"I Love You, Mr. Waxman" (But Don't Ask Me Why!) |
Even though I openly despise your progressive, liberal views,
even though I cannot think of living in a country which maintains a decent
standard of living once Cap and Trade is enacted. Nor do I think that the
voters in this district should settle for a candidate who never met a tax cut
he liked, but loves to spend and divest
money from entitlement to another.
Still, I have to hand it to you – you have generated quite a
following with the voters in your previous constituencies. Now, whether that’s
good thing or not, that’s another story – not that there’s anything wrong with that!
“I love Henry Waxman” – this is what I hear from voters in
the 33rd, but for some reason, they cannot say why.
Well, at least that’s what voters throughout the 33rd
Congressional District have told me.
One Santa Monica resident told me flat out: “I love Henry
Waxman. He’s really tough!” Don’t get me wrong. I liked this guy. He was
willing to listen to a South Bay 33rd like me.
When I asked him about
what policies he supports, the older man
grew kind of quiet and perplexed. “Well, it’s hard to explain. . .”
Interesting. He could not gush more about his man-crash on Waxman, yet the
reasons just escaped him. Now, if this was some private bromance, I would not
have cared any less. But Waxman wants to represent the entire Santa Monica Bay,
and a lot of hoopla about “I Like Him!” just doesn’t cut it.
Still, this guy was willing to listen. When I told him about
the Dingell-Waxman dust-up over the Energy Committee Chairmanship, he was surprised.
“All right, I’ll look into it. You can’t change my mind, it’s up to me, but at
least you were willing to talk to me.”
I wish I could say the same about Congressman Waxman. If he
had sat down with Senate Democrats, like West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, Waxman would have drafter a bill that would have dealt with carbon pollution without killing businesses. Manchin pledged in one campaign ad that he would shoot a bullet through Cap and Trade, refuse to let it become law. Waxman had the change to craft something bipartisan, yet chose not to.
A few minutes later, I approached another elderly gentleman,
who was reading the Sunday newspaper. He
was a quite type, more grave than gregarious. When I told him about the
upcoming election, and about the contest between Bloomfield and Waxman, he
gruffly replied, “I like Waxman.” When I asked him to explain why, he just got
scared, then buried his face in his paper. For whatever reason, he was not
willing to tell me anything.
Sometimes I run into people from Santa Monica running around
in the South Bay. One guy, an athletic type who was cycling around in the
Lomita area, was willing to trade some tales about Waxman. “He’s great! He
helped somebody who needed help with Social Security.”
I am not at all against a Congressman stick up for his
constituents. But when I told the man
about the trillions of dollars of debt, he fired back – “Then raise taxes.” Of
course, he did not care that raising taxes on high income earners, businesses
and billionaires, would do nothing about our government’s spending problem. Waxman does favors here and there for
individual voters, but he has to represent everyone.
Happily, I have met other Democrats who are open-minded. One
guy in Venice told me: “I love Waxman. He’s the last honest politician we have
left.” When I told him that he did not know what was in his own bill, that he
says “We’re Not Broke!” in the face of trillions of dollars of debt, he
signaled: “I’ll check it out.” No matter what your affiliation, competence and
constitutionality count, and Waxman has neither.
Now The Daily Breeze
loves Waxman. In their editorial (also published in their sister paper the “LA
Daily News” ), they endorse his seniority. Yet Waxman’s influence did
nothing to aid our veterans in the Brentwood-Greater Los Angeles area. His
influence pushed on this country an unpopular mandate-tax (ObamaCare) which
raided Medicare while driving up costs, which a
majority of voters still want repealed. By his influence, he blocked the Subway to the Sea, which
would have decreased traffic and protected the environment and the roads from
Downtown to Santa Monica. I love clean water, yet Waxman did nothing to amend the poorly written Clean
Water Act, twice in six years struck down by the Supreme Court.
The Daily Breeze editorial board wrote that Waxman is the “better
fit” for the 33rd District – in other words: “We Love Henry Waxman –
We just can’t say why!”
"I love Henry Waxman" -- a nice sentiment, yet not sensible policy. Vote for Bill Bloomfield for the 33rd!
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