Category: Local

Federalist Nos. 30 – 36

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Federalist 30

Money is, with propriety, considered as the vital principle of the body politic; as that which sustains its life and motion, and enables it to perform its most essential functions. A complete power, therefore, to procure a regular and adequate supply of it, as far as the resources of the community will permit, may be regarded as an indispensable ingredient in every constitution.

We do not seem to recognize the corollary today that excess money, like excess food, leads to gluttany and an unhealthy government.

Federalist 31

I love the direct logic in the opening here. The assumptions are laid out and unless you can dispute the assumptions it is difficult to dispute the conclusion.

IN DISQUISITIONS of every kind, there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all subsequent reasonings [sic] must depend. These contain an internal evidence which, antecedent to all reflection or combination, commands the assent of the mind. . . Of this nature are the maxims in geometry, that "the whole is greater than its part; things equal to the same are equal to one another; two straight lines cannot enclose a space; and all right angles are equal to each other." Of the same nature are these other maxims in ethics and politics, that there cannot be an effect without a cause; that the means ought to be proportioned to the end; that every power ought to be commensurate with its object; that there ought to be no limitation of a power destined to effect a purpose which is itself incapable of limitation. (emphasis added)

I also think it is interesting to note that the idea of the federal government seeking handouts from the states seemed repugnant, but today we see the repugnance of states which are almost entirely financially dependent on the federal government as was warned by the opposing argument that "an indefinite power of taxation in the {federal government} might, and probably would in time, deprive the {state governments} of the means of providing for their own necessities; and would subject them entirely to the mercy of the national legislature."

Federalist 32

It is interesting to see that even where he is wrong (believing that this danger was not real), Hamilton illustrates the very dangers that we face today as the states have almost entirely melted into the background in the face of the federal government.

Federalist 33

I found this to be an insightful and succinct delineation of the difference between laws and treaties:

If a number of political societies enter into a larger political society, the laws which the latter may enact . . . must necessarily be supreme over those societies . . . It would otherwise be a mere treaty, dependent on the good faith of the parties, and not a goverment.

Unfortunately today most of our laws are apparently nothing more than treaties that are being ignored – including the Constitution as a whole (only the form – three branches including a bicameral legislature – remains).

Federalist 34

When Hamilton explains that 93% of the expenses of the British government are dedicated to paying for war, war preparation, and war debts it should open our eyes to the foolishness of our perpetual expansion of our domestic expenses as if we could add increased military expenses when the need arises.

Federalist 35

I was interested in the recognition that representatives would not be elected from different professions in proportion to how those professions were represented in society. There is an inherent degree of inequality dues to the differing demands of different professions. Hamilton argues that those who understand money and financial realities are the best able to produce good government.

Federalist 36

Hamilton makes a passing remark that makes me think twice about the merits of expanding Congress as suggested by Thirty-Thousand.org – a larger body eventually reaches a size where they are unlikely to have any wisdom beyond the general populous – the only real question is what size is that?

Tags documents, economics, federalist, government, history, taxes

Local State

Blogging Legislator

I’m excited to announce today that Becky Edwards has started a blog to keep in contact with her constituents in House District 20. The issue of open communication is one that I talked to Becky and Kyle Roberts about before the election. I’m happy that we now have a representative for our district who is able to communicate with us and have a record of that communication available.

Anyone who is interested in transparency among elected officials should encourage this kind of interaction with their own legislators and with other legislators who are making themselves available online. I want to invite everyone – especialliy residents of district 20 – to participate with Becky as she shares issues with her constituents.

Tags Davis County, House 20, Utah

Local State

A Step Backwards in Utah

Some people might think that Tuesday was a step backwards because Obama won. Others might consider it a step backwards because Chris Buttars won again. The real step backwards was that 59,000 fewer people voted in Utah this year than in 2004. That is not just lower percentage turnout, that’s lower numbers.

Mark Thomas with the Lieutenant Governor’s Office says . . . the ballot generally lacked hotly contested local races.

“There are people who feel that this is a Republican state and my vote won’t make a difference,” Thomas says. “But I think that’s not a very good attitude in the sense that there are a lot of other races that do affect you, and perhaps even more so in your day to day life, on a local level.”

We need hotly contested local races on a consistent basis to bring people out to the polls. Too many of our elected officials are chosen at the state and county Republican Party conventions where only the elected delegates get to vote. It cannot be considered anything like a democracy when our officials are chosen by the votes of less than 1% of the population (the delegates) who were given the chance to vote based on the support of the 2% of our population who attended their neighborhood caucus meetings.

I’m almost tempted to suggest that the Republicans be allowed (required?) to place two candidates for every office in Davis and Utah counties just so that the general election will have some real meaning. Perhaps better would be a general rule that in a county where more than 70% of the elected officials come from a single party that party be required to field two candidates in the general election. After all, the first Tuesday in November was supposed to be a choice, not a ratification.

Tags 2008, civic participation, Davis County, elections, Utah, Utah County

Local National State

Supporting Our Leaders

As I read so many posts today celebrating the victory of Barack Obama in the presidential race I worried that I might appear to be a disheartened McCain supporter because of my lack of enthusiasm for the outcome of the race. First of all, I am neither disheartened nor a McCain supporter. Secondly, my lack of enthusiasm stems from the fact that I fully expected the results of the presidential race to look much like they did yesterday. On the other hand, I consider today to be a very good day to talk about our political process and specifically our role as citizens now that the voting is over.

Yesterday, before any results were in, DownsizeDC.org declared a state of permanent preparedness for impeachment. They argued that we should be ever watchful of our leaders and be prepared to impeach them as soon as they give grounds for impeachment. (To be fair, they indicated that neither candidate had yet given such grounds.) They stated that they considered it a mistake that they had not previsouly supported impeachment for our current president. Overcoming my initial rejection of this stance I realized that there was some logic behind their position – especially regarding elected officials at the federal level. I would like to approach the issue from the opposite direction. Now that the votes have been cast and our representatives chosen, it is the duty and responsibility of every citizen to support their elected officials and encourage them to live up to the best of their potential. Slate illustrates that idea with Six Ways Obama Can Show He’ll Be a Different Kind of President.

We need to start with the hope that our leaders live up to the best vision of themselves that they presented – that would mean hoping that Obama lives up to his lofty rhetoric concerning bipartisanship and transparency. Perhaps more importantly we should be supporting our local representatives. Now is not the time for all of us who have been talking about candidates and issues through the election to sit back and leave those who have been elected alone to do their jobs. We need to reach out to them, whether we supported or opposed them, and offer our support. We must be willing to meet with them, share our ideas, and encourage them in the difficult tasks that they will face.

We must start with the assumption that each of them is a patriot who wants what’s best for their fellow citizens – even if we don’t see eye to eye on what the best looks like.

Tags 2008, Anything but Neutral, civic participation, elections

life Local

Go Vote Now

I went to my polling place this morning and the lines were so long (at 7:00 am) that I decided to go to work first. My first thought was that maybe I didn’t need to remind anyone to vote today but then I thought better of it. Everyone go vote as early as you can (especially in the Bountiful 18th Precinct) so the lines won’t be so long at 6:00 pm when I will go try again. Due to sickness and the subsequent catching up I was unable to participate in early voting last week so now I will be trying to go after work. I will be waiting in line if necessary.

I talked to Scott, one of my coworkers who voted this morning, and he noticed that one of the things that made the lines go slower was having people standing at the voting booths reading about the issues (such as the Constitutional Amendments). Having done his research in advance, he was able to cast all his votes and leave while the people at the other booths before him were still making their choices. Based on that, perhaps the Lieutenant Governor might provide a one page summary of those types of issues that will be on the ballot so that people can read while they stand in line rather than holding up the line by reading at the booth.

While you are waiting to vote, go have a look at Jordy’s list of potential ways to choose who you vote for.

Tags 2008, amendments, ballot initiatives, civic participation, connections, elections, voting

Local

Polly Tribe for Davis School Board

Post author By David
Post date October 31, 2008
No Comments on Polly Tribe for Davis School Board

I have not really paid much attention to the race for Davis County School board but I was reviewing my ballot to make sure I had looked into each race I will be voting on and realized that I had missed this one. I have not actively endorsed someone in each race I will vote in, but I was very impressed by two aspects of Polly Tribes campaign for the school board. After going to her site I soon clicked on the link to view her blog. I was immediately impressed with the way she had used her blog to answer questions that people had submitted to her. As I read through her answers I saw that I like the answers that she gave to those questions.

I am fully supporting Ms. Tribe for the school board (although I don’t expect this too have much impact this close to Tuesday) and hope that after she wins she will continue the tradition of open communications with two minor adjustments – I would hope that she would no longer use a campaign website after the voting is done, and I hope that she would open up comments ont he blog so that people can give feedback on her responses.

Tags 2008, Davis County, Education, elections, endorsements, School Board

Local

Robert Moultrie Question 5 Response

Post author By David
Post date October 30, 2008
No Comments on Robert Moultrie Question 5 Response

I got a belated response today from Robert Moultrie to the questions I sent. Rather than give him his own forum here – especially considering the length of his answers – I will only link to his new blog for anyone who is interested in learning more about him as a candidate. On the other hand, I wanted to respond to a couple of things he said in answer to my final question, “What is the most important political task for voters to undertake?”

To educate themselves! But this, in and of itself, will make no difference until voters begin to vote their consciences, and stop voting because they are afraid of the “other guy.” . . . But the truth is that we are largely getting the government we are voting for. People talk around the water cooler year after year . . . But after all the talk, after all the listening to the news, after all the thought and emotion that goes into forming what they believe, when the rubber meets the road they do not vote for what they think is right, but instead vote based on fear of the other guy.

I agree with this overall. Certainly there are some people who honestly believe that John McCain is right (to make some easy assumptions about how Utah is/will be voting) even though he was not even among their top two choices in February (he was 3rd among Republicans and probably received fewer votes than even Hillary Clinton in the primaries). But despite the true believers who vote for him, many who vote for him here will do so only to avoid “throwing away their vote” or supporting a Democrat. Where I disagree with Mr. Moultrie is when he goes on to say:

Our Founding Fathers gave the people one time, just one, to have a voice in their Government: and that is when they vote.

To make that assertion is to imply that not only should there be no lobbying (which many people would agree on) but no contacting your leaders to provide input on issues of importance to you. That attitude suggests that we should vote in November, and then watch our representatives only to collect data on whether they deserve to be reelected in the future. I don’t believe that, and I can’t believe that Mr. Moultrie does either. There are ways to have our voices heard in government between election cycles and we need to avail ourselves of those opportunities on issues of importance.

Tags civic participation, government, House 20

Local State

District 20 Candidate Responses

Post author By David
Post date October 28, 2008
4 Comments on District 20 Candidate Responses

In response to the questions that I sent to the candidates for House District 20 I received a written response from Kyle Roberts, an invitation to call Becky Edwards, and no response from Robert Moultrie despite multiple requests. I will post the answers I received below with the caveat that the responses from Becky are the best notes I could take from our conversation and not necessarily the verbatim responses she gave.

1. In your opinion, what is the most important job of a state legislator?

Kyle: The most important job of a state legislator is to make sure that my constituents know how each law will effect them. Communication needs to be more important than what it has been in the past. I hope to accomplish this via my website and blog to which people can subscribe to receive updates.
Becky: To advocate for the people in their district.

2. What is the most important challenge or issue for the state of Utah?

Kyle: Tackling the budget. Surprisingly, it was only a couple of years ago that we had a surplus. And now we are facing a deficit. We need to trim off the excess and make sure our fundamental programs are properly funded: public education, some type of health care reform, and transportation are my top three.
Becky: The economy, job growth, and the cost of health care (all relate to each other).

3. What is the most important challenge or issue for House District 20?

Kyle: Public education is extremely important – especially when our district is growing so fast. We need to make sure that we have good schools, teachers, and administrators to be able to meet this new demand. But we also need to make sure that we have legislators who understand our community’s dynamics to fight for our right on the hill.
Becky: Not many challenges unique to our district apart from the state: public education, economic growth, and health care costs.

4. Based on the best information you have, what ideas do you have to tackle the important issue(s) you identified in questions 2 and 3?

Kyle: As I walked throughout the communities this month, I have been talking mainly about balance. I think that if we have more balance in the government, we would not have only two people creating the budget every year. But rather we would have the entire legislature define what money goes where. More discussion, more debate. The people who lose when that does not happen are the citizens of Utah. We need to have that. For public education, we need to just put that as a priority. Public education does not necessarily need more money. Public education needs to be run better. The legislature needs to keep out of micromanaging public education. We have qualified school board members across the state to do that job. We need to give more power to the school boards to make decisions that are best for them.
Becky:
- Education: depoliticize public education, build excellence by offering choice and accountability (e.g charter schools), and cut waste.
- Health care: cut waste – health care it is not a right but it is a part of social and economic infrastructure (like roads) – it is most appropriately addressed at the federal level.
- Economic growth: mostly a county issue but state tax structure can assist in encouraging growth.

5. What is the most important political task for voters to undertake?

Kyle: To be informed. Take the time to understand all of the issues. Vote on each candidate who represents your values, principles, and ideals. Be responsible in your vote.
Becky: Stay involved. Becky indicated that she would like to hold town meetings within the district (at various locations) to discuss and brainstorm regarding the issues that the district and the legislature are dealing with. She does not claim to have all the answers but she is willing to work hard and tap the resources of the district to be an informed representative. She would also like to reach out to voters similar to the way that Rep. Neuenschwander did with his email list.

I would like to thank both Becky and Kyle for their candor and for taking the time to respond.

Tags 2008, Anything but Neutral, candidates, House 20, Utah

Local State

Ask the Candidates (and Share Their Answers)

Post author By David
Post date October 23, 2008
No Comments on Ask the Candidates (and Share Their Answers)

In an effort to not lose all inertia, I am publicly inviting anyone who has any interest in Anything But Neutral to choose a political race in Utah and ask the candidates of that race a few questions of their own choosing. When you get responses (or by Friday, October 31st even if not all the candidates have responded) post the responses you receive somewhere that people can read the responses – preferable somewhere that people are free to share their own thoughts after reading the answers. I have asked the following questions from the candidates in House District 20:

In your opinion, what is the most important job of a state legislator?
What is the most important challenge or issue for the state of Utah?
What is the most important challenge or issue for House District 20?
Based on the best information you have, what ideas do you have to tackle the important issue(s) you identified in questions 2 and 3?
What is the most important political task for voters to undertake?

Most of the people who have expressed interest have their own blogs where they could post such answers. Some examples of others who have done this include Utah Rattler (House 20) and Thad Van Ry (Senate 23). If you prefer not to post the answers on your own site I would be willing to post answers for other races.

Tags 2008, Anything but Neutral, civic participation, elections, House 20, voting

Local

Test the Candidates

When I talked to Kyle Roberts the other night I discussed how important communication was for me when I look at candidates and elected officials. It has been very exciting to see as Kyle has begun to implement some of my suggestions to open more channels of communication for the residents of House District 20. He is making more use of his blog (which he had before we talked) and he has added the option for residents to get his blog updates by email (or a variety of other means). As I have seen him implementing things I had suggested I realized that one of the things that voters can do in choosing a candidate to support is to test the candidates.

Go beyond reading what the candidates say and treat them like elected officials. If you like to ask questions or make suggestions to your representatives you should be doing that with the candidates. The key to representative government is citizen involvement – early and often. If we just vote and then stay out of the political process until the next election cycle the end result will be a government that is out of touch and out of control. It becomes dysfunctional like Washington D.C.

I like this discovery and I plan to make use of it in all races of interest to me in the future. I also like being able to follow the efforts of other people who are proactive in contacting candidates. Thad Van Ry provides a good example of that as he sent questions to the candidates for Senate District 23 (my senate district) and then posted their answers. (That is his intro to the series of answer posts.)

Tags candidates, civic participation, communication, elections