Colorado sends seven people to the U.S. House of Representatives. Of those seats, three are solidly Republican, two are solidly Democratic, and two are held by strong Democratic incumbents. In other words, as of Tuesday’s primary, Coloradans have already effectively elected their members of Congress. The only competitive primaries were in the second district, where Jared Polis beat insider Joan Fitz-Gerald by spending $5.3 million of his own money, and the sixth district, where Secretary of State Mike Coffman handily beat Wil Armstrong (leaving Democratic Governor Bill Ritter to appoint Coffman’s successor at the state level). So who are these strange cats who are supposedly representing us in Washington?
First District: Diana DeGette has been in office for as so long that I don’t recall offhand who preceded her. Typical Denver Democrat. Not too kooky.
Second District: Polis ran on a hard-left, socialist platform. (I know this because I live in his district and received his campaign literature.) That’s somewhat ironic, because I believe I first met Polis at an event featuring Milton Friedman, who came to town to talk about vouchers. I sort of like Polis, and that may even remain true if he forgets about his ridiculous campaign promises and gets down to the serious business of protecting our rights. I confess to hating rich jerks who want to shove socialism down the rest of our throats. We’ll see if that’s what Polis becomes. I am particularly concerned about Polis’s plans to socialize medicine (a system that he will not be forced to live under).
Third District: John Salazar, brother of Senator Ken, seems like an okay moderate Dem. I don’t know much about him, and, for a Congressman, that’s not a bad thing.
Fourth District: Marilyn Musgrave is best known for trying to amend the U.S. Constitution with a marriage restriction. But she’s laid off of the anti-homosexual agenda somewhat. At least she’s a good vote on guns; that’s the only thing I can think of off-hand to like about her. (There is something humorous about the same state sending both Musgrave and Polis to Congress; you’ve got to love Colorado.)
Fifth District: Now we get to the Crazy Brigade. Doug Lamborn signed Colorado Right to Life’s 2008 Candidate Questionnaire. He answered “yes” to the following questions:
1. Do you advocate that the government uphold the God-given, inalienable Right to Life for the unborn?
2. Do you agree that abortion is always wrong, even when the baby’s father is a criminal (a rapist)? …
3. Do you support the 2008 Colorado Personhood amendent effort to define “person” to include any human being from the moment of fertilization? …
6. Will you oppose any research or practice that would intentionally destroy the tiniest living humans (embryonic stem cell research)?
7. Will you refuse to support any legislation that would allow abortion, even if it is a ‘pro-life’ bill? (i.e. legislation that says “Abortion shall be prohibited unless…”)
Sixth District: Coffman answered “yes” to the exact same questions. By putting up Lamborn and Coffman, Colorado Republicans have demonstrated that they take faith-based politics very seriously, and they overtly want to diminish the separation of church and state.
Seventh District: Ed Perlmutter seems like another centrist Dem; he doesn’t seem to make the news much.
To summarize, of Colorado’s seven representatives, one is a socialist Democrat, three are moderate (“socialism light”) Democrats, and three are faith-based Republicans. Of that mix, not a single one comes close to representing my views; not one holds as primary individual rights, including both freedom of conscience and economic liberty.