CO-7 Why you should care about Colorado
I use words like ‘local’ and ‘Colorado’ and I expect that makes some people think I am talking about a narrow topic of minor interest. It is time to transform that impression.
The future of our planet will, in large part, be shaped by the decisions of the American empire. Our unicameral government is unlikely to make sustainable choices. With a judiciary that is increasingly drawn from the personal inner circle of the President, and a Congress that values party discipline over public good, we are slipping more and more into a single-branch single-party system.
We have already lost every fight to preserve our national system. Every right that protected me in my childhood has been accosted. Not a single one of the institutions that guarded my health, my safety, my prosperity, my right to monitor my government, or that shielded my privacy from that government’s invasions, has remained uncorrupted. The landscape of politics has shifted so violently that the banner of the Left has been pulled from true Progressives and placed in the hands of the most crass and impotent centrists, while the banner of Right has been stolen from true Conservatives and taken up by the crony power brokers, the biggest no-bid contract whores, and the most shrill Pharisee champions of big government intrusion.
In my lifetime I watched as the word ‘liberal’ became an insult and I witnessed the ‘Reagan revolution’ erode into just another status quo intent on squeezing personal power out of our private lives and pocketbooks. I saw Democracy die. It was a bi-partisan slaying.
It is too late to save the freedoms and protections of my childhood, but if we begin now, we may be able to win them again. There may be opportunities to plant a better future before they salt the earth. Here is what we must do…
There are swing states and there are swing districts. Every so often, when the baton of power is passed from one greasy hand to another, there is an opportunity to knock it free. That is exactly the opportunity available this year in Colorado. One year into his second term, Bob Beauprez is leaving Congress to continue his rise in Republican politics. Soon the country will see how national these ‘local’ fights really are. In 2002, we could have kept him a private citizen by securing just 121 more votes out of the 173,000 that were cast. Instead, he will most likely be the next Governor, and will be in a position to make things very favorable for Jeb Bush, Rudy Guiliani, or whatever atrocity slouches towards Washington in 2008.
His time in Congress has been spent as a rubber stamp of the Republican National Committee. He voted with Bush 98% of the time, and he was funded by Tom Delay’s money laundering scheme to the tune of $30,000.
The people who fed us Beauprez want to do it again. They know that 121 votes in Colorado’s 7th District are worth as much to them as every vote cast in yours. By all means, support your local races with your time, your money, and your vote, but also remember that CO-7 is one of your local races regardless of where you are. It might well be where you can make your most leveraged impact.
As we get closer to the spring caucus I will keep this site updated on opportunities to make a difference in this crucial district. Today I was on the phone with Ed Perlmutter’s fledgling campaign office (http://www.perlmutter2006.com). I am going to do what I can to help them get off the ground and I will keep a diary of my work here.
If anyone wants to help me bring the message to the campaign that the netroots are well worth their attention, make a contribution at their site in an amount that ends in six cents. If it is a donation of $1.06 or $100.06 those six cents will be my way of initiating a conversation with them about how the key to the ’06 race will be recognizing the national scope of their constituency. If you decide to join me on this, drop me a line after you contribute so I can keep track of our impact. I know that this blog does not yet have the reach of many well established sites, but this is not the only place where I will be making the case for better representation in CO-7 and how that will bring us towards the goal of restoring the checks and balances of our government.
The future of our planet will, in large part, be shaped by the decisions of the American empire. Our unicameral government is unlikely to make sustainable choices. With a judiciary that is increasingly drawn from the personal inner circle of the President, and a Congress that values party discipline over public good, we are slipping more and more into a single-branch single-party system.
We have already lost every fight to preserve our national system. Every right that protected me in my childhood has been accosted. Not a single one of the institutions that guarded my health, my safety, my prosperity, my right to monitor my government, or that shielded my privacy from that government’s invasions, has remained uncorrupted. The landscape of politics has shifted so violently that the banner of the Left has been pulled from true Progressives and placed in the hands of the most crass and impotent centrists, while the banner of Right has been stolen from true Conservatives and taken up by the crony power brokers, the biggest no-bid contract whores, and the most shrill Pharisee champions of big government intrusion.
In my lifetime I watched as the word ‘liberal’ became an insult and I witnessed the ‘Reagan revolution’ erode into just another status quo intent on squeezing personal power out of our private lives and pocketbooks. I saw Democracy die. It was a bi-partisan slaying.
It is too late to save the freedoms and protections of my childhood, but if we begin now, we may be able to win them again. There may be opportunities to plant a better future before they salt the earth. Here is what we must do…
There are swing states and there are swing districts. Every so often, when the baton of power is passed from one greasy hand to another, there is an opportunity to knock it free. That is exactly the opportunity available this year in Colorado. One year into his second term, Bob Beauprez is leaving Congress to continue his rise in Republican politics. Soon the country will see how national these ‘local’ fights really are. In 2002, we could have kept him a private citizen by securing just 121 more votes out of the 173,000 that were cast. Instead, he will most likely be the next Governor, and will be in a position to make things very favorable for Jeb Bush, Rudy Guiliani, or whatever atrocity slouches towards Washington in 2008.
His time in Congress has been spent as a rubber stamp of the Republican National Committee. He voted with Bush 98% of the time, and he was funded by Tom Delay’s money laundering scheme to the tune of $30,000.
The people who fed us Beauprez want to do it again. They know that 121 votes in Colorado’s 7th District are worth as much to them as every vote cast in yours. By all means, support your local races with your time, your money, and your vote, but also remember that CO-7 is one of your local races regardless of where you are. It might well be where you can make your most leveraged impact.
As we get closer to the spring caucus I will keep this site updated on opportunities to make a difference in this crucial district. Today I was on the phone with Ed Perlmutter’s fledgling campaign office (http://www.perlmutter2006.com). I am going to do what I can to help them get off the ground and I will keep a diary of my work here.
If anyone wants to help me bring the message to the campaign that the netroots are well worth their attention, make a contribution at their site in an amount that ends in six cents. If it is a donation of $1.06 or $100.06 those six cents will be my way of initiating a conversation with them about how the key to the ’06 race will be recognizing the national scope of their constituency. If you decide to join me on this, drop me a line after you contribute so I can keep track of our impact. I know that this blog does not yet have the reach of many well established sites, but this is not the only place where I will be making the case for better representation in CO-7 and how that will bring us towards the goal of restoring the checks and balances of our government.
posted by Aaron at 1:35 AM
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