Having to censor yourself - whether it's lying at the water cooler about how you spent your weekend, scrubbing your Facebook page of any revealing facts, or pretending to be with someone you aren't - is the antithesis of our foundation as a nation based on freedom of expression and association.
Jared Polis
From the newest arrivals to our Native American brothers and sisters, we are one America.
There are a lot of children in our country that, because of their neighborhood or socio-economic status, do not have the opportunity to attend a good school that will prepare them for life's challenges.
Colorado is a trade-dependent state.
We are a diverse country, but we are one country. And we are at our best when we come together as Americans, not despite our differences, but in celebration of them.
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.
I always try to follow my moral compass.
We need innovation and creativity.
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.
I am from Colorado. I know Colorado inside and out.
My constituents include CU Buffs, ski bums, techies, artists, suburban soccer moms, and proud, hard-working Colorado families.
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.
I am a Democrat. But first and foremost, I am a Coloradan and an American who wants government to function and solve the challenges we face as a country, then make way for people to pursue their dreams without interference.
It's easier to stop bad things than to pass good things.
The NSA has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times a year since Congress gave it broad new powers in 2008.
From my own perspective, I value productivity more than tradition, but the customs of the House evolve slowly.
Someone who is wrongfully accused needs to do their best to put it behind them and move on.
I wouldn't ask other people to invest in my race if I wasn't willing to invest in it myself.
I'm too busy thinking what I'm going to say next to remember what I've said, but my staff tells me I'm sometimes funny. Not always on purpose, though.
I try to treat my orientation the same way I would if I was straight, which is to talk about it when it's relevant.
Only Congress can treat the gaping wound that is our broken immigration system.
We want a Colorado that works for everybody.
Senators, representatives too often, we hear from our base, don't talk to the other side, don't with work with them.
I can be happy in the private sector, the non-profit sector, or the public sector.
As long as you have money to live then it's not a terribly important thing. If you don't have enough to live, then it's very important thing.
That's why I created the New America School - to fill the cracks in our public education system.
I derive a lot of the values that I try to bring into the public sphere from my private faith.
The foundation of a strong economy and job creation begins with providing every child in America with the best possible education, including students with disabilities.
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.
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.
We have to find a way that every Coloradan can participate in our economic growth and feel that all the changes that are occurring are working to their benefit rather than their detriment.
If my son had a baseless accusation made against him at a university, and it was making his life there miserable, I would suggest he transfer or take courses online.
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.
Businesses have no place being 'too big to fail.'
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.
For me, blogging is just like talking.
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.
With the policymaking process, you have an idea, and you try to sell other stakeholders on the idea. That's not much different than in business, where you're trying to find capital to make your idea a reality.
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.
A free and open Internet is essential to our democracy, economy, and modern way of life.
Patience, they say, is a virtue. Yet in times of emergency, the government needs to be able to make snap decisions and take bold, decisive action to protect the American people.
Lawmakers who support CISA will tell you the bill includes some privacy protections. They're right. But these 'protections' are superficial and include broad loopholes that are so far-reaching as to render the protections meaningless.
What I care most about is representing my constituents. If that ruffles a few feathers along the way, so be it.
Americans' information independence is under attack, whether it's the repeal of net neutrality or the repeal of broadband privacy protections.
Many rogue sites exist to make a profit and others are enormously expensive to maintain. If they don't have the resources to continue stealing intellectual property, they'll wither away.
Agribusinesses should never dictate the quality of school meals.
Big food companies have their priorities, which include selling cheap, unhealthy foods at high profits.
Improving our nation's education system has long been the cornerstone of my policy agenda.
Without net neutrality protections, the Internet would no longer be a free and open ecosystem for innovation.
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.
