The Progressive Message from the Progressive Caucus

Floor Speech

THE PROGRESSIVE MESSAGE FROM THE PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS -- (House of Representatives - May 14, 2009)

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Mr. POLIS. Thank you. I thank my colleague from Minnesota. Just today, hours ago in this very Chamber, we had a debate--not enough debate--but a debate about American military activities overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq, and specifically around Congress's role in funding these efforts.

I was proud to cast my vote against the supplemental. I think we need to fundamentally rethink the militaristic aspects of our foreign expeditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To me, what is a Progressive? It's somebody that questions the status quo. Who always asks, What can be better? Somebody who constantly seeks something closer for humanity to the state of perfection.

We know that it is patriotic to question authority rather than blindly follow authority. And that's an important distinction both in this Chamber as well as with one's friends when we're having discussions.

The most patriotic thing that we can do as Americans is ask ourselves these tough questions: Why are we occupying Iraq? Why are we occupying Afghanistan? Why are we putting our men and women in harm's way and causing many more casualties on the other side as well? What is our role ongoing in these countries?

Of course, Progressives want to protect America. Of course, we're concerned with the terrorist threat; of course, we want policies that protect our citizens and reduce the risk of terrorism here and abroad. But we question the conventional wisdom. Why does attacking a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 reduce the risk of terrorism here?

Mr. Ellison, do you think that that had any effect on terrorism here?

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Mr. POLIS. I just have one more thing to add. A majority of Americans agree that Iraq was a mistake--invading Iraq was a mistake. It shows that Progressives were right at the time to question that war. And if you recall, as I do, at that time there were many people saying, Oh, you're against the war; your un-American; you're unpatriotic. You're rolling over to the terrorists.

That war--and this is the majority consensus now, and you have mainstream groups across the ideological spectrum, you even hear this from the other side of the aisle, looking back, saying, If we knew what we knew today, we should not have invaded the country of Iraq.

Asking those tough questions, those critical questions, can be politically difficult at times. But it makes our country greater and it's how Progressive Americans across our country express their patriotism, by asking those questions that nobody else is asking, by not taking the wisdom from on high, be it from a Republican administration or a Democratic administration, that that's the way things are, but to use our own minds and rational thought to look at the information and look at it from an objective perspective and try to make our own opinion--not being pressured by outside groups or groups that might have an economic interest in a perpetual war, but rather to form our own opinions and voice our dissent where appropriate.

Thank you for the time.

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Mr. POLIS. If only those who object most vociferously to the government taking a dollar from my wallet to care for my brother and sister in this country would also object to the government appearing at the bedroom door, telling me who to marry, telling a woman whether or not to make the difficult decision to terminate her pregnancy. It is in fact somewhat hypocritical that while there seems to be a lot of care for the material aspects of freedom, there doesn't seem to be as much concern that I hear voiced for the equally, if not more important, personal aspects of freedom.

Truly, each individual is more important than the sum of their assets or a little entry on a ledger book. That might be a part of who you are--a very small part--but that's how you put food on the table and how you live, but there's a lot more to everybody. And when we as Progressives are talking about freedom, we're talking about the rest of the realm of our lives; those important everyday decisions in how you live.

And no, government shouldn't be telling people who to marry or whether or not to end a pregnancy or whether or not to use a certain kind of research that could save lives. No one is forced to engage in that research; no one is forced to even terminate a pregnancy; no one is forced to marry a gay person. But the question is: Should you have the right to do it if you wanted? And I think as Progressives, our answer is an unabashed yes.

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