A recent article in the Boulder Daily Camera offers a pretty decent explanation as to why we aren’t listened as a group in unincorporated Boulder County. One of the last paragraphs in the article says it well: ” I think of my neighbors, one a die-hard libertarian and the other a young couple, who have, like so many people, run afoul of the county’s byzantine, unfair, unnecessarily intrusive land-use rules. And so long as you have not just one party, but a cadre of party insiders, running the show, it’s hard for citizens like these to be heard.” Check out the full article at http://www.dailycamera.com/opinion-columnists/ci_19511126.
Boulder County Building Codes Violate Property Rights 
The reason why Boulder County residents have no power is that its elections are constantly tilted toward (un)liberal Democrats by the urban majority. These voters for a large part are wards of the government or their parents in that a substantial number are supported by others, whether they be Mom & Pop or us taxpayers. It will always be in their best interests to support those candidates who promise to take the best care of them and their hobbies. They don’t cherish individual freedom. They are used to being controlled and therefore support those best suited to controlling. They are perpetual children.
Thanks for your input! Let’s be clear about something, though – the issue of building codes in unincorporated Boulder County is a non-partisan issue; republicans, democrats, liberals, and conservatives who own property in the county and have tried to do something with their property all agree! You are correct, though, as is Clay Evans in the article above – the political system in this county is broken and may be part of the reason we in the county are not listened to! Unfortunately, no one represents the people in the county; the commissioners which represent three different county-wide districts (and only have jurisdiction over county, not city issues) are elected by EVERYONE in the county (including those in the cities) and since there are 260,000 people in the cities and 40,000 in the counties, the people in the cities are essentially deciding what is right for us in the counties. And because people in the cities everywhere generally tend to be more of a certain political persuasion than those in the county, the system is set up to allow city residents to ride rough-shot over those of us in the county. This might be a little better if the county building codes were the same as those in the cities, but they are stricter – to the point of ridiculous.