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Home Archives for politics
Net Neutrality: Where Do We Go from Here?

1/13/2018 By Jenn Mullin Leave a Comment

Net Neutrality: Where Do We Go from Here?

The freedom of the internet was recently thrown into uncertainty at the end of last year. There were measures put into place that secured the freedom to browse the internet freely and without any restrictions. You could sign up for service through a number of providers, and once you had access to the web that was it — no road blocks or restricted sites. That can all very well change. Without the security of Net Neutrality, companies such as Comcast, Verizon, Spectrum, can now alter the way you browse the internet. Nothing has yet changed, other than the fact that a change can happen very soon. The repeal of Net Neutrality had good numbers to oppose it, yet somehow it still passed. While many are looking for other ways to get neutrality … [Read more...]

Filed Under: liberty, National Politics Tagged With: Net Neutrality, politics, technology

How to Train Your Politician: Conservative Ed Hanks Urges Intentional Voting

1/5/2015 By Ben Leave a Comment

How to Train Your Politician: Conservative Ed Hanks Urges Intentional Voting

On December 20, 2014, I chatted by phone with Ed Hanks about his new book How to Train Your Politician: Intentional Voting as a Path to Tea Party and Constitutional Victory. Hanks, an acquaintance and Jefferson County conservative activist who has been one of Colorado's leading voices for Personhood, graciously shared a Kindle copy of his book for me to read prior our conversation. We talked in the wake of the lame-duck Congress passing the corporatists' dream bill, known as Cromnibus, fueling the fires of populist conservative discontent (including yours truly). A mounting frustration definitely brings a growing interest in the strategy Hanks endorses. Yet what I find most appealing about the book and its author is his historical … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Reviews, clean government, Colorado Politics, Cultural Conservatism, Fiscal Policy, liberty, National Politics Tagged With: 14th Amendment, abortion, Abraham Lincoln, activism, administrative, Alexander Hamilton, amendment, Article V, authoritarianism, Ayn Rand, balanced budget, Barry Goldwater, Bill Clinton, Bill Owens, candidate, Colorado, conservative, Constitution, Cory Gardner, Cromnibus, Democrats, Ed Hanks, Education, Elizabeth Warren, Establishment, executive, Forrest McDonald, Free Markets, George Washington, government, Governor, gun rights, Hillary Clinton, human nature, initiative, Ivory Tower, John Boehner, journalism, liberal, libertarian, media, Personhood, philosophy, politics, pro-life, Rand Paul, Republican, rights, RINO, Ronald Reagan, Scott Walker, Secretary of State, social issues, socialism, state legislature, taxes, Tea Party, Ted Cruz, Thomas Jefferson, treasurer, William Safire

6/5/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Is Bill Ritter’s SB 180 Veto a Dare to Big Labor to Challenge His Office?

Update, 9:30 AM: AFL-CIO press release in response to Ritter's SB 180 veto pasted below the fold. Also, Amy Oliver notes that several legislators from northern Colorado went against the will of the people in voting for SB 180 -- having benefited from thousands in labor campaign contributions. Yesterday I gave Governor Bill Ritter kudos for the veto of SB 180. Today's Denver Post follow-up by Lynn Bartels is headlined with the statement that Rep. Edward Casso and organized labor interests see the decision as a "tipping point". It could be my imagination, but I got the impression from reading the story that Ritter essentially is saying something like this to the unions:So yeah, I have this penchant of making a wide spectrum of different … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: bad policy, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, Chamber of Commerce, change his mind, dare, decision, Democrat, Denver Post, different, Edward Casso, follow-up, good policy, Governor, groups, imagination, impression, indecisive, intentions, interests, issue, known, kudos, labor unions, last minute, Lynn Bartels, mad, motivation, Municipal League, open enemy, organized labor, penchant, politics, prevented, primary, SB 180, story, string along, tipping point, Unions, veto, wait

5/2/2009 By Ben 2 Comments

Dispelling Facebook Membership as Motive to Scott McInnis Voicemail Story

Can't help but say that I'm a bit disappointed in the Grand Junction Sentinel for the shoddy article and headline erroneously equating the Facebook group membership of my colleagues Todd Shepherd and Justin Longo with support of Josh Penry. On the other hand, the Dead Guvs' complicity in their own headline writing and truly bizarre conspiracy theorizing is downright amusing. It reinforces the case that they're out of touch with local Republican politics and are relying on deductive logic to perpetuate a pre-fabricated narrative. They'll have to do better if they wish to be believable as something other than a fountain of Democrat talking points. When Todd -- a man of journalistic integrity (and amazing vocal impersonation skills) -- … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Journalism, liberty, My Life, PPC Tagged With: amusing, article, bizarre conspiracy, CASE, colleagues, Complete Colorado, complicity, Dead Guvs, deductive logic, Democrat, disappointed, downright, equating, erroneously, Facebook, fountain, Governor, Grand Junction Sentinel, headline, Josh Penry, journalistic integrity, membership, narrative, origin, outof touch, perpetuate, politics, pre-fabricated, Republican, Scott McInnis, serious questions, settles, shoddy, support, talking points, Todd Shepherd, vocal impersonation, voicemail, writing

4/18/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

The Principled Politician Brings True Tale of Colorado Statesmanship to Life

It's been awhile since I've done any sort of book review. But having just completed Adam Schrager's The Principled Politician: The Ralph Carr Story, it seemed an apt time to change that. Those who won't want to miss this book include students of Colorado history, fans of the World War II era (especially the home front), and anyone interested in a sadly forgotten inspirational story that seems foreign in today's all-too-jaded and polarized world of politics. As introduced to readers in The Principled Politician, Ralph Carr (1887-1950) -- Republican governor of Colorado from 1939 to 1943 -- was a rare model of statesmanship. Fittingly, he held deep admiration and adulation for our nation's 16th president Abraham Lincoln. He recognized the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Book Reviews, Christianity and Faith, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, History, Random and Miscellaneous, World Events Tagged With: Abraham Lincoln, absence, absolute, accessible, account, Adam Schrager, administration, admiration, adulation, all-too-jaded, Americans, ant-Japanese, book, book review, burdens, Carr Street, circumstances, citizens, Colorado history, commitment, constitutional rights, cost, demigod, devastating, disagreements, domestic terrorism, elected officials, engaging, era, essential, ethnic origin, ex-governor, exhibits, fans, fiscal responsibility, flawed, forgotten, fresh, frustrations, happen, History, home front, humane, hysteria, inspirational, intimately, invasion, Japanese-born, lessons, liberty, limited government, major theme, marble man, maxim, model, narrative, national origin, nationwide, originally researched, overreaching, paean, passions, Pearl Harbor, poignant, polarized, political career, politics, power, principles, public opinion, question, quirks, Ralph Carr, rare, recognition, refusal, Republican, respectfully, responding, sadly, sense of humor, statesmanship, steadfast, story, students, The Principled Politician, ultimately, vindicated, World War II, written

4/1/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

House Education Committee Democrats Killed Spending Transparency… Fast

One of my favorite aphorisms about Colorado politics is that the House Education Committee is where good education reform goes to die. Case in point is Senate Bill 57, the school spending transparency legislation that committee Democrats shot down after hearing more than 30 citizens and activists who volunteered to come down and testify for the bill. Thanks to a Face The State mini-investigation, we learn today it was even worse than that:Also known as Senate Bill 57, the bill was postponed indefinitely after four hours of committee debate that lasted late into the evening. [Democrat] Speaker Terrance Carroll and [Republican] House Minority Leader Mike May arrived to work the next morning ready to revive it. But they were too … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, PPC Tagged With: activists, aphorism, bipartisan, case in point, charter school, citizens, Colorado, committee report, Democrats, die, education reform, example, Face the State, good, hearing, House clerk, House Education Committee, House Speaker, intercepted, irony, legislation, Mike May, Mike Merrifield, mini-investigation, minority leader, morning, motion, obscure tactic, occur, politics, postponed indefinitely, process, proposal, reintroduce, Republican, revive, school, school spending transparency, Senate Bill 57, shenanigans, special place in hell, spent, State Capitol, supporters, tax funds, Terrance Carroll, testify, too late, volunteered

2/24/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

Democrats and Marostica: “Forget the Constitution, California, Here We Come”

When talking politics or economics, it's usually a powerful rhetorical tactic to compare our own Colorado to California - especially these days. In that light, here's a fitting and timely reminder from state senator Ted Harvey:The lesson Colorado’s legislators must learn from this recession is clear: fiscal responsibility works. Even though the legislature collectively fell short of creating a rainy day fund, TABOR and the Arveschoug-Bird 6% spending cap forced Colorado legislators to keep spending low. Had the government enjoyed free rein in ramping up spending – which is a great temptation to many lawmakers tasked with spending other people’s money – Colorado’s budget crisis would be as serious as California’s. [emphasis … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, PPC, transportation Tagged With: 1992, 6 percent cap, Al Jolson, Arveschoug-Bird, best case, budget crisis, California, cap, Colorado, committee, conclude, court, Democrats, Don Marostica, economics, entitlement programs, Face the State, fiscal responsibility, fitting, good idea, government, government growth, legal advisers, legislative prerogative, legislators, lesson, memo, override, politics, recession, reminder, rhetorical tactic, Senate Bill 228, state constitution, state legislature, state senator, TABOR, Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, Ted Harvey, temptation, timely, transportation, voter approval, voters

1/24/2009 By Ben 2 Comments

A Glimpse at the Not-So-Softer Side of Barack Obama’s “Hope” and “Change”

Once upon a time the word bipartisanship was one of the most sacred words in the liberal lexicon. Now the concept is well on its way to becoming an inconvenient obstacle to the superior virtue of Obama-worthiness. Fox News has afforded us the first glimpse into the hubris of bare-knuckled, Saul Alinsky-radical, Chicago-style politics that moved into the White House less than a week ago. It took less than four days to show the less seemly side of what hope and change really mean ("Keep hoping all you want, but America only gets the kind of change I say they're getting. End of story.") I could go on, but Ken the Blue Collar Muse already has tackled this one pretty well. As Rush Limbaugh astutely told Byron York, President Obama is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fiscal Policy, General, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: bare-knuckled, bipartisanship, bloated, Blue Collar Muse, Byron York, campaign promise, change, Chicago-style, concept, David Bernstein, debate, economic package, Fox News, glimpse, gloating, hands-down, hope, I won, Left, liberal lexicon, Obama-worthiness, obstacle, politics, pork, public, radical, reminds, Rush Limbaugh, sacred words, Saul Alinsky, substance, super-expensive, superior virtue, Volokh Conspiracy, White House

11/4/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Defeated but Not Down

It's hard to live up to the promise of live-blogging when there isn't much good news to report. This is the Democrats' night. I'll let them enjoy it. May God give them the grace to govern wisely. Somehow I doubt they will, certainly not from the perspective of life, liberty, and limited government. At least the vittles are good here at the John Bodnar party in Westminster. I couldn't bring myself to visit the somber affair down at the Marriott South. Meanwhile, I'll go look for the few bright spots of the night. Some big tax increases on the ballot maybe going down. (This tells me the state isn't lurching Left as much as it's turning Blue.) Other than that, not much. Don't expect to see a lot of politics on this site in the days … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Christianity and Faith, Colorado Politics, General, My Life, National Politics Tagged With: Blue, bright spots, Democrats, essays, giving thanks, good news, introspection, John Bodnar, Left, liberty, life, limited government, live blogging, Marriott South, nation, politics, promise, state GOP, tax increases, vittles, Westminster

10/26/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

My Young Free Market Friends Showcase New Online Political Activism

The Saturday edition of the Rocky Mountain News featured the proverbial quadrennial story about the energized youth vote. Do we have reason to believe that more young voters will cast their ballots this year? I don't know. But one of my young free market friends astutely suggests that the state of the economy has re-engaged many of them:Wesley Dickinson, a 30-year-old Denver engineer, thinks the economy is forcing people near his age to confront politics more so than at any time since the 1970s economic downturn created a generation of Reagan Republicans. Since then, people have been able to live relatively comfortably and didn't care so much about what the government did; that no longer is true, he said. "They haven't had to worry … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Colorado Politics, General, My Life, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: activism, Amanda Teresi, ballots, blog, campaign event, co-workers, computer, Denver, donate money, economy, engineer, free market, friends, Independence Institute, Justin Longo, Liberty on the Rocks, politics, Presidential debate, Reagan Republicans, Rocky Mountain News, technology, Web monkey, Wesley Dickinson, youth vote

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Inside

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    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
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About Me

Ben DeGrow
Grateful and growing Christian, devoted husband and father of 3, public policy analyst, returned to Michigan by way of Colorado, conservative writer, lifelong learner, Detroit Tigers fan.

Recent Posts

  • Tips to Teach Kids to Set and Achieve Goals
  • The Christmas Music Countdown You’ve Been Looking For: 2022 Edition
  • Sleep Deprivation and Parental Controls: How to Ensure Your Kids are Safe from Media Exposure
  • 8 Original Ways To Leverage Influencer Marketing
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Completing the Blogroll

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