An Example to the rest of Washington...

On Thursday (3-12-09) Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) proved that some people in D.C. are still there looking out for the good of their constituents and not for themselves. By removing his name from consideration for the position of Secretary of Commerce, Gregg gave up the chance of being in President Obama's cabinet, but at the same time sent a message to the rest of Washington that some conservatives are still willing to stand up for their values. 

In a statement released by Gregg, he says that,  

“It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me. Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.”

Judd Gregg is standing up for what he thinks is right. He could take the job and try to do things his way in the office, but under Obama, he does not think this is possible. The budget proposal is not something that Gregg wants to be part of and he has argued the validity of claims about the budget made by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner,  saying that

"The argument that this budget doesn’t have tax increases [on everyone] is, I think, an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ view of the budget."

Gregg also questions the validity of how the budget will reduce the debt when he said, 

“When you take the deficit and quadruple it and then you cut it and half, that’s like taking four steps back and two steps forward. That’s not making any progress; you’re still going backwards.”

I guess what impresses me the most is that this is a man who says what he thinks and then follows that up with his actions. It seems too often that the people representing us in the Capitol are willing to say one thing and do another. For example, lots of conservatives are bashing democrats for their pork barrel projects, but republicans account for 40% of all the earmarked spending. It is about time conservatives start taking a stand for their principles and when they do, like Judd Gregg has just done, they deserve high praise for their actions.