The town hall meeting for Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) began promptly at 7:00pm with his sudden appearance in front of the Podium. About 130 people had assembled in the Anthem Community Clubhouse to speak their minds on various topics. Pre-registration had been requested, but the organizers were directed to admit anyone who would give their name at the door. Security consisted of a single police officer, who stood at the back of the room.
A pair of volunteers from the Lyndon LaRouche movement stood at the entrance and passed out a one-page tract calling for the impeachment of President Obama and the passage of HR-1489 (restoration of the Glass-Steagall act). The attendees ignored them.
Polis was casually dressed and seemed completely at ease with the crowd. Almost everyone there appeared to be over 60 years of age and about two-thirds of the audience was made up of women. Perhaps a half dozen people were under 60, not counting the Congressman’s staff.
Polis spoke of his work routines (“yes I read all the bills that I vote on”) and described a weekly commuting cycle – into DC on Monday, sessions till Thursday, fly home to Colorado on Friday. He said that his focus needed to be on increasing jobs, improving the economy, and reducing the deficit.
His particular emphasis has always been on education programs. He said that he wants to increase funding for special needs education “without raising taxes”. He wants to fund computer science programs, turn around the lowest-performing schools, and expand charter schools. He is interested in “fixing our broken immigration system” and wants to “import the best and most talented people to work here”. To that end he supports the Staples Act, which would grant permanent resident status to foreign students who graduate in American Universities and Colleges.
The audience responded with appreciation, and it appeared to me that I was surrounded by an overwhelming majority of Democrat true believers.
The Congressman selected people from different corners of the room to take a microphone and speak their minds. He appeared to recognize about half of the chosen speakers by name, and picked the others at random.
The first speaker proposed that the Social Security system should be fixed by raising the taxable amount so “the rich” would pay more into the system. “Let’s just do it”, he said. Polis did not actually respond to this idea, but the audience murmured approval.
The next speaker was one of the LaRouchies, who spoke in favor of HR-1489. He discreetly avoided mentioning the associated proposal to impeach President Obama. Polis responded to this comment with the observation that he is not in favor of the Glass-Steagal Act; he would rather break up the larger banking organizations. “We have allowed [too many] banks to be too large to fail”, he said.
Congressman Polis also said that he supports the expiration of the “Bush tax cuts” in 2012, and would like to see higher effective tax payments from corporations, by eliminating “tax loopholes”. In contrast, he also advocates lower nominal corporate tax rates, reduced from a maximum of 35% to 28%. He assured the audience that the expiration of the Bush tax cuts would only affect people making more than 250,000 per year and would not affect the middle class wage earners. Polis said that he would like to see the personal income tax rate climb to the Clinton-era maximum of 39%,
Another LaRouche supporter asked about the Federal Reserve and the Congressman’s opinion of that organization. Polis replied that he is co-sponsoring a bill to “audit the fed” and supports additional oversight. “Government policies must incentivize banks to lend more money”, he said.
Another speaker complained that her family had run up $23,000 in student loan debts for a first-year medical student program, and wanted to know “what we can do to help college kids”. Polis replied the Government needs to make student loans directly to keep interest rates down, and suggested that the family income limits be raised so middle class families could qualify for more Pell grants.
Another speaker proposed that corporations subjected to a “Retained Earnings Tax” and asked “can’t we get the money out of the corporate coffers?” Polis responded that “companies are sitting on their cash because of [economic] uncertainty, and that Congress must provide a more predictable economic policy. He suggested that current tax penalties for repatriating foreign profits to the United States should be eliminated, and that business “should be incentivized to invest here”.
People were upset about the struggle to raise the debt limit. They seemed to want the limits raised without argument. Several members of the audience expressed extreme frustration with President Obama, with one man saying “it is a waste of time to work for an Obama re-election”. Another said that he thought “the Republicans have learned how to roll Obama”. Another person asked in anguished tones “why did we lose the house [in the 2010 elections]?”
Polis replied that the negotiated budget cuts were tail-ended and no spending was cut for this year or next year. “The President is not a dictator”, he said. “He fought, he negotiated”. “Congress controls the spending, not the President. It’s the system and it is supposed to move slowly”. “The President must work with the Republicans and with opposition among the Democrats”.
In later comments he noted that if the President had attempted to invoke the 14th amendment to order a debt ceiling increase it would have provoked a Constitutional crisis, resulting in impeachment proceedings against the President.
A speaker asked about the Congressional Super Committee “Will they ever reach any agreement in their lifetimes?” Polis replied that he knew members of the Committee and they were all good people, but it would have been better if they had been selected at random rather than picked by the Party leaders. “They are gonna try”, he said, but the system in place means that tax increases and/or cuts to the defense budget will be automatic if they cannot reach agreement.
How secure is the health care bill? (“Obamacare”) asked one speaker. Polis assured the audience that President Obama will veto any cuts to that legislation and was hopeful that the “mandate” would be upheld in the Supreme Court based on the interstate commerce clause. He suggested an ideal case where President Obama could appoint one more Supreme Court judge and the decision would be 5-4 in favor.
Congressman Polis stated that he supports term limits and that a term of 8-10 years is about right. Any shorter term gives too much power to lobbyists. He would like to stay on ”long enough to get something accomplished, but not so long that he becomes part of the problem”. He usually votes against “Ag Bills” because they contain nothing but subsidies to special interest groups. He is against PAC’s and does not accept contributions from them.
Editorial comments:
Congressman Jared Polis was elected from a safe Democrat district and can probably remain in Congress for as long as he chooses. He is a sincere idealist, raised in a wealthy family with a strong pacifist, socialist orientation to which he remains attached. Because of connections to family business interests, he does have a practical understanding of banking and economics, but these are secondary to ideology.
Polis does accurately represent a decisive majority of the people in his district. It is known as "the People's Republic of Boulder" for good reason. He is also a very skilled politcian who avoids antagonizing the constituents in his more conservative precincts.
He is not necessarily attached to the Obama administration or to the Pelosi faction of the Democrat Party, although he has served them faithfully so far. He is likely immune to conventional forms of political corruption.
Most of his supporters are ardent socialists who will never change their beliefs. "You cannot reason someon out of something that they did not reason themselves into".
Posted on 8/24/2011 3:28:09 AM by flamberge
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