Category: State
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Legislative Accountability
John Florez has a good perspective on what constitutes True government accountability and the forces that work against citizens from receiving the benefits of that accountability. I thought his comparison of the legislature to a corporate board of directors was very apt. My thoughts were sparked by the following statement: This year, with new legislative…
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Federalist No. 45
I wish we had a constitutionally limited federal government such as the one that Madison is promoting/defending in Federalist No. 45. the next question to be considered is, whether the whole mass of {the powers transferred to the federal government} will be dangerous to the portion of authority left in the several States. Madison argues…
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Federalist No. 44
Although it is not the central point of Federalist No. 44, I found it very interesting to read the fervent distrust of paper money that the defenders of the Constitution had based on their experience – especially considering our present circumstances of economic uncertainty that are largely due to the instability of paper currency (which…
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Who Should Adopt?
The debate over who should be allowed to adopt a child is a sensitive one. We have a system which tries to provide the best situation to children in need of good families, but there are more children than available families under the current definition. I think it is natural to be skeptical of the…
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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…
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Get Your Hands Dirty
As I have been making contacts and working to get more actively involved in party politics I have started to gain a new appreciation for what government by the people really is. When I learned about our government in school I was left with the understanding that government by the people meant that we have…
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All Hail President Hatch
Presidential Pardons are the responsibility of the President (which is apparently Orrin Hatch in his own mind). Nowhere could I find anything even remotely related to pardons in the official job description of the Senate. I enjoyed a lengthy and well written summary of the situation from Lizzen and so my list of grievances with…
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Loyalty . . . Right or Wrong
I have been thinking about the sentiment “my country, right or wrong” as well as many potential variations (e.g. “my party, right or wrong,” “my parents, right or wrong,” or “my company, right or wrong”). What I have been thinking is that such a statement of unquestioning loyalty is ripe for abuse and manipulation. I…
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“Free Market” Health Care
The call for Lawyers to join health-reform efforts was a not so subtle reminder to me about how "free" our health care market is currently. We can’t really pretend that the cost of services or the services rendered are determined by patients and providers. In fact, they are not even determined by a combination of…
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Post-Election Subjects
There must be something about the conclusion of an election that brings up the subject of term limits. I wrote about it a couple of times a year ago and have said nothing about it since then. Now the Standard Examiner has an article saying that It’s time to reignite the debate over term limits.…