Jared Polis

For me, blogging is just like talking.

My constituents want me to be outspoken - it's part of the reason they elected me - and the inevitable side effect of being outspoken is that, occasionally, you put your foot in your mouth.

I remember well my first 300 baud modem, which dialed up and scrolled text at an agonizingly slow speed.

While still in college, I started my first Internet company - American Information Systems - a dial-up Internet provider in the Internet's formative years.

Members of Congress wear two hats: one as Washington legislator, the other as listener and community leader back home.

My district is centered around the progressive college town of Boulder, Colorado, and the high-tech U.S. 36 corridor. It goes from the well-established suburbs of northwest Denver in Adams County to the beautiful mountain towns of Vail and Breckenridge and the majestic Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains.

My constituents include CU Buffs, ski bums, techies, artists, suburban soccer moms, and proud, hard-working Colorado families.

I've started several small businesses myself and know that it is tough out there for the little guy in the global economy. I came to the conclusion that, oftentimes, the best thing the government can do for small business is to stay out of the way.

To have hundreds of people from every political and demographic group you can imagine coming out day after day to take part in the national health care debate is fantastic.

In my opinion, real reform, which lowers costs and ensures all Americans get the quality, affordable health care that they deserve, cannot be accomplished without a robust public option.

Some people trust an insurance company over the government, while others trust the government over insurance companies.

I support offering the public option to members of Congress, and as soon as I'm given the chance, I intend to go on it.

Businesses have no place being 'too big to fail.'

If our country is to advance, let it be upon the legs of lessons well-learned.

We can no more condone the wastefulness of self-serving company executives than we can the sacrifice of the lives of our citizens in a senseless war.

When I first arrived, I likened Congress to being back in school again as a freshman. Well, just like school, we have an 'August recess,' but don't let the name fool you - it's not even close to a vacation.

My favorite part of the experience of serving in Congress is knowing that my time and effort are spent for the greater good and for the betterment of our nation.

Humans and nations are imperfect, and through our collective efforts, we hope to improve our nation and bring hope and opportunity to millions who lack it.

The most important thing to keep in mind in being effective is focus.

If becoming a member of Congress is like going to college, then crafting legislation is our homework.

Co-sponsoring a bill is fairly easy, like a group project which you work on with others.

The House of Representatives provides a special, nonpartisan staff of lawyers, called Legislative Counsel, who are experts in various areas of the law.

Enterprise zones have succeeded in attracting needed capital to our urban poverty centers. Businesses and investors that wouldn't otherwise give these blighted areas a second glance react to the incentives and invest.

Negotiating deals among members of Congress is an exercise in wearing masks, scaring up votes, and, oftentimes, bluffing.

I believe that in order to sustain a governing majority, the Democratic Party has got to learn that it can govern without raising taxes.

We need to prove to American voters, particularly independent voters who gave us this opportunity to lead, that this is not your grandfather's tax-and-spend Democratic Party.

Technology improves our lives in so many ways - from our toasters, ovens, and refrigerators at home to our computers, fax machines, and BlackBerrys at work. Technology makes once-burdensome tasks easy and fun.

When I was first elected to the Colorado State Board of Education in 2000, we had to carry a big binder filled with hundreds of pages to every meeting. By 2004, the State Board had gone paperless. We even persuaded the less-tech-savvy members to use laptops to pull up their information during meetings.

From my own perspective, I value productivity more than tradition, but the customs of the House evolve slowly.

Creating a sustainable, economic, social, and ecological environment that provides everyone the opportunity to succeed is my mission in Congress.

One of my heroes growing up was Jackie Robinson. My mom, an ardent baseball fan from whom I got my love of the game, had an old baseball card of his from the 1950s and told us his amazing story of courage in integrating baseball.

The life of a congressional spouse is harder than the life of the member. They do all the work and get none of the recognition.

Churches should be able to decide what kinds of unions are sanctified by their denomination, but not what kinds of unions are accepted in the civil arena.

No one should be denied the opportunity to choose his or her spouse. It is a basic human right and deeply personal decision.

Throughout history, we have only moved forward when society has distinguished between traditional values and valueless traditions.

The so-called Defense of Marriage Act is a valueless tradition that, like laws against interracial marriage that were finally overturned by the Supreme Court in 1967, undermines the spirit of love and commitment that couples share and sends the wrong message to society.

It is essential for our national security to know who resides within our borders.

Trying to enforce our out-of-touch laws is as foolish and impossible as trying to enforce a law requiring that water flow uphill.

We can pass practical, comprehensive immigration reform.

While most of my public service work centers on improving our schools and fixing our broken immigration system, I also strongly stand for personal freedom.

Far too many of our elected officials are chained to an ideology that is rooted in the past. They are keepers of normalcy who embrace things as they've always been.

In the business world, if you're not looking ahead, you're missing something.

We need innovation and creativity.

The passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - or stimulus bill, as it is often called - is a perfect example in which dire circumstances necessitate immediate action. But with such large amounts of taxpayer money at stake, a hastily developed, under-thought-out plan could have been disastrous.

Sometimes you hear that many politicians vote for a bill in various forms before they vote against it, or vice versa. The conflict, negotiation, and eventual compromise involved in this process form the essence of the democratic process.

We cannot afford a dead stop on all of the progress we have made under President Obama in saving our planet from the devastating consequences of climate change.

In the absence of federal leadership, Coloradans should take our rightful role as leaders seriously and work with other states and countries to reduce carbon emissions.

There is a great deal of innovation occurring in Colorado, with some of the most brilliant minds and creative startup companies in the world formulating climate-change solutions right in our backyard.

Coloradans of all walks of life value the environment.

To be effective in Congress, you must focus. With so many issues and debates occurring at any given time, it is easy to spread yourself too thin and lose sight of your goal.