Andrews does a Tocqueville

When we French need insights into American society, we can profitably peruse French historian Alexis de Tocqueville’s 1835 classic, Democracy in America. If Coloradans, and all Americans for that matter, need to find out more about moral, economic, and sociological trends in Europe today before they make a choice in November’s American presidential and congressional elections, they can confidently expect guidance from former Colorado Senate President John Andrews’ discerning comments on the subject following his recent trip there. In his latest Denver Post column, John points out at least nine European idiosyncrasies which accurately encapsulate the Old Continent’s chronic deficiencies:

- Weariness - Restricted outlook - Fewer children - Secularism - Sluggish economies - Heavy taxes - Burdensome bureaucracies - Weak defenses - Diminished freedom and responsibility

These perversions have one thing in common: The kind of big-government welfarism that Barack Obama is ominously advocating for America as the Democrat Party’s presumptive presidential nominee.

America would ultimately be sinning against Providence if it were to follow Old Europe’s lead down the primrose path to the kind of despotism Tocqueville so perceptively warned democratic nations against a century and a half ago. As Mr. Andrews so lyrically and ringingly puts it in his column, “ A torn and tired world needs the sword of [American] vigilance and the flame of [American] idealism.”

Note: “Paoli” is the pen name, er, nom de plume, of our French correspondent. Monsieur is a close student of European and US politics, a onetime exchange student in Colorado and a well-wisher to us Americans. He informs us the original Pasquale Paoli, 1725-1807, was the George Washington of Corsica.

I'll be a steward of freedom

The people no longer know what Republicans stand for. Consequently, the people no longer stand with Republicans on Election Day. Editor: Such was the blunt diagnosis of Colorado GOP woes by a bold new voice in state party politics, Leondray Gholston of Aurora. He is a businessman, Navy veteran, Catholic layman, father of seven, and former chairman of the Colorado Black Republican Forum. As a late entry to the Republican National Committeeman race at the State Assembly on May 31, Leondray upset popular conservative state Sen. Dave Schultheis and scored a respectable second to former Treasurer Mark Hillman. The final numbers were 55% to 26% to 19%. His speech, which sounded even better in the hall than it reads here, left no doubt that more will be heard from this determined young man. Here it is:

Why I am running for national committeeman? Because freedom requires stewardship. Our Republican Party is the party of freedom.

We are a freedom-granting and liberty-loving people. From emancipation to the liberation of Kuwait, civil rights to the ouster of the Taliban, the party of Lincoln and Reagan has championed freedom.

At our core, the pillars of the Grand Old Party are to:

** Strengthen the free enterprise system,

** Optimize government to the lowest practical level,

** Advance fiscal responsibility, and

** Protect the rights of the individual.

Can there be any cause more noble or worthy of our efforts?

Each of these planks has a direct corollary in freedom. Keeping government out of our pockets, away from our opportunities, and from trampling our rights have always been the hallmarks of the GOP.

Of late and especially in Colorado, we have seen a dramatic reversal of fortune. Nearly everything we once were politically has been washed away. One has to question why this has happened.

I believe… it is because we have lost sight of our most sacred charge, trust, and charter, that being to defend and extend freedom we have allowed ourselves to become the “anti” party. The people no longer associate us with liberty. The people no longer know what Republicans stand for. Consequently, the people no longer stand with Republicans on Election Day. We must regain our true title and mission as the defenders and extenders of freedom

So what does this have to do with National Committeeman? Many consider this office to be largely honorary and at its best a fundraiser.

I see this post as an opportunity to lead!

If we as a party are to return to our recent and rightful position of dominance at the ballot box, we must have leaders in and leadership from every position. The Colorado National Committeeman is no exception.

It is this leadership that must find a solution for funding every race. There are about 1.1 million registered Republicans in Colorado. If each of us were to write a check every 1st of January for a whopping $50, our coffers will burst to the tune of 110 million dollars per election cycle.

Imagine as a party being able to provide $12 million for US Senate races and $2.5 million per US House race. Now imagine $32 million for the election of Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer and Attorney General.

Picture Colorado Republicans challenging every state senate and state house seat with $500,000 and $200,000 respectively. This scenario is within our capability. The price tag… $50 a year and a love of freedom.

We must choose today a new path, a path that ever points to liberty. There is and of right should be no other choice.

Now is the time for leadership. Now is the time for vision. Now is the time for the drive to make that vision, our reality.

Every position in our party must be filled by a leader. A leader that understands our ultimate objective, above raising money or even beating the democrats, is to extend freedom.

A free society requires a constitutional, just, and limited government, a strong defense, and an educated public. As your national committeeman I will be a steward of freedom. Armed with this message of freedom I will work to fill our coffers, increase republican registration, and shape the party of tomorrow.

I am Leondray Gholston, I ask for your vote and support. May God bless you, this assembly, and our beloved Republic.

Finally, a voice for prosperity

Here comes the cavalry at last, I told a press conference at the State Capitol today. Too few powerful voices speak up for productive Coloradans in a Colorado political scene currently dominated by advocates for redistribution, regulation, and anti-market schemes. Now at last a proven success model called Americans for Prosperity is riding over the ridge to help change that. I'm pleased to be on the group's advisory board. Here's their press release with full details. ================================

The national free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) today launched its Colorado state chapter, saying that its first goal would be to educate and mobilize grassroots taxpayers in support the removal of artificial, government-imposed barriers to energy development, which will help lower prices for cash-strapped citizens.

“From unnecessarily limiting the supply of energy to proposed cap-and-trade carbon taxes and regulatory schemes, many state and federal government policies are threatening to put a major dent in Coloradans’ quality of life,” said AFP President Tim Phillips. “Current and proposed energy policies largely amount to higher taxes, lost jobs and less freedom, and the Colorado chapter of Americans for Prosperity is going to educate and mobilize taxpayers on this and other issues, and we’re going to make sure their voices are heard loud and clear in Denver and in Washington.”

The group has named veteran Colorado grassroots leader Jim Pfaff as its state director. Pfaff formerly served as President and CEO of the Colorado Family Institute and Colorado Family Action and since 1998 has also served as President and CEO of IRDS, Inc., a public relations and political consulting company that specializes in grassroots mobilization, public policy consulting and polling.

“Americans for Prosperity has been fighting the good fight in other states and in the nation’s capital and getting results through taxpayer involvement,” said Pfaff. “With such an outstanding, effective organization looking out for citizens’ interests, we are going to have a major impact on Colorado.

“Colorado has a strong energy economy, but many politicians and special interests are putting Colorado families in peril because of environmental alarmism,” said Pfaff. “Recent calls for oil shale development are a good example here. We are sitting on one of the largest oil fields in the world, yet Mark Udall, Ken Salazar and Bill Ritter are fanning the flames of environmental fears. Instead of pushing for reasonable oil shale policy which can help reduce energy costs and gas prices in the long run, they are stirring up fears of environmental disaster which are just not true.”

Americans for Prosperity now has 21 state chapters around the country. In 2006, the group was active in fighting to reform Colorado’s costly Public Employees’ Retirement Association (PERA,) and will now work toward educating and training grassroots taxpayers in every corner of the Rocky Mountain State in support of increased responsible energy production and other pro-taxpayer issues, such as protecting the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights, making government spending more transparent and ending forced unionism.

AFP has also become a national grassroots leader in the fight against pork-barrel earmarks and global warming alarmism. In 2006 the group traveled over 10,000 miles to 37 states and 50 pork-barrel earmarks on the Ending Earmarks Express road tour of federal earmarks. The group is currently in the midst of a nationwide Hot Air Tour, which is exposing the high economic costs of so-called “solutions” to global warming.

According to the American Council on Capital Formation, Colorado stands to lose between 20,000 and 31,000 jobs by 2020 if proposed cap-and-trade global warming tax hikes are approved by Congress. Moreover, the group estimates that the price of gasoline would skyrocket another 74 – 140 percent by 2030 and the cost of electricity would increase by 96% to 133%.

Moloney's World: Sense and nonsense on energy

Editor: Our columnist Bill Moloney is more influential than we dreamed. In this piece, written a week ago for Bob Beauprez's website, he took McCain to school on offshore drilling among other issues. Within days the GOP nominee had pivoted and was endorsing, that's right, offshore drilling. Here is the Moloney piece. ==============================

The 18th century lexicographer Samuel Johnson famously remarked that the prospect of being hanged in the morning “concentrates the mind wonderfully”. Gasoline at $4.00 a gallon should be a similar spur to clear thinking about U.S. energy policy.

This however is not anywhere the case. Listening to Obama vs. McCain on energy sounds eerily like Carter vs. Ford in 1976.

Similarly clueless is the Congress where “new ideas” consist of jacking up the insane ethanol subsidy or the equally deranged impulse to impose a “windfall profits” tax on these “greedy” oil corporations.

Meanwhile President Bush is begging our “great ally” Saudi Arabia for a little discount oil. The Saudis-contemptuously- didn’t even wait for Bush to get home before delivering a resounding “No” and giving him a patronizing lecture on market economics, to boot.

So what explains this world class obtuseness regarding energy?

The reason lies in a thoroughly bi-partisan “conspiracy” to impose on our people a “Myth Agreed Upon”, i.e. that certain energy options are so inherently wicked that they cannot even be seriously discussed much less done.

Senator Harry Reid recently gave a speech entitled “America Needs More Oil”. Despite this breath-taking insight he was unable to articulate the obvious solution to the problem he had so cleverly identified: Immediately authorize a rapid expansion of off-shore drilling and the building of new refineries to accommodate the resulting immense increase in new petroleum.

Do this and gas prices will plummet and the stock market will surge tow roping the entire U. S. economy in a dramatic upswing.

This, won’t happen because thirty years ago a nasty oil spill off Santa Barbara led to a chain reaction of environmental scare-mongering- images of little children swimming in black sludge and the imminent death of all the pretty little sea birds- that resulted in California banning all new offshore drilling anywhere within the 200 mile limit- a colossally dumb policy move that nonetheless was imitated by virtually every other state with a shoreline.

Politicians of both parties still slavishly defend the wisdom, and “environmental sensitivity” of these decisions which retrospectively constitute one of the greatest self-inflicted wounds in U.S. history. Mindlessly they do so while willfully ignoring the following facts:

A- 460 % increase in gas prices;

B- extraordinary advances in off-shore drilling technology ;

C- Norway and other nations routinely and safely extract large quantities of undersea oil;

D- Before long Florida boaters will be able to wave to Chinese technicians zealously sucking up “black gold” within Cuban territorial waters almost within sight of Miami; and

E -most astoundingly- despite gushers of political rhetoric damning the “tyranny of our dependence on foreign oil”, and rivers of crocodile tears shed on behalf of the “poor American consumer” we continue to do business with people who don’t like us, overcharge us, sponsor terrorism against us and cause us to utterly warp the economic and political landscape of our nation through periodic and hugely counterproductive military adventures in the Middle East.

The flipside of the great energy myth is the near unshakeable taboo against nuclear power. Here the unspeakable but unanswerable question is : How come France can get nearly 40% of their total energy needs from nuclear plants- the cleanest and cheapest power source in history- and nobody bats an eye, but even hint at such an option for the U.S. and you are accused of wanting everybody’s children to glow in the dark. Getting a constitutional amendment raising the voting age to thirty would be easy compared to getting a permit for a new nuclear power plant.

Having ruled out the only two intelligent options liberals promote inane discussions about wind, solar, hybrids, ethanol, tripling the gasoline tax, trading in our SUVs for bicycles, and other economically laughable schemes.

Simple-minded environmentalism has entered into an unholy alliance with the junk science called “global warming” and morphed into a new secular religion for liberals. The old Red Menace of hare-brained Marxism has been replaced by the new Green Menace of crack-brained planet worship. Anyone doubting this didn’t hear the most interesting line in Obama’s speech claiming the Democratic nomination: “and the oceans shall recede, and the Planet shall begin to heal”.

At last, really new thinking on energy policy from St. Barack, High Priest of the earth goddess GAIA!

Anyone still doubt there’s a lot at stake next November 4th?

Who's best fiscally in the 5th?

It’s Republican primary time, when ambitions, conservative promises, and Reagan invocations are in full flower. And the only way to tell real conservative defenders from perennial conservative pretenders is to examine their records. Let’s start with the record of incumbent congressman Doug Lamborn of Colorado’s Fifth Congressional District. Mr. Lamborn is finishing his first term in Congress and in that time, according to Congressional Quarterly, he voted against the Democrat agenda in Congress more than any other Republican (“CQPolitics.com Candidate Watch,” Congressional Quarterly, Aug. 10, 2007). This includes social, economic, and fiscal votes.

Mr. Lamborn was also one of five members of Congress – that’s five out of 535, and only three of the 435 members of the U.S. House – that the nation’s leading fiscal conservative group, Club for Growth, has given a rating of 100% for 2007. Club for Growth tracked votes on a range of tax, fiscal, and regulatory issues in the last Congress and determined that Mr. Lamborn voted correctly every time. See the entire 2007 Club for Growth scorecard here:

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2008/05/the_2007_congressional_scoreca.php

This is no new pattern. Over the twelve years he was a member of the Colorado legislature, Mr. Lamborn consistently led both the Colorado House and the Colorado Senate with his record of opposition to big-government spending, pork projects (these days fashionably referred to as “earmarks”), and tax increases.

With this kind of record, it is striking that Mr. Lamborn has a Republican primary opponent, Jeff Crank, attempting to criticize him on his fiscal record. It is well-known that, in justifying his own candidacy against a man who for a decade and a half has consistently defended all the things Mr. Crank claims to believe in, Mr. Crank has settled on one fundamental, earth-moving issue that gets the blood boiling of every principled Republican everywhere: franking expenditures.

That’s right, franking expenditures.

The franking privilege dates to the founding of the United States and covers expenses members of Congress incur in sending mail to their constituents. The purpose is obvious: communication between congresspeople and their constituents is a good thing. Clearly, this privilege like any legitimate privilege can be abused, so there are processes in place in Congress by which all franked mailings must be approved. Mr. Lamborn is a first-term congressman whose constituents need to get to know him and what he is doing on their behalf – again, this is not empty campaign-speak, but a rationale endorsed by the framers of American government – and all his mailings have been approved by congressional leadership. All such mail, moreover, is paid for out of a congressman’s official budget; what he does not spend on constituent communications he is fully authorized to spend on other things, and what he spends on constituent communications is not available for other things.

The use of this kind of issue against someone with the fiscal record of Mr. Lamborn says more about Mr. Crank than it does about the Congressman: from the standpoint of conservative policy, there simply is nothing more substantial on which Mr. Lamborn can be criticized.

Mr. Crank raised the franking issue most recently in a May 30 opinion column in the Colorado Springs Gazette, where he also offered glowing promises to, if elected, “rock the boat” of the Washington establishment, eliminate earmarks, eliminate the federal departments of Education, Commerce, and Energy, and cut federal spending by 20%.

Aside from the fact that even Ronald Reagan was not able to accomplish such heroic feats, if Mr. Crank were sincere in these convictions, he would be supporting Mr. Lamborn for Congress rather than running against him.

No Republican in the last two years, and very few Republicans in Colorado in the last half century, have more consistently, philosophically, and courageously opposed Washington (and Denver) excesses than has Doug Lamborn. It is the lack of people in Washington like Mr. Lamborn, and the interest of too many self-proclaimed conservatives in running against them, that is at the heart of the very Washington excess Mr. Crank now decries. It is also at the heart of the national Republican malaise that is quickly heading the GOP toward an electoral cataclysm in November.

Mr. Crank waxes poetic against earmarks. Again, if this conviction were superior to his personal ambition, Mr. Crank would be supporting Mr. Lamborn. Here are all Mr. Lamborn’s funding requests for fiscal year 2009, a list the Lamborn office has made public. All directly relate to defense spending, a core purpose of government, all Mr. Lamborn has offset in the budget by equivalent cuts in other programs so that there is no net increase in the federal budget, and all ironically recall Mr. Crank’s criticism of Mr. Lamborn during the 2006 campaign for allegedly not being as strong as Mr. Crank on defense:

Land Acquisition for Peterson Air Force Base Missile Defense Integration and Operations Center ACES 5 Ejection Seat Expeditionary Alternative Power Generator Radiation-Hardened Memory Technology Digital Engine Technology Military Information Management Software Space and Electronic Warfare Analysis Tools High Altitude, Long Endurance Communications and Surveillance System Improved Ground Access to Peterson AFB Improvements to Ft. Carson Gates 5 & 6

With requests like these, and with Mr. Lamborn now occupying a seat on the House Armed Services Committee, it is no wonder the defense criticisms have given way in Mr. Crank’s rhetoric to complaints about franking. As with his fiscal record, Mr. Lamborn’s history at the state level on issues of national security and defense was as impeccable as his federal record has now become.

As a side note, if Mr. Crank should criticize Mr. Lamborn for the above funding requests and call them “earmarks” as if they were pet pork projects, Mr. Crank should explain why as a lobbyist on behalf of a defense company in 2005 he requested, according to public lobbying records, “increased spending for the HH-6OL program” in defense authorization bills. The name of Mr. Crank’s lobbying company was Rocky Mountain Government Relations, and the HH-6OL is the Blackhawk medical evacuation helicopter now in use in the Army and National Guard. Earmark, or legitimate modernization of the armed forces that defend us and that are such central issues in the Fifth Congressional District?

In addition to franking, Mr. Crank can regularly be heard calling for better “leadership” in Washington, presumably implying that Mr. Lamborn’s leadership is somehow defective. For starters, here is a short summary of Mr. Lamborn’s legislative resume, a kind of resume of which Mr. Crank has not the beginning: Colorado House of Representatives, 1995; House Republican Whip, 1997; Colorado Senate, 1998; Senate President Pro-Tem, 1999; U.S. Congress, 2006; U.S. House Armed Services Committee, 2007. Mr. Lamborn is also a member of two other U.S. House committees.

Moreover, here is a quotation from a letter written to Mr. Lamborn last week by the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Crank’s former employer, concerning Mr. Lamborn’s funding requests. The letter is dated May 28, 2008 and is signed by the Chamber’s CEO.

“Your policy of only making requests that promote our nation’s defense, as well as providing full disclosure on these projects reflects not only their legitimacy, but also their important role in improving our nation’s defenses…It is with great pleasure that we offer our support, on behalf of the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, for not only the appropriations you’ve requested, but also the manner in which you have done so. In a time where real transparency is lacking in Washington, your actions provide a refreshing change of pace.”

Sound suspiciously like leadership?

It should be noted clearly what many noted during the 2006 primary contest between Mr. Lamborn and Mr. Crank. Nobody doubts that Mr. Crank maintains a coherent conservative philosophy of government and a genuine desire to serve his country. Given Mr. Lamborn’s stellar record at both the state and federal levels, what is in doubt is Mr. Crank’s ability to subordinate his ambition to his desire to see the things he believes implemented in government. There simply is no improvement he could possibly make to the record of Mr. Lamborn, and plenty of ways he would not likely match Mr. Lamborn; indeed, at least according to the Club for Growth, there are only a handful even among current members of Congress who are in Mr. Lamborn’s league.

There is only one wise route for Fifth Congressional District Republicans on the ground to follow this August: ignore empty criticisms and empty promises, and say a prayer of thanks that in this age of messianic Democrats and the empty-headed crowds who love them, Colorado and Colorado Springs have a congressman with the kind of real wisdom, real mettle, and real leadership that will far outlast the latest political fad and the latest self-promoting Republican challenger.