The Colorado Index

Just Wanted to Save This

The Wizard of Beck by David Brooks.

I am finding that only about 10% of self identified Republicans in my Colorado Springs district listen to and spew pack what Rush and others are saying, and my district is supposed to be one of the most conservative in the state.

I am about to change part of the focus of my campaign to target the single issue precinct leaders in the same breath that I target Dave Schultheis.  They are completely out of touch with the people they supposedly lead.  I continue to find that 90% of the Republicans I talk to want a big tent majority.  

The precinct leaders want, almost to a person, to continue to purge the party.  They are the Rush Limbaugh fringe that Brooks is talking about.

When 10% try with ill-advised purges, to take the party in a direction that 90% don't want to go, they risk being trampled.  I think their behavior has been sufficiently bad that they need to be trampled.

Tom McDowell

Agricultural Industries, Wal-Mart Prostrate Themselves Before Government

With the amazing government takeover of the automobile and financial industries, it is obvious that businesses in the dwindling private sector are nervous.  Unfortunately, instead of fighting for their independence, many businesses are taking an "if you cannot beat them, join them" approach.  Today has two examples of this mentality.

First, just before the July 4th recess, the House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey cap-and-tax bill by a scant majority (218-212).  In today's Denver Post, Mark Hillman scathingly denounces the agricultural lobbyists for capitulating on the cap-and-tax bill and granting cover to reluctant house members.

However, the economic illiteracy of the agriculture lobby is embarrassing. Waxman-Markey's threat to farmers and ranchers isn't limited to the carbon emissions of trucks, tractors and flatulent livestock.

In March, a dozen ag lobbying organizations — including the National Association of Wheat Growers, National Cattlemen's Beef Council, National Corn Growers Association, and National Farmers Union — agreed on nine "Principles for Greenhouse Gas Legislation."

Not one of those principles addressed fuel or energy costs. Yet Waxman-Markey will increase electricity rates by an estimated 90 percent and gas prices by 58 percent, according to the Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis. That's in addition to $1,241 per year that cap-and-tax will add to the average household's energy bill and another $1,738 per household in lost spending power as energy costs inflate prices of essential goods and services.

Of course, the amended bill (that no one read prior to voting) provided all sorts of goodies to reluctant Congressmen.  This article lists some of the horse-trading done to pass this bill, including increasing the amount of "offsets" farmers could potentially sell to polluted industry. Then again, agricultural lobbyists have a history of taxpayer-funded boondoggles (see ethanol).

The second example is Wal-Mart signing onto employer mandates for health care.  While it would be better for people to shift to personal insurance plans so coverage is not tied to employment, Wal-Mart chose the top-down, government mandate solution.

What should one do about affected industries getting in bed with their government masters?  Ari Armstrong of FreeColorado.com has an answer: the boycott.

I doubt Wal-Mart notices, but I'm boycotting Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart endorses political control of health care. Forcing people to buy politically-controlled products against their will is a basic violation of individual rights. So long as Wal-Mart endorses this gross violation of rights, I'm certainly not going to contribute any money to the chain to help them do it.

Read the rest to see Wal-Mart's clueless public relations response to Ari's complaint. Although I sympathize with Ari's position, there is little likelihood that such an act will affect the company's bottom line.

Instead of fighting bad regulatory ideas, businesses decide to get a seat at the table with the regulators.  The underlying assumption is that if one inputs into the legislative process, one will be able to lessen the impact on one's business and perhaps generate artificial advantages for the company.

These companies and lobbyists provide useful cover to the legislators and rulemakers during debate on controversial bills.  However, these companies should be aware that if they outlive their usefulness to the government, they will be the first to be thrown under the bus.

by Civil Sense

Thought for the Day - 2

When in human history has society respected or admired someone who set out to lose at whatever endeavor he got involved in?

Why would anyone respect or admire someone who admitted that he would prefer to be in the minority in the legislature?

Why would anyone respect or admire a party that didn't object when one of their office holders proclaimed a desire to be in the minority?

Seen On The Street Recently

1.  A van with a "respect life" license plate and an Obama sticker.

2.  More vintage cars and trucks in garages being rebuilt than I can count.

3.  A monoplane with folding wings sitting in someone's front yard.  Worse for wear, almost certainly not airworthy.

4.  Not as many boats as in previous years and none that are very big.

5.  A few campers and motor homes.

6.  A political activist who admitted he doesn't know much about how the legislature works.

7.  Only one house with a sheriff's eviction notice.

8.  A lot of empty rentals.

Registration Again

I picked up four volunteers yesterday.  Three were fiscal conservatives and one a social conservative. None were registered Republican.

Two, a mother and daughter, were registered Democrat.  It was obvious from listening to their comments as they read my flyer that they were conservative.  Both were married to servicemen, with one husband in Afghanistan.

The funny thing is that I wouldn't have talked to them or dropped a flyer if they hadn't been in the yard as I walked by.  I talk to everyone I see because I want people to know what I am doing. There isn't a lot of point in having the cops called when that can be avoided with a self introduction and a smile.

Even if I think everyone in the house is a Democrat, I begin the conversation after the introduction with "Do any Republicans live here.  They answered "We're not sure what we are."  Sometimes I get told straight out that everyone in the house is a Republican.  That most often happens with rentals.

The precinct lists I am using are badly out of date.  I'm not sure that is anyone's fault. The recession probably has a lot to do with it.  I walked down one block that had three empty rentals.  My list said Republicans had lived in each of them.  On another block, I found two Republicans moving into a Democrat house.  Again, I caught them outside.

It is reaching the point that I am considering knocking on Democrat houses too because I can't be sure who lives behind those doors.

If Republicans want to win in the future, they need to fix the registration. They need to register people somewhere other than in churches.  

I know some would find that inconvenient.

Sports and Politics, So Different

The Rockies' winning streak comes just after the firing of Clint Hurdle.  Doubtless the Broncos and Avalanche hope for the same results.

None of the recently departed managers and coaches intended that any of their players and teams not do well.  They wanted to win.  They knew their jobs depended more on results than rhetoric.

The newspapers covering the teams didn't try to conceal their failings, and wouldn't try to conceal the impact of the following kinds of events:

A Hockey team that is perpetually on the wrong end of a power play can play exciting hockey for a few minutes, but eventually they will lose.  Often they will lose badly.  

A Football team with a center who repeatedly tries to trip the quarterback by stepping on his feet is going to lose more often than it wins.  Usually it will lose badly.

A  Baseball team that tried to play with two outfielders would have some pretty big alleys and a lot of scoring, but little success.

The media would get the word out, and after a while, the fans would stop coming.  Everyone loves a winner and even a loser that tries to win. No one loves a loser that is content losing.

No owner would tolerate keeping a coach or manager who actually tried to lose.

How different Republican politics are.  

When you hear the term "the base," you might think that the people in that group must be the most reliable Republican voters around.  Actually, they are the least reliable.  They have no values that stir them but one, and the target of their wrath are most often their own teammates.

We actually have a group of Republican office holders who have publicly announced that they would rather lose than seek a majority that included people with different views.  Worse, they act on that premise.

And the same media that is so eager to report on sports coaching follies wants to be a player in all of this, wants to help the part of the party that is set on losing.

Check your pocketbook.  Sports is illusion.  Politics is reality. 

My Campaign War Chest

Earlier this week, I was told that I was running a very unorthodox campaign.  If I win, it will be because of a grass roots effort, not the amount of advertising I can buy.

I am sure that when the campaign finance reports come out, pundits will look at the numbers and laugh.

I'll save you the trouble. My focus since I began walking precincts is on getting volunteers, not money.

If I have a flyer that a volunteer delivers, it costs me about 2.5 cents. If that same guy gave me the max, $400, and I used it to mail the flyers, I could mail about 250 flyers. If I have him deliver 12 times to 45 houses, I have put out 540 flyers and I have a local ambassador.

Most people don't give the max, so asking for money when they would volunteer is even less productive than the example above.

It is my expectation that if I can find enough volunteers, the funds to support them will follow. Build it and they will come.

Another Observation

The people I meet as I walk who are least interested in having a Republican majority in the legislature or Congress are the ones who begin spouting back Hannity and Rush.

They are also the ones who have been deeply politicized by their churches.

What is happening is not in the interest of any fiscal conservative. 

If this continues, fiscal conservatives will eventually begin to ask why they would want to go out of their way to protect the free speech interests of people and organizations who are openly using that freedom to act against their interests.

I predict that fiscal conservatives who see past the rhetoric won't necessarily cheer the reimposition of a Fairness Doctrine, but they are unlikely to be enthusiastic opponents.

Isn't that a sad prediction for our democracy?

Tone Down the Abortion Debate

I liked last week's Denver Post editorial, Tone Down the Abortion Debate.

A good part of the Republican Party's problems are rooted in the abortion debate and the people who won't vote for anyone but a social conservative.

Yesterday, while walking, I met a gentleman who told me that Fox News had reported that Dr. George Tiller had performed 60,000 late term abortions.  Since the number hadn't been challenged, he was sure it was accurate.

Common sense challenges that number.  He would have had to do an abortion every 30 minutes, 8 hours a day, 50 weeks a year for 30 years to get to that number.

In this day of lawsuit prone medical practice, scheduling a major procedure every 30 minutes would be asking for trouble.

Like most people, I find the concept of late term abortions repugnant, but this claim isn't even close to being credible.  Whomever made it was trying to justify Tiller's killing, whether he will admit it or not.

Lopsided Voter Registration

It appears that the El Paso County Republican Party is going to take steps to fix this, but one of the reasons that fiscal conservatives are under represented is that no one targets them for voter registration.

Social conservatives, on the other hand, are regularly targeted in their churches.

I am finding that about one third of the people volunteering to help me are not registered Republicans because no one has asked them to register.