If Colorado is to be a "bright spot" I hope there's a big dust-up between the liberals/leftists inhabiting her big cities and the freedom lovers elsewhere in the state. That state has become bipolar with all the California emigrants setting up shop.
Even better if societal breakdown forces the libs to choose between remaining inside the cities and being subject to the whims of the gangs they enabled, or fleeing and trusting their fate to nature or unsympathetic locals.
Either way, there's delicious irony in illustrating the fallacy of liberal/leftist indulgence.
The ones in 'Domestic Enemies' that remained in New Mexico just seemed to enjoy that state's fall way too much...like Judge Obregon, for example. You just knew there would come a time when the state's new government wouldn't have use for her, but it didn't happen within the book.