Author: Dan Grant

I had a whirlwind trip through Chicago for Yearly Kos this past weekend, and it was great to be with people who care about changing our nation's direction — and are willing to work hard to make that happen. I met some truly impressive people from all parts of the country — local and national bloggers, activists, former Clinton administration advisors, motivated citizens — and all of them are rolling their sleeves up for positive change.

One of the sessions I attended was of particular interest to me and other residents of the Texas 10th. It examined the prospects for Democrats in winning Republican-controlled House seats. Stan Greenberg, who ran polling for Bill Clinton, pointed out that Democrats have a solid lead over their Republican opponents, even in traditional GOP-held seats. Furthermore, this trend is likely to become more pronounced over the next year. This confirmed what I've discovered when talking to people in my district, Republicans and Democrats alike: the Bush White House has lost the public trust, and the lockstep support of its agenda by Congressional Republicans is getting us nowhere. People want change, not more of the same.

One of the highlights was the gathering of all the candidates at the Netroots Candidates Celebration on Friday evening. There were at least 20 of us, most of whom are running for US Congress. And seeing their enthusiasm, sincerity, and talents made me proud to be in their company:

http://www.dailykos….

A shot of the candidates that attended the event:

http://illinoisdemne…

It also turns out that bloggers I met at Yearly Kos have remarked on the race for the Texas 10th. Matthew Yglesias of the Atlantic Monthly wrote about it:

http://matthewyglesi…

I am already looking forward to next year's gathering. I'll bet there will be 50 candidates there in the summer of 2008, all of whom will have their Republican opponents quaking. America wants a fresh start, and the people I met in Chicago are just like the ones I meet here in Texas: they're ready to make it happen.

http://www.dangrantf…

The Children’s Health Insurance Program is that rarest of government creations — a joint federal-state effort that actually works to reduce the number of uninsured children in our country. No wonder Congressional leaders are trying to expand it — and the White House is trying to dismantle it.

The question for us is this: will our Congressman join the bi-partisan effort to strengthen CHIP? Or will he stick with the short-sighted ideological opposition of the Bush Administration and leave millions of children without health insurance?

A decade ago, then-Texas Governor George W. Bush dragged his feet while other states rushed to create CHIP programs and draw down federal matching funds. He preferred costlier private insurance plans that offered less coverage. He still does.

Where does Congressman Mike McCaul stand? Contact him today and tell him you support the bi-partisan plan to authorize $35 billion in new CHIP funding over the next five years — which is what we’ll spend (officially) in Iraq over the next three months. And the CHIP funds will actually do some good, covering an additional 3.2 million children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance.

DC office: 202-225-2401
Email: http://www.house.gov…

It’s really very simple: If a criminal has the right to see a lawyer, a child should have the right to see a doctor.

Sincerely,
Dan Grant

If you want a Congressman who will support proven programs like CHIP, please click here to donate today.

Just four Republican members of Congress had the courage late last week to vote for a bill requiring that U.S. troops stationed in Iraq be deployed by next April.  Mike McCaul was not among those showing such courage.  Instead, he voted to keep taxpayers’ sons and daughters mired in the escalating violence while the Baghdad government continues to enjoy its summer-long vacation.

For Central Texans who have been watching Mr. McCaul put his rubber stamp on the White House’s failed public policies for the past four years, his vote last week was no surprise.

Nor will his next move be – introducing a measure calling for the adoption of the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations from last year, now that those recommendations are no longer viable, if they ever were.

This isn’t leadership.  It’s followership.  And followership isn’t good enough.

When I went to Iraq in 2005, it wasn’t because I was a fan of President Bush or his war.  I’m not.  But I had spent the previous years working for small-d democracy from Kosovo to Afghanistan, and I thought I might contribute in some small way to help the Iraqi people consolidate their peace so that our own troops could come back home where they belong.

I worked on the elections of October and December that year – historic successes in the midst of the violence, failure, and disappointment that have marked the U.S. presence there.  In a rare collective act of hope and bravery, Sunni and Shiite alike went to the polls to choose a legitimate government in a free, fair, and open process, and the overwhelming public sentiment was to carry on with more elections in an effort to rebuild their nation.

Like millions around the world, I now realize that the Bush Administration and its congressional allies considered the elections little more than a photo op.  No wonder they didn’t take advantage of the momentum that had started.  The newly elected Iraqi government saw no reason to have more elections that could undermine its new power.  The Iraqi public, hungry to make its voice heard again, never got that chance.  The White House failed to push for more democratic change in Iraq.  And without pressure from either government, the elections ministry where I worked collapsed into a cycle of score-settling personal vendettas and political purges.

Press releases instead of progress.  Spin over substance.  Flashbulbs, declarations of mission accomplished, and endless requests for just a little more time to turn things around.  It’s not enough.

Along with thousands of brave soldiers and hundreds of other civilians from around the world, I tried to play a role in bringing positive change to Baghdad.  But it wasn’t enough. The elections I worked on were allowed to fade away, like sowing seeds on dust.  The best efforts of our troops, our team of international experts, and our good-hearted Iraqi friends didn’t end the war.  We simply installed a government bent on entrenching itself every bit as violently as Saddam Hussein had.

But I’m one of the lucky ones.  I’ve come back home.  And now I’m asking you to send me to Congress so that, together, we can make sure our brave troops come home soon, too.

http://www.dangrantf…

The commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison sentence wasn’t really a surprise. We already knew the President believed in amnesty.

But the silence from our Congressman is troubling. Mike McCaul fancies himself an authority on national security and is a member of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

Does he condone the treasonous act of outing a clandestine intelligence agent?

Standing by your friends is one thing. Standing by a high government official convicted of lying to federal agents to cover up Dick Cheney’s campaign to take the nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses is another.

We need a change in Washington – now.

Please join me at http://www.dangrantforcongress.com/ to see how we can make a fresh start in a new direction.

When Tom DeLay engineered his redistricting scheme four years ago, he was riding high.  In control of the White House and both houses of Congress, he and his partisan allies thought they could get away with anything, from a war of choice in Iraq to choosing a new representative to roam the halls of Congress for us.

So how’d they do?

Well, Mr. DeLay, the man who once boasted “I am the federal government,” was forced to resign in disgrace.  Iraq, where I spent the past year-and-a-half, is mired in sectarian violence that is costing taxpayers $8 billion per month and untold treasure in the lives we’ve lost.

As for the Congressman bequeathed to us by Mr. DeLay, the news isn’t much better there, either.  Only two of Texas’ 32-member congressional delegation are less effective, according to the latest non-partisan power ranking.  Despite rubberstamping every failed Bush policy for the past four years, he has even less influence than Ted Poe and Pete Sessions.

That’s why I’m running for Congress in Texas’ 10th District – because the last thing we need is more of the same.

I’ve worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.  I’ve seen what happens around the world when Washington exports partisanship instead of American values.  And now I’ve come home to ask you to send me to the source so we can change the course.

I’m ready to lead the way toward positive change.  Together, we can improve national security, move toward energy independence, reduce the national debt, and provide a level playing field for middle-class families.  We can achieve health care coverage for every child.  We can restore our leadership role in the world.

Most of all, we can find a smart way out of Iraq and bring our brave troops home to the heroes’ welcome they have earned.

Please join me and let’s make a fresh start in a new direction.

http://www.dangrantf…

When I was a 17-year-old high school student in Austin, I volunteered for Congressman Jake Pickle, the legendary Texas Congressman who held the CD-10 seat for 31 years, from 1963 until he retired in 1994. Back then CD-10 was known as “LBJ’s District” because a young Lyndon Johnson had held it. LBJ used the seat to lead implementation of FDR’s New Deal, and his efforts brought electricity to central Texas.

Congressman Pickle was a worthy heir to the LBJ legacy. His work to reorganize Social Security has kept the program solvent and functioning into the present. He also brought a great deal of research and technology investment to the area, and was a strong and effective advocate for higher education and the University of Texas.

Now I’m running for that seat myself. And though the district has changed dramatically (thanks to Tom DeLay and his partisan allies), the promise of public service I learned in Congressman Pickle’s office still holds true today: honor the past and imagine the future.

Washington used to do a better job of addressing the needs and values of our citizens, thanks to public servants like Mr. Pickle. Not a perfect job, but a better one.

No more. The partisan zealots who have seized control have us headed in the wrong direction. There is a dangerous disconnect in the foreign policy they pursue under our name, and a mean-spirited push to do away with, rather than improve, vital services here at home.

We need a change in Washington. Now.

From Iraq to immigration to health care, Mike McCaul is neither honoring the past, nor imagining a future that makes sense. Simplistic, moralistic stands taken by poll-tested politicians haven’t made things better, nor has his rubber-stamping the failed Bush administration’s every policy.

It won’t be easy to make a fresh start. But with your help we can. Please come to my web site at www.dangrantforcongress.com today and sign up or contribute if you can. We’re especially looking for volunteers from the district – Ted Ankrum ran a great campaign last time and I’m looking to build on those efforts.

I know if you help send me to Washington, D.C. we’ll have a representative that everyone in the district can be proud of. I saw Congressman Pickle at work first hand, and I’ll work hard to honor the past and imagine the future.

I’m running for U.S. Congress in the Texas 10th. Why?

Because my district was gerrymandered by Tom DeLay and Karl Rove, and our current representative does not reflect the mainstream values of Houston, Austin, and all the places in between.

Iraq.  Katrina.  Abu Ghraib.  Walter Reed and Guantánamo, Osama Bin Laden at large.  Big Pharma writing Medicare plans while Texas seniors lose prescription drug coverage.  Big Insurance writing campaign checks while Texans pay twice the national average to insure their homes.  Soaring deficits, a demoralized foreign policy – and a capital city so tied up in partisan knots that they have no idea how to get us back on the right track.

We need a change in Washington.  Now.

If the litany of failure during the past six years has taught us anything at all, two of its most important lessons are:

* Modern Republicans can’t govern because they don’t believe in government.

* When government breaks, voters turn to Democrats to fix it.

The Republican administration is discredited, and even some of its most loyal apologists are now trying to scramble back to the middle ground.  But voters aren’t fooled.  It’s the extremist ideology and partisan zealotry symbolized by fallen leaders like Tom DeLay that put them out of sync with mainstream voters in the first place.  So those who enabled DeLay’s enterprise to get themselves elected have no credibility portraying themselves as moderates now.

None of which means that Democrats will automatically inherit the mantle of leadership.  Yes, voters are disgusted with Republican corruption, cronyism, and incompetence.  But Democrats are going to need to provide a common-sense vision that gives modern expression to the traditional values that made us great. 

Those values are worth remembering.  They earned us respect around the world and led to creative policies at home that helped build a vibrant middle class.  The eight-hour work days, the 40-hour work week, maternity leave, workers’ compensation, and time off to go vote.  Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare to help keep working families from slipping into poverty.  Civil rights, women’s rights, environmental rights.

Each of those progressive changes happened because earlier generations looked around and said, ‘We need a party of our own that stands for the values we hold dear.’  And they would be astonished today to learn that some in our party are afraid of change.  We can’t be afraid of change.  We are the party of change! 

I believe in the power of effective government to make a positive difference in our lives.  Not more government, necessarily, nor even less government.  Just better government.  So that we can improve national security while taking smart steps to end our involvement in Iraq and guarantee that we don’t have to send our brave men and women back there in a few years because we didn’t do it right this time.  So that we can move toward energy independence, reduce the national debt, and help provide a level playing field for middle-class families who work hard and play by the rules.  So that we can make quality health care affordable, protect our natural heritage, and stop cutting investments in education even as our global competitors in China and India increase theirs.

Voters are yearning for change, not more of the same, and they are looking to us to propose decisive steps.  Let’s embrace that change – to put our principles to work again to get our nation back on the right track.  Not to forget our traditions, but to fulfill them and to make it clear what we stand for in terms our friends can’t misunderstand and our opponents can’t misrepresent.

We need change – now.  And that’s why I am a Democrat.

www.dangrantforcongress.com