From Boulder (of all places!) Comes a Hero?
I was not in-country when Jared Polis, the gay heir to Blue Mountain Arts, a greeting-card company created by his mother and netting him tons of money to use to seed his own entrepreneurial aspirations (and he’s a Democrat?!), was elected to represent Colorado’s ultra-Leftist 2d District (which includes Boulder). As such, I was pretty ho-hum to learn another gay Democrat had been elected to Congress, let alone from that district.
But when he wrote an Op-Ed piece for the Wall Street Journal coming out against the auto bailouts in favor of liberty-minded cuts in taxes, in blatant defiance of spendthrift Democrats running the House (before he even got there!), I sat up and took notice. While his voting record has been pretty lock-step Leftist (he voted for the pork stimulus and the cap-and-trade bills), he has recently taken another bold step in defense of sound and responsible fiscal policy and (natch, therefore) against his party’s leadership.
Thursday, Polis led a group of 22 Democrats in the House in a letter to Speaker Pelosi, admonishing her, that, among other things, “[i]f our nation is going to lift itself out of recession, small businesses will once again need to lead the way.”
The entire letter (save for the sops to the notion that this ridiculous healthcare Stalinization bill “could not come at a better time”) reads like it could have come from the Club for Growth or Heritage Foundation. It even gives passing reference to the pending expiration of Bush’s tax cuts. (One wonders if perhaps Jared will be so bold as to call for a halt to that?)
I recommend you read the whole thing. It makes the case that Republicans who oppose the surtax have been making since it reared its ugly head. Perhaps coming from members of her own party, Pelosi will listen.
Then again…
-Nick (ColoradoPatriot, from HQ)
UPDATE (from Dan): Sorry, Nick, not ready to call the guy a hero. So, what if he writes a letter? Obama promised to go line-by-line through the federal budget, rooting out waste, then to give us a “net spending cut.” Not seeing that, are we? Until he puts his money where his mouth is and breaks with his party on key votes, ending that, as you put it, “lock-step Leftist” voting recrod, I’ll see him as just another grandstanding Democratic politician, mouthing the words they know their constituents want to hear while spending our money like drunken sailors and regulating like self-righteous busybodies who “know,” due to their superior education, knowledge and innate wisdom what’s best for all of us.
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then again. . .
He is voting how she wants while deriding what he is voting for. I’d feel more warm fuzzies if he was actually voting fiscally responsible. But making the claim “We need to protect Small Business” and then voting to kill small business with Cap and Tax, Porkulous, and sounds like he is on board for Deathcare, is just so much mouth noise.
Comment by JP — July 17, 2009 @ 9:49 pm - July 17, 2009
Meanwhile, Chairman Zero’s War on Capitalism rages on. The latest casualties: 1,000 defense workers lose their jobs because of Obama’s defense cuts. Maybe they can get “green jobs” processing pig sh-t into methane for Master Blaster’s energy plant. Oh, wait. No, methane’s a greenhouse gas. I guess they’re SOL.
Comment by V the K — July 17, 2009 @ 9:53 pm - July 17, 2009
I skimmed the letter and it’s a plea for protection, not a fundamental philosophical impasse. Any voices for fiscal sanity are appreciated, but if socialized medicine isn’t fought mainly on the moral battlefield rather than merely the fiscal one, we’ll all reach the same undesirable goal eventually. The President’s and Speaker’s premises aren’t being challenged — only the means of payment. Well, they are Democrats.
Ironically, Obama views the current Congressional complexion as a window of opportunity and his slash-and-burn approach may actually work against his goals rather than the usually more successful drip, drip, drip approach.
Comment by Ignatius — July 17, 2009 @ 9:59 pm - July 17, 2009
From memory,
Calvin: Hobbes, do you think our morality is defined by our actions or by what is in our hearts?
Hobbes: I believe our actions show what’s in our hearts.
Calvin: I resent that.
The Representative needs to demonstrate his words through deeds (aka votes) otherwise it’s all just empty talk.
Comment by ThomasD — July 17, 2009 @ 11:43 pm - July 17, 2009
So the millions of unemployed get the “shovel ready” jobs. Turns out they’re digging graves for those who benefitted from Obama care. But Jared convinced Queen Nan to buy Craftsman rather than Ampco and they saved a bundle from not having to buy backhoes.
YAY!
Comment by ThatGayConservative — July 18, 2009 @ 5:30 am - July 18, 2009
Actions speak louder than words. When he votes against the healthcare bill let me know and I’ll take notice of him.
Till then he is simply another politician who thinks that writing letters is more important than standing by his principles with real votes.
Comment by Leah — July 18, 2009 @ 11:41 am - July 18, 2009
I think Obama used that line, I wrote letters. Sorry, once voted into office writing letters is meaningless.
Comment by Leah — July 18, 2009 @ 11:42 am - July 18, 2009
So the millions of unemployed get the “shovel ready” jobs. Turns out they’re digging graves for those who benefitted from Obama care.
Good line. I’m ripping it off.
Comment by V the K — July 18, 2009 @ 12:48 pm - July 18, 2009
Thank you Iggy – Something that I’ve been saying for years.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 18, 2009 @ 1:09 pm - July 18, 2009
#8
If you like that, check out my avatar on Facebook.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — July 18, 2009 @ 5:39 pm - July 18, 2009
O.k. Here’s the visual agitation:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/iT-rFtaypv4lw4THgXLU1Q?feat=directlink
Comment by ThatGayConservative — July 18, 2009 @ 5:44 pm - July 18, 2009
As some one who grew up in Boulder and lives in Denver, I’m not really a fan of Polis. He seems to me to be too much of a loose cannon. I know he had that protest at the movie theatre in Boulder, after prop 8. I’m not really down with people protesting businesses like that, churches or private residences. Also, didn’t he go off on some bankers at a hearing? Dunno. I also watched his campaign vids on youtube, and some of the stuff he says is just flat wrong. A lot of green bs. Sorry!
Comment by keegan — July 18, 2009 @ 8:16 pm - July 18, 2009
President Transparency delays mid-summer budget report, because it shows he’s effing the budget worse than anyone imagined.
Comment by V the K — July 20, 2009 @ 8:48 am - July 20, 2009
This is the closest thing to a current health care thread, so here goes: Courtesy of Libertyblog, we have a glimpse into the future of health care. (Short version: Government doctor botches patient’s life horribly; patient can’t sue anybody, because it’s the government.)
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 20, 2009 @ 3:50 pm - July 20, 2009
This is the closest thing to a current health care thread, so here goes: Courtesy of HotAir, a wise man reminds us what is wrong with socialized medicine, and how lefties have been angling to pass it for decades. (Short version: Reagan.)
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 20, 2009 @ 5:33 pm - July 20, 2009
[...] week when Nick praised Boulder, Colorado’s Congressman Jared Polis for penning an op-ed in the Wall Stre…, . . . not ready to call the guy a hero. So, what if he writes a letter? Obama promised to go [...]
Pingback by GayPatriot » Media Uses Obama’s Words to Show His Emphasis Fiscal Restraint:(giving shorter shrift to his deeds) — July 24, 2009 @ 6:00 pm - July 24, 2009