Wrapping up my short series on 4 Senate candidates you should support and vote for (if you can), Chris Murphy of Connecticut is last but not least. Murphy has one of the best intro statements I’ve ever seen, maybe the best: “Chris has a real record of fighting for Connecticut’s working families and middle class. His jobs plan will build a strong economy by strengthening American manufacturing, making education more affordable, reforming our tax code, investing in infrastructure, and focusing on renewable energy.”
President Obama has actually gone out of his way to support Chris Murphy in a short video/commercial. Check it out:
But let’s dig in a little bit to see why Mr Murphy rocks.
Murphy on Jobs & The Economy
Regarding jobs and the economy, Chris Murphy’s 5-point plan is a grand slam (+ 1). Check out the short summary:
1. Simplify the tax code: We must reform the tax code for individuals and businesses to encourage growth and to get rid of loopholes that put small businesses at a disadvantage.
2. Promote and strengthen American manufacturing: Our economy can’t survive unless we make things here – and our government should support this effort.
3. Reinvest in our transportation infrastructure: We can rebuild our roads and rails while putting Americans back to work.
4. Make education a priority: We won’t be the cheapest place to build things, so we must be the smartest.
5. Lead the way in renewable energy: Renewable energy is the next big global industry, and we must work now to ensure those jobs stay in the U.S.
Murphy is also a strong support of “Buy America” laws that would drive several of the goals above.
Very succinctly, Mr Murphy nails it. For more details, though, check out his Jobs & The Economy page.
Murphy on Energy
Well, if the above wasn’t clear, Murphy is a strong proponent of clean, renewable energy. Mr Murphy states on his website that he supports “a national standard to drive development of renewable power technologies like wind, solar, fuel cells, and alternative fuels – a policy Connecticut and dozens of other states have already passed on their own.” (As any sensible person should do, but many don’t.)
“I’ve also fought hard for landmark climate change legislation that will drive private sector investment in the clean energy systems of the future.”
That’s the kind of guy we need in Congress!!
You can check out more from Murphy on energy issues on his Energy page or in this video:
Murphy on Environment
Mr Murphy has one of the most refreshing (i.e. brutally honest) pages on the environment that I’ve seen. Many Democrats realize that the climate and other environmental topics are common sense things to support (um, our lives depend on it). But Mr Murphy nails the importance of the matter:
“Decades from now, I know that our environment will be viewed as one of the defining questions of our time. At the moment of crisis, were we willing to confront the challenges facing our natural world? Were we willing to protect the lands that provide our drinking water and grow our food? Were we willing to keep the air we breathe healthy and clean? We were able to enact the policies necessary unshackle us from the yoke of polluting, dirty energy? Or did we yield to the skeptics and the naysayers when their voices grew loudest and shrillest?”
I think you know where Murphy stands.
“It was environmental advocacy that first got me interested me in politics. As a 24-year-old member of my local Planning and Zoning Commission, I got involved in a movement to oppose the placement of a new power plant on fragile community wetlands. My neighbors and I called on our State Representative to assist us in our fight, but he wouldn’t listen. So, I decided to run an uphill battle for the General Assembly myself. I challenged that State Representative, and when I won, the first bill I introduced was legislation empowering local governments to have a say when it comes to the development of wetlands. It’s that commitment that’s driven me throughout my time in public office.”
Bam. Yes, thank you.
And on the hugely important topic of climate change:
“In Congress, I’ve also been a leader in the fight against global warming. The facts are clear, and those who refuse to acknowledge the reality of man-made climate change are not only failing to protect our environment, they’re waging a war on science itself.”
Too true!
Another important thing to note when discussing global warming is that addressing global warming also creates jobs. And Mr Murphy does just that:
“Northeastern states like Connecticut have already done important work on their own to limit greenhouse gas emissions, but they need a reliable partner at the federal level to help drive investments in clean, renewable technologies. Embracing new, alternative sources of energy not only means goods things for our air and our ecosystems, it means jobs: cutting-edge jobs in the high-tech manufacturing fields that our state has always excelled in.”
For more on such matters, check out Murphy’s Environment platform page.
Vote for Murphy!! And Get Others to Vote
Mr Murphy also rocks on health care, education, foreign policy, women’s issues, veteran issues, and much more. For more details on a variety of issues, check out the Chris Murphy campaign site.
Without a doubt, Chris Murphy deserves your vote, and I’d contend that he even deserves you walking around and encouraging anyone you see to get to their polling place and vote for this standout politician running for Senate in Connecticut.
A vote for Chris Murphy is a vote for common sense, your children, improving our world in the present, and improving the future.
Note: no, I have no affiliation to Mr Murphy and this post is simply a labor of love in support of one of the few politicians I greatly support.
Image via website of Chris Murphy.