From the Sunday Denver Post, July 3, 2005; page 30A.
More votes in the U.S. House of Representatives that demonstrate the Colorado delegation of radical Republicans' adherence to the agenda of the hypocritical right-wing.
You've got to love this one. Part of HR 3058 would approve a Congressional pay raise of 19% ... bringing their salary to $165,200. When was the last time you received a 19% raise? Of course, it is the hypocrisy of the "limited government" crowd that is so revealing. Always critical of the wasteful bureaucracy, reminding us that it's "our money, not the governments" ... Bob Beauprez still wants his taxpayer-funded wages -- as does Diana DeGette, Joel Hefley and Tom Tancredo. Big surprise that this spending by the federal government passed 263 to 152. Despite what they say, Republicans love that red ink if they're the ones getting some of that borrowed cash.
Next, another part of HR 3058 (big budget bill) was a proposal to save Amtrak from Bush budget cuts (always enough money for the Iraq war sink hole, always cut what real people here at home need). Now, Beauprez has made a big deal about the bacon he has brought home to the Seventh Congressional District for road improvements, like the Wadsworth and 58th Avenue in Arvada grade separation. In other words, subsidies to the automobile from the federal government are just fine and dandy. But subsidize an alternative mode of transportation? Suddenly he's all in favor of free enterprise, free markets, yada, yada, yada. We spend billions every year of taxpayer dollars to subsidize automobile and airline travel, what Amtrak receives is a pittance. But having rode Amtrak last year from Denver to Milwaukee, I can tell you that it is a shame that America has let its railroad system deteriorate ... train travel could be a terrific way for folks to travel. But, of course, hypocrite Beauprez says 'No'.
Finally, in this shortened 'day after the Fourth' commentary on Congressional votes, Beauprez shows how two-faced he is when it comes to the power of the national central government to impose its will on local communities. I am a believer in the Second Amendment interpretation that individuals have a right to own firearms. But I also maintain that communities have a right to decide most things effecting their own citizens; decentralization is a Key Value of the Green Party. So if the people of Washington, D.C., through their local elected officials, want to require that guns kept in the home be unloaded and trigger-locked, that's their business. They haven't stopped anyone from buying or owning a gun, just passed a local law about how those guns are stored. Now, how one is supposed to adequately protect oneself or family with those kinds of restrictions is beyond me ... but that is the point -- it is beyond me and my neighborhood and city here in Colorado. As we hear many times, in a democracy you have the right to be wrong. But the principle here is that why should the arrogant Bob Beauprez, banker from Lafayette, impose his ideas about running a local community on folks a couple thousand miles east of here? He always finds a way if it helps him politically ... (HR 3058, another part of the federal spending bill.)
These votes are a sample that demonstrate once again that the radical Republicans are just that -- radical. They say one thing, then vote another way ... the real trend we see in these votes is for a central government that is more and more powerful and spends more and more money that it doesn't have. But listen to the likes of Beauprez back here in Colorado on the campaign trail and you would be lead to believe that they were for 'limited government' and 'fiscal restraint'. HA!
Just remember, these guys have run up the largest federal deficits in American history, they have embroiled us in a war without end, and they love every police state power they can concoct to impose upon us here at home in the name of the 'war on terror'. The question is who will vigorously challenge these radicals in the next election? Will Democrats Perlmutter or Lamm call Bob Beauprez or his successor Congressional nominee what they really are -- radicals? Will they declare that they would have voted to reject the pay raise, support train travel, and support local control?
It looks more and more like a Green Party candidate is needed to do the job ... because the Democrats and Republicans don't have time to talk about issues. All they have time for is raising thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars for extravagant campaigns. Shouldn't these elections be about YOU? Not just the groups that have so much money to offer as legalized bribes? On this day after Independence Day, don't you think the principles of the republic should come before the sleazy campaign practices that have corrupted representative government?
Vote Green.
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