(Printed at The Boulder Weekly: http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-15314-letters.html)
A coalition of Boulder County voters, including Green Party of Colorado members, sit in at Rep. Jared Polis’ office to protest the TPP and Fast Track.
Rep. Polis, as we say in Colorado, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
All across the state, Coloradans are expressing their deep disappointment in Rep. Jared Polis’ vote to support [Nov. 19] SAFE Act, which adds yet another layer to an already years-long process of admitting refugees into the United States, in the wake of the bombing of Syria.
And yet, in the faraway distant time of Sept. 11, 2015, Rep. Polis was among the more than 70 Democratic members of Congress who signed onto a letter in support of the Obama administration’s plan (tinyurl.com/p78vc7b) to increase the number of refugees admitted to include 100,000 Syrians by the end of 2016. He was among those who pledged to commit “adequate additional resources … for security checks, to meet the increased demand.”
Additional resources does not equate to additional hurdles for people fleeing for their lives, not in our book.
To make matters worse, Rep. Polis has to date declined to hold the Obama administration responsible for the unconstitutional escalation of hostilities via bombing and undeclared perpetual war in the Middle East. Essentially, he has done nothing to stem the tide of refugees in the first place.
The combination of Rep. Polis’ failure to call attention to unauthorized war and his bait-and-switch regarding “resources” for refugees has caused an inhumane vise in which Syrian refugees are now squeezed. This vote is, put plainly, unconscionable.
And what is the cynical political rationale for linking arms with the extreme right-wing, xenophobic beneficiaries of the profits of war gifted by the military industrial complex? The security screening that refugees have undergone thus far is more than adequate. In fact, out of the 750,000-odd refugees resettled in the United States since 9/11, only three have been arrested on terrorist charges (http://tinyurl.com/ o5zg3z5) This situation ain’t broke, and it doesn’t need the SAFE Act’s “fix.”
Perhaps Rep. Polis finds himself in a not-so-safe electoral district after all, since last year’s corporate Democrat stunt of withdrawing support for two anti-fracking ballot initiatives. Perhaps after spurning his base, he now has to scramble to be in the good graces of what right-leaning voters might still live in CD-2.
Now is the time for Coloradans of good conscience to finally abandon the DNC hijinks and games of bait and switch. The Green Party of Colorado is now recruiting for a candidate to challenge Rep. Polis next year, and we will be working to fix what’s “broke” in Colorado’s CD-2. Will the challenger please step forward?
Andrea Merida
Co-Chair, Green Party of Colorado
The SAFE Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/2278
