My grandparents came to America in the first half of the last century. They came without any money or political connections. They came for the same reason so many people do -- to create a better life for themselves and their children.
My father's parents opened a small grocery store in Schenectady, New York; they lived in an apartment above it while my dad was growing up. Hundreds of fellow immigrants found their way to Romanoff's Delicatessen. My grandfather Herman (a softer touch than his wife Annie) fed many customers for free during the war.
My mother's parents moved to Columbus, Ohio, where I grew up. My grandmother Rose worked as a bookkeeper and a secretary. She also found time to raise money for Project Hope, whose ships sent doctors -- including my grandfather Ben -- to treat children around the world. Dr. Ben opened a medical practice in the poorest part of town. I remember the big black bag he used to carry as he made house calls. The people he treated often couldn't afford to pay him with cash, so they would offer him food instead, or sometimes just their thanks.
My grandparents are gone now, but their memory shapes my life every day. They inspired my mother to become a social worker. They've inspired my work as well -- from the Southern Poverty Law Center to a state civil rights agency to the villages of Central America.
I first ran for the state legislature in 2000. I served there for eight years, taking up causes that needed a champion. I fought for kids in rural Colorado, so that they could go to school in buildings where the roof wasn't caving in and the floorboards weren't rotting. I fought for people with mental illness, so that their diseases wouldn't condemn them to the shadows of an underpass or a prison cell or a cemetery. I fought for the victims of domestic violence, so that they wouldn't have to forfeit their jobs or spend every night in hiding, in fear of a predator who might find out where they lived.
My colleagues elected me as minority leader in 2003 and as speaker of the House in 2005. I led the first Democratic majority in 30 years and our first back-to-back majorities in more than 40 years. I authored an Economic Recovery Plan and helped build the widest coalition in modern memory to pass it. I put together the most significant investment in school construction in state history.
I'm proud of the progress we made in Colorado. But the problems that afflict us today are too broad and too deep for a state to solve on its own. Too many Americans are losing their jobs or watching their savings slip away. Too many are paying too much for health insurance that covers too little, and too many don't have any coverage at all. And too many nations, including our own, are unable to break their addiction to fossil fuel.
Unfortunately, Washington has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the industries it's supposed to be regulating. Too many politicians seem more interested in their own job security than in ours. Too many have become seduced by the special interests that bankroll their campaigns.
That's why some of the biggest gamblers in the world, the speculators on Wall Street, not only jeopardized our pensions and capsized our economy, they got rewarded with taxpayer-funded bonuses. That's why the nation's largest insurers and pharmaceutical companies have succeeded in protecting their profits, at our expense. And that's why polluters continue to desecrate our environment, disrupt our climate, and gut the laws that might stop them.
We can do better. We can invest in training and education, instead of leveraging our economy on financial gimmicks and foreign debt. We can cut the cost of health care and bring basic coverage within reach of every American, so that medical expenses no longer eat up our savings or force us into bankruptcy or send us to an early grave. And we can make our country less reliant on foreign oil, so that we no longer have to spill our blood or spoil our skies in order to power our planet.
None of these reforms will come to pass until we free Congress from the grip of its corporate contributors. I refuse to accept money from special-interest groups. And I will turn down federal health benefits until every citizen can get coverage.
Americans are not short on conviction. What we need are leaders with the courage to match.
To join our cause or learn more, please visit www.andrewromanoff.com. I look forward to sharing more thoughts in the months ahead -- and to hearing yours.
Oops was in a hurry and messed that one up!
What I meant to say was Until any candidate IS NOT reluctant to take on the established party on foreign policy without, blah, blah, blah.
Prime examples are two powerful special interest groups that no candidate has the guts to take on be they anti-incumbent or not (We've only found two in the entire nation). The powerful industries I'm referring to are (1) the Israeli lobby, and (2) more so the Defense Industry or Military-Industrial complex.
Romanoff has yet to take a position on either of these powerful special interest groups nor has he been able to articulate what his views are on the issue of foreign policy vis-a-vis Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, as a member of the Editorial Board of an Independent minded (progressive if you will) Military Veterans and Military Family news network headquartered in Washington, DC, I'm more interested in the anti-incumbent spirit running across American, and what exactly it is that makes any candidate different from an incumbent?
Veterans Today News Network at http://www.veteranstodaynetwork.com/ has endorsed only two or three truly progressive candidates that have proven just how different from incumbents they really are. One is running for the U.S. Senate in Iowa, and the other is running for Congress in Ohio. One is moderate and one is left of center.
However both have shown how willing they are to break with the established party leadership in their states and national level.
The best solution would be term limits for members of Congress, a fact that at least Candidate Romanoff IS familiar with.
I also wish to mention that our staff at Veterans Today is still collecting data on Candidate Romanoff to try figuring out what stands he would take on foreign policy that are different from Senator Bennett, the Democratic leadership in Colorado, or the Democratic leadership in Congress for that matter.
Until any candidate is reluctant to take on the established party on foreign policy without fearing to appear being too soft on defense, we will continue wasting billions of bucks on the defense industry, nation building in Iraq, Afghanistan, and potentially invading Iran. Candidate Romanoff has said NOTHING on any of these issues that would make a neutral party view him as breaking from the pack of Blue Dog Democrats and Republicans in Congress???
The Colorado republicans are desperate for any win because they know that you and the rest of the party have done a great job at the state level. Given the asinine SCOTUS decision to allow corporations to essentially buy elections, they will throw that cash into making our primary look like a mud fest.
Anyway, I like you and your policies and I'd dearly love to support you in the caucus and primary. But I have to know, and it would be nice for you to state publicly, that you will run a scrupulously clean race. Make it issues only and both you and Bennet will be able to show a united democratic party face when the republican machine starts running its ads.
Please don't screw this up for Colorado Dems Andrew. Please.
You may not do that. I enjoy a good fight as much as the next Dem but you MAY NOT damage the party in the process. Look at Obama verses Hillary; mud was flung and that mud went straight into the republicans ammunition box. They will use anything you dig up on Bennet against Bennet if you lose and you will cause your Dem supporters to waiver in their support of him should you lose. So you may not do that.
Here's what the republicans will do given this race continues; they will buy ads for whomever they think will be the weakest opposition in November. They will make it look like you or he are going for mud. They will do this in your name and you will not be able to stop them. This is my primary reason for not immediately supporting you against Bennet by the way.
In Mexico in the mid-'90s Wall Street engineered a currency coup that tripled the debt owed by small businesses and family farms and also allowed for them to be massively ratejacked on top of it. Mexicans consequently formed the "el Barzon" movement and pushed back Wall Street and deposed their ruling party of 60+ years. In this country YouTube phenom Ann Minch has already declared the debtors' revolt and begun going after them http://www.revoltstartsnow.com
If you've been pushed under, you can read my book for free: http://www.scribd.com/doc/25443175/Debt-Hope-Down-and-Dirty-Survival-Strategies-Evaluation-Version-Complete
We now have financial pundits talking about the debt of soverign nations and their potential failure as though they are merely corporate entities that can be bought and stripped for profit, if there's any profit left to be gained, and then reorganized on corporate models or liquidated completely; the scary thing is that such babble doesn't appear to be far from the truth.
Killing the financial industry as it currently exists is a big part of a much larger solution.
Eradicate the fascists and revolution will grow....
And, personally, I agree with you, we do have an "embarrassment of riches" in Colorado, with 2 very fine, hard-working and committed men to chose between at caucus in 2 weeks. I sincerely hope that all of us recognize that, and that we will all gladly turn out to vote for our Democratic candidate in the general election this fall.
Salud!
Bennet is pro-labor, pro-regulation of the financial industry, pro-choice, pro-environmental sustainability, against the Iraq war, and has demonstrated his commitment (as well as common sense) to progressive values across the board. I think it would be premature of Colorado voters to throw him under the bus after he has demonstrated his value to us as a member of the Senate.
No good deed goes unpunished, they say. Well, I think it's high time to reward loyalty with loyalty. Bennet has been loyal to the people and we need to reciprocate. I have nothing against Romanoff and could see myself supporting him at some point in the future, just not against Bennet.
But, don't you think Romanoff has a nice smile & he's kind of cute? (
The only way to save our country is through campaign reform.
Corruption is not a problem in our government--it has become our system.
Any politician HAS to play ball. Until EVERYONE starts talking and blogging and marching for Campaign Reform we are just spinning our wheels discussing anything that might challenge the special interests.
We are and have always been a country that has always combined capitalism and socialism. Why people go to pieces over the two isms is a result of years of propaganda. I believe (and every American I have ever met-otherwise no roads, social security, VA etc) the statement below:
"Socialism is required for things that we absolutely must have, like health care, the common defense, police and firefighters, clean air and water, and so forth.
Free markets are wonderful for all the crap we can live without"
Capitalism can and always has existed beside Socialism. They compliment each other. They both need to be balanced against each other to prevent injustices by either ideology.
That is what our two party system is supposed to be about but the corruption of our system has thrown it out of balance.
Go too far to the right, we get fascism. Go too far left we get communism.
The will of the senate is the will of the special interests.
http://www.fairelectionsnow.org/volunteer/petition (FENA)
http://change-congress.org/ sign the petition
Speaker Romanofff - your legacy in the Colorado's House is far more deserving than your negative and destructive campaign.
1. He voted no on the "cramdown" legislation and we see now how bad a decision that was as our economy continues to spiral out of control due to residential and commercial foreclosures. The corrupt banking system sold predatory loans two and three times, collected insurance for those loans and then sold them to a bottom feeder that foreclosed on the victims. And Bennet is worried about “unintended consequences” for the banks when the banks are fighting reform with millions of dollars in campaign contributions of which Bennet is a major recipient.
2. When the issue of banking reform came up Bennet decided he would jump right into the debate before it was even necessary by stating he was concerned about "unintended consequences" of banking reform. We are living with the consequences of what the banks did and our country is on the brink of a depression. What more evidence is needed to put these rogue institutions in their place?
3. Sending a letter to Harry Reid about adding the public option to the health reform legislation which will be passed through reconciliation was admirable but it’s something Bennet has to do to impress progressives who are quite frankly not impressed with Bennet’s feet dragging on health care reform. He is candidate who is not popular who will lose the seat for Democrats if he is nominated.
It is the nature of the beast. Until we tame the beast, this is the way our representives will get elected. What they do after they are elected is another matter. Just because a certain group donates to one's campaign does not mean that the recipient need bend to the will of that group. Each is responsible for his actions. Bennet also undoubtedly received campaign donations from the health care industry, yet is fighting for health care reform and will vote yes on the public option regardless. Nor has he shied away from answering tough questions. He can tell you axactly what he stands for with a direct yes or no and an explanation thereof... which is more than I can say for most polititians.
I find from a humaitarian point of view that little difference exists between people fleeing communist or fascist regimes. The current immigration system provides cheap labor for large companies while giving the people that fill those jobs no legal rights whatsoever.
One doesn't have to look far to find a need for true humanitarian needs in reforming US immigration and drug laws. People fleeing violence live among us in The only way in my view to break the cartels and stop the violence that rages at our border, and has caused an increase in the flight of hard working people seeking nothing more than an opportunity to live and work in peace, is to move towards an end to prohibition. Attention must be paid to drug rehabiltation rather than incarceration as the primary method of dealing with the failed war on drugs.
Some politicians understand this situation and are working towards solutions. Others' s have made the life of many of these people harder.