from the party. The level-headed Republicans in El Paso County won Tuesday, Schneider points out. “The Steve Schleikers, the Chuck Broermans, the Leon Kelleys, Mary Bradfield, they won. The level heads, who believe “yes, we have our desire for small government, less interloping into our lives, but at the same time we have the interests of the public at heart. They know how to talk with people other than themselves. They talk outside of an echo chamber.”

How do Republicans go forward? They need a complete overhaul. Republicans in Colorado need a new messenger, a new message, and new ways of messaging.

“We need somebody who’s got credibility, someone of character, integrity, someone who is thoughtful and a thinker,” agrees Schneider, a former Green Beret and MIT scholar. “We need people who don’t discount others whether or not they have a D or an R behind their name. We need compassion.”

Republicans need to be better at their message, too. They need to give people something to vote for, not just vote against.

“What does our message say when we have people like Tonkins who take our platform and say if you don’t click on every one of these boxes, you’re unclean, you’re a RINO? (Republican in Name Only.)”

Republicans need to have a message that is about smaller government, about the power of public-private partnership, an honest message about smart government that for example, acknowledges our impact on the environment, but persuades Coloradans that we shouldn’t eliminate oil and gas production wholesale before we’re ready.

“But there needs to be the ability to work with people,” said Schneider. “I’m staunch this, I’m staunch that. That tells me you can’t work with anybody,” Schneider said. “My way or the highway. That’s not reality. What we’ve gotta have is a message that we can work with people.”

And then Republicans need to change the way they are messaging. “We can’t scream at people, we can’t degrade people,” said Schneider. No more rage and recrimination. “It’s the Golden Rule, is really what it is. Maybe that’s it: The Republicans need to get back to the Golden Rule.

“We need to have that Golden Rule mentality in how we are perceived. We’ve got to be able to convey our message in not such a vitriolic, acidic, “You’re wrong, I’m right” way. The Dems could learn from that, too.”

If this election has a message, it may the return of the normies. It may be that we have finally reached the limit of crazy that will be tolerated. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s unexpected struggles in the 3rd Congressional District may be the surest sign of that.

We may finally be done with Boebert’s brand of “angertainment,” done prioritizing performance politics over policy, done with people who want to burn books, destroy art and hang journalists.

“We are not the Boeberts, the Tonkins, the Dave Williams, the Trumps,” exclaims Schneider. “The Republican Party is more than that.”

Yes, Trump. For the party to go forward in Colorado, it needs to perform a Trump exorcism.

“Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the United States of America,” Schneider said.

My colleague in Washington, Hugo Gordon, editor of the Washington Examiner, put it this way:

“The biggest, most important step toward sanity and full electability that the Republican Party can take is to recognize that Trump is yesterday’s man, not today’s or tomorrow’s.”

It might be time to find the party’s Reaganesque “morning in America” roots, and recombine it with a little George W. Bush “compassionate conservatism.” The Doom and Gloom Republican message doesn’t seem to be making any headway in Colorado.

“Our party here should lead,” Schneider said. The party should have a messenger, message and messaging that is positive, encouraging, uplifting and inclusive of all Republicans. “Not just a brand of Republican that is so far to the right that it makes me want to vomit,” Schneider adds. 

This would be good for Democrats, too. Colorado needs a healthy opposition party. A one-party state is like capitalism without competition. Competition is what makes us better. Accountability keeps one party from overreach, from becoming too ideological rather than problem-solving, and from impinging on citizen’s rights. Gov. Jared Polis wouldn’t for a minute have promised to make Colorado one of the 10 safest states in the nation in his next term if Republican candidate for governor Heidi Ganahl hadn’t pounded him relentlessly on high crime rates.

One-party states don’t work. Just look at the list of current ones: China, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Laos.

That is not company we Coloradans want to keep.

A Republican revival is a good, necessary thing for all of us. Let’s pray the Grand Old Party has the courage to do it.