Musings of a Patriot

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Thoughts on Caucus System Reform

    Curt Bentley has an excellent post in which he discusses the issue of reforming the caucus system. I really appreciate the methodical approach he has taken to examine the issue. I completely agree with each of his guiding principles and while I suspect I am more comfortable with the caucus system in its current form…

  • Don’t Be Fooled

    John Swallow continues to insist that he will not step down because has done nothing illegal. He likes to use that red herring to make people sound unreasonable if they call for his resignation or impeachment. We need to be very clear that the standard for impeachment – “high crimes and misdemeanors” – includes some…

  • Strengthening Our Caucus System

    Instead of sidestepping our caucus system we should strengthen it by keeping what it is good at (leveling the playing field for candidates) and improving where it is weak (disenfranchising less popular political positions). We can do that by changing the way delegates are chosen.

  • Causes and Symptoms

    There are still times when doctors are limited to treating symptoms but generally in modern times our doctors seek to treat the underlying cause of a problem rather than the symptoms. We need to do more of that in the healthcare industry – especially as it relates to our most pressing chronic condition in the…

  • Why John Swallow Should Resign Even If He Did Nothing Illegal

    John Swallow should resign despite the assumption that he is innocent because 1) he has displayed very poor judgement, and 2) the investigations against him dilute the effectiveness of the entire Attorney General’s office. It is abundantly clear that regardless of his innocence or guilt the people of Utah would be better off with a…

  • Unfounded Assumptions on Gun Control

    In order to have a productive discussion on gun control it is necessary that the participants expose and understand each other’s underlying assumptions on the topic.

  • Restriction vs Empowerment

    Photo by Tony Young My 6-year-old son frequently wants to use sharp knives and it is not uncommon for him to get them out of a drawer unsupervised when he has a task that he believes would be served by using a sharp knife. He likes to use then for reasonable things but as far…

  • Saving Social Security

    When I heard Doug Wright say that he was incensed to hear someone characterize Social Security as charity it got me wondering – maybe it would be a good thing if social security were set up more like a charity so that we did not make it available to people who had sufficient assets to…

  • The Scary Flu Monster

    I won’t argue that the flu vaccine is not worth getting but I am confident that it is not effective or important enough to mandate it for the general population.

  • The Issue of Secession

    Is the lack of a constitutional provision for secession a problem? What would such a provision look like? I would like to explore these questions to see what it reveals about secession and about our nation.

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