Rothfus Blog

This week, Senator Harry Reid crystallized why it is so important to elect true conservatives. Speaking to a group of liberal activists, Reid said, “We’re going to have a public option; it’s just a question of when.” Related sentiments were conveyed by President Obama and Speaker Pelosi, who ostensibly said: We’ve pushed forward part of our program, but there is a lot more to be done.

So, if you can’t fathom any further intrusions by this big government administration and congress, just wait; they’ve only begun. It clearly does not matter to them that their agenda is counter to the will of a significant majority of the people. Their far left liberal ideology trumps all. We must elect people who will put forward a pro-growth, limited government prescription for prosperity, and not stand idly by while the out-of-touch Democrats foist more and more government upon us.

Jason Altmire and the Democrats were just born to spend.  Whether it be on big ticket programs or small, they just can’t seem to help themselves.  Altmire just voted NO on a proposal that would cut the first-class sleeper subsidy on Amtrak.  For those who may be unaware, federal taxpayer dollars grant a significant subsidy to those who opt for “sleeper class” travel, as opposed to coach class.  These passengers are provided with a sleeping room (many of which include private facilities), turn-down service, complimentary entertainment, and pre-paid food.  Not surprisingly, Amtrak loses more than twice as much per passenger ($396)for this first class service as compared to coach service.  This additional subsidy would add another $1.2 billion over ten years to the ballooning debt.

How can we possibly expect Altmire and his Democrat colleagues to dramatically cut spending when they can’t even bring themselves to make the simple cuts? 

This week, President Obama signed a bill, adding tens of billions to the national debt, further extending unemployment benefits.  How serious can the Obama administration, Jason Altmire, and their liberal Democrat cohorts be about cutting the deficit when they refuse to pay for this $34 billion expenditure out of a nearly $3.8 trillion proposed budget?  Perhaps they are simply incapable of cutting  an extremely bloated budget by less than 1%--a budget they’ve increased by more than 22% since Bush left office?  Is this a party we should trust with control of the purse strings?

Recall that in November of last year, after signing the previous unemployment benefits extension, Obama said:  "Now, it's important to note that the bill I signed will not add to our deficit. It is fully paid for, and so it is fiscally responsible."  Apparently, he’s acknowledging that yesterday’s extension is not fiscally responsible.  Just more hypocrisy on spending from Altmire and the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ Democrats. 

 

This Independence Day weekend certainly does not bring a respite from campaigning—I am in the midst of a busy four-day stretch of appearances in more than a dozen communities from one end of the district to the other.

I hope that you will find time for moment of reflection this weekend.  Two hundred thirty-four years ago, the signers of the Declaration of Independence set in motion the world’s longest and most successful experiment in self-government.  Their courage as they pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” in Philadelphia shaped the American idea in a fundamental way.

The heated political debates of the moment—and they are heated for the simple reason that the stakes are indeed high—would not be possible without the conviction that animated the Declaration of Independence that individuals and communities can and have a right to shape their own destiny.

In the America that was forged by those ideas, we all tend to that kind of freedom for granted.  I hope that you enjoy what Americans once called without irony “the glorious Fourth” with family and friends and remember just how precious the freedoms we celebrate today are.

For nearly a year, the national unemployment rate has been stuck at just under ten percent—fully twice the rate in 2006 when Nancy Pelosi and the other liberals in Congress swept into power.

Some commentators and economists have even taken to calling unemployment rates like this “the new normal,” but there is nothing “normal” about the devastating effect of this level of unemployment on individuals, families, and communities.

This Congress has spent trillions of dollars on “stimulus” programs that have in reality stimulated nothing except the national debt. The only impact of these programs? The children and grandchildren of the men and women who are struggling today to find work are likely to face the same struggle as the country they inherit wrestles with the legacy of the irresponsible policies of the last few years.

Runaway spending and ever-higher taxes will soon put our country irreversibly on the road to the kind of economic paralysis that has been all too familiar in Europe since the nineteen-sixties.

I believe that it is not too late. The shadows may seem long as we consider the millions of unemployed, a skittish stock market, and a series of financial crises sparked by countries that have largely followed the same economic policies as this Administration: runaway deficit spending, a massive expansion of the role of government, and higher taxes.

A pro-growth agenda in Washington can still turn things around and rekindle the economy opportunity that has always been one of America’s touchstones. I am running for Congress for work for just that, and I hope that I can count on your support in the months between now and November 2.

This week brought some news that reminds us once again just how important this November’s election is for the future of our country, because we have a chance that may not come again to change our country’s direction.

A recent poll conducted by two nationally renowned pollsters for National Public Radio—the source of some excellent journalism but hardly a conservative mouthpiece—looked at the seventy most competitive districts around the country, including this one. The results are stark: the same voters—conservative Democrats, independent voters, and some Republicans—who voted for the liberal Democrats in 2006 and for Barack Obama in 2008 are eager to see a real change in our nation’s policies this year.

In the same poll, 56% of voters in districts like ours said that the country “needs new people in Washington,” while those polled preferred Republicans to Democrats by a margin of 49% to 41%.

No poll in June can guarantee anything about results in November—but this survey makes clear what I have believed for more than a year: big-spending Democrats like Jason Altmire are wildly out of step with Western Pennsylvania and with your help we can elect a Congressman this year who shares our values.

If you have not done so, please take a moment today to volunteer for our campaign or to make a contribution on this website. The stakes this year are far too high for anyone to “sit out” this election!

No occasion could be more appropriate to set aside the political passions of the moment than Memorial Day.

Political debate is nothing new in America.  From the decades before the Civil War—when duels between those representing opposing sides were not unheard of—until today, passions have run high in every decade.

The reason is simple:  nothing is more central to our political system than the right to free and unfettered debate on the topic of the day, whether that is the establishment of the first national bank or the war in Afghanistan.

The other constant across the decades has been that that right was secured first and foremost by the willingness of American service members to lay down their lives to protect it.  On this holiday, born in the aftermath of a terrible civil war that laid out a new and better notion of what America means as a country, I ask that each of you take a moment to thank a veteran for the liberty he or she has helped safeguard.

 I have as many complaints about the state of our national government as most of you that I meet. Today's Wall Street Journal confirmed this. They reported on several polls that highlight how dissatisfied we all are with our government. Maybe that doesn't sound like news (not to me anyway) but it got me thinking that even the mainstream media is beginning to realize that we're so far from being the country that Washington, Jefferson and Hamilton envisioned. What kind of country were they trying to create? They were trying to create a nation that was based on local rule and acknowledged God, morals and ethics.

So how did we get here - to this wayward form of "governing"? We arrived here through 100 years of progressively increasing central government, constructed by Democrats and so-called moderate Republicans. Their power hunger and fiscal irresponsibility, enabled by activist judicial decisions that spit in the face of the 10th amendment, has turned our country into something our forefathers never would have envisioned.

That reality prompted my run for Congress. I am a conservative who will stand on principle, tell the voters what I plan to do, and won't veer off that course for job security or personal gain. How many public officials do you know who live by that code of ethics? If more did, opinions of public officials would soar. If Republicans did this, respect for smaller, less expensive government would soar as well.

I am committed to cutting government spending and central government control. You have my word.

I'm thankful for all of your hard work on my behalf, and for getting the word out about my campaign. If we keep this incredible momentum rolling, we'll be one step closer to reinstating the country our founding fathers envisioned.

          The last week has been an exciting one for our campaign.  There is no question that the people of western Pennsylvania are deeply concerned about the direction in which the Democrats are leading our country.  Everywhere I have gone this week, I have sensed a growing confidence that this year we can—and must—elect people this November who will take the lead against the radical agenda of President Obama and Nancy Pelosi.

          At the same time, I can tell you that there is a growing awareness that there is a real contrast between the two candidates in the Republican primary.  I am not a career federal employee, hoping to move up another step on the political ladder.  I put my career on hold to run for this seat for one reason:  the stakes for our country are just too high for those who care about the future of the United States to do nothing.

          The professional politicians of both parties have failed us—and every day I am encouraged by the voters I meet who are determined to elect a real conservative this fall.

Once again, our Congressman Jason Altmire, the self-styled “expert on health care” has offered nothing but equivocation and political posturing, refusing this past weekend on Fox News Sunday to disclose whether he would vote for the Senate Bill that Pelosi and Obama are now pushing. This bill, as passed by the Senate last December is loaded down with obscene special deals for favored constituencies, including the “Louisiana Purchase” and the special deal for Nebraska.

NOT included in this legislation are already existing protections against taxpayer funding of abortion, which are supported by 70% of Americans. These protections have been in place for decades, and pro-abortion advocates are using the Senate Bill to attempt to force American Taxpayers to fund a practice of which they overwhelmingly disapprove. Congressman Altmire claims to be Pro-Life, yet over and over again his votes do not match his words.

Western Pennsylvania deserves better. We deserve someone who is not afraid to lead and who will put the interests of the people over the interests of Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama. I look forward to taking on that challenge.