Colorado’s Oil and Gas Stranglehold and the Lessons of Machiavelli

On Tuesday, October 7, 2025, Kim Monson examined how Colorado’s regulatory apparatus stifles natural resource development with Laramie Energy CEO Bob Boswell, welcomed board game entrepreneur Mark Monson, heard from personal injury attorney Jon Boesen on workers’ compensation protections, and hosted a spirited Machiavelli book discussion with Luke Cashman and Producer Joe on the second anniversary of the October 7th Hamas attack.

Entrepreneurship and the Power of Disconnecting to Reconnect

Start listening at 21:00 – Hour 1

Mark Monson describes his five-year journey from a spark of creativity to a fully funded Kickstarter campaign and a finished board game, Legend of the Eight Isles. Monson handled every aspect of development himself, from writing rules to managing overseas manufacturing in China. When tariffs hit midway through production, he absorbed the added costs as a solo publisher rather than abandon the project.

The game pits one player controlling the villains against a team of heroes across multiple maps, with characters inspired by animals and even Monson’s own dog. Designed for ages eight and up, sessions can last 15 minutes or stretch across an entire evening. Monson argues that board games pull people away from screens and force genuine face-to-face interaction, something he sees as increasingly rare and vital.

“When you don’t talk directly to people, you don’t really treat them as people.”

Mark Monson, Creator of Legend of the Eight Isles

Colorado’s Regulatory War on Natural Gas and Data Center Development

Start listening at 32:39 – Hour 1

Bob Boswell, CEO of Laramie Energy, breaks down how Colorado’s regulatory environment has choked off natural resource development in a state ranked sixth nationally in oil and gas reserves. Boswell points to the ECMC’s shift toward environmental priorities over constructive resource development, and the layering of duplicative, unnecessary regulations that have pushed data center investment to Virginia and Texas while Colorado has attracted a handful at best. He notes that 70 percent of Colorado’s land is federally owned, and the state’s administration has fought development of those public minerals to the detriment of its own citizens.

Boswell explains the critical distinction between baseload power, the consistent energy supply needed for daily demand, and peak load capacity required during extreme weather events like Winter Storm Uri in Texas. Wind and solar serve as supplements, he stresses, not replacements for reliable natural gas generation. Lithium battery storage can sustain only one to two days of demand, making an all-renewables grid by 2040 physically impossible with current technology. He predicts the federal government will renegotiate its memorandum of understanding with Colorado to allow hydrocarbon development on public lands, potentially overriding the state’s restrictive posture.

“What we’ve had in Colorado is a administration that has consistently fought development of our natural resources in the state to the detriment of the people of the state.”

Bob Boswell, CEO of Laramie Energy

Workers’ Compensation and the Cost of Waiting

Start listening at 63:09 – Hour 2

Jon Boesen warns that the most common and costly mistake injured workers make is failing to report workplace injuries when they happen. Defense counsel routinely argues that unreported injuries occurred outside work, at the gym or on a hiking trail, destroying a worker’s claim before it begins. Boesen urges anyone hurt on the job to file a written report immediately, whether through an employer’s claim form, a text message, or an email, and then seek medical care under the workers’ compensation system that the employer’s insurance is obligated to cover.

Boesen stresses that a simple early phone call for legal advice can prevent enormous problems down the road. Much of the workers’ compensation system, he argues, is structured against the injured worker, and people simply do not know the procedural traps that can undermine legitimate claims. He connects his advice to the day’s closing Dickens quote about procrastination, reinforcing that swift action when action is needed can make all the difference.

“People can make so many mistakes because they don’t know how things are set up. And in the workers’ compensation system, I would argue, I would say so much of it is set up against the injured worker.”

Jon Boesen, Boesen Law

Machiavelli, Religious Power, and the Limits of Government Force

Start listening at 72:19 – Hour 2

Luke Cashman leads the discussion on chapters 11 and 12 of Machiavelli’s The Prince, written in 1513 and published in 1532. Chapter 11’s treatment of ecclesiastical principalities, states governed by religious authority, sparks a wide-ranging conversation about the Catholic Church’s historical military power, the expansion of Islam, and how divine mandate makes conquered populations uniquely easy to control. Luke observes that Machiavelli himself was imprisoned and tortured for his writings, a fact that underscores the chapter’s careful deference to the Church and highlights the founders’ radical departure in rejecting the divine right of kings.

Producer Joe draws a parallel between ecclesiastical authority and modern climate policy, arguing that environmental ideology functions as the political left’s religion, granting power to those who champion it. The discussion shifts to chapter 12 on mercenary soldiers and whether American military commitments abroad have turned the United States into a kind of mercenary state, lending its forces to allied nations’ conflicts. The Portland unrest provides a live case study: Luke argues that presidential deployment of the National Guard against civilians sets a dangerous precedent any future administration could exploit, while Joe counters that years of unchecked destruction have exhausted less forceful remedies.

“Take the arguments you know you are using and apply them to yourself. It’s a little difficult to really scrutinize your own beliefs, but I think it is incredibly important to really apply that lens to not just what’s happening around you, but to what’s happening to you and yourself and in your party and spaces as well.”

Luke Cashman, Producer, The Kim Monson Show

“But when the government is picking and choosing what constitutional rights they’re going to follow and adhere for us, that’s where I think we’re getting into a tumultuous time is the radical left says, no, you can’t have guns, but you can talk and say whatever.”

Producer Joe, Producer, The Kim Monson Show