Categories
culture politics

Please Don’t Vote

It’s not exactly the message you would expect to hear on election day. For those who know me it’s not a message they would ever expect to hear from me. As I drove to work this morning after casting my vote I got thinking about how destructive an uninformed vote can be. I won’t claim that there is a definable standard of what constitutes being informed. I think that is a decision that must be left to each potential voter, but for those who know they are not informed (those that can’t even see past the party label enough to recognize the party platform for example) not voting just might be your patriotic duty.

Categories
National

Revolving Doors

This year the state legislature tried to close a revolving door. In 2007 Congress tried to close their version of that door. I’m not sure how well either of them will work over time, but if it’s important to close revolving doors, maybe we should try closing another revolving door – the one from one federal elective office to the Presidency.

Admittedly, few sitting legislators have been elected as President, but you have to go back to 1900 to find a presidential election where a Senator did not seek the presidency (there were generally members of the house seeking it as well). Maybe if we placed a two year restriction after leaving a federal legislative office before a person could seek the presidency we might have fewer members of Congress trying to use their offices as stepping stones to the Oval Office.

Of course that would simply guarantee two year presidential campaigns, but at least those campaigns would not include a guaranteed fallback of a seat in the Senate for sitting senators.

Categories
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.

Categories
State

Huntsman for Senate (2012)

After receiving more than 75% of the vote on Tuesday Huntsman has to be considered the person most able to oust Orrin Hatch when he comes up for re-election.

Huntsman said he hopes he can build "coalitions" with willing legislators from both political parties to achieve what he believes must be done. "Not running again (for governor) means no political game-playing — but doing what is right for all Utahns," he said.

The fact that he has promised not to seek a third term (and reiterated that promise) combined with the fact that McCain is not going to the White House means that he will be looking for something to do when this term expires. I’d love to see another popular Republican who would take on Hatch to refresh our senate representation with a Utahn (Hatch can barely find Utah on a map – his politics are all Washington).

Now we just need someone to run against Sen. Bennett in 2010. Perhaps Steve Urquart could do that now that he won’t have to worry about his own re-election in 2010.

Categories
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.

Categories
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.

Categories
Local

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.

Categories
State

Climbing the Mountain

A week ago Scott posted a 1500 word analysis of the mountain I have invited others to climb with me. As usual, he provided many useful insights that should help us to navigate this climb successfully. After having a week to begin to digest his analysis I am finally ready to begin to address some of the issues he raised. Before I do so I would like to make it clear that I never believed that this would be a simple undertaking and I hope that nobody else thinks so either.

Scott begins his analysis by addressing the question of what causes voter apathy. I saw 3 factors in his analysis that contribute to higher voter apathy in Utah: age – the propensity for people under 25 to generally not be active in politics combined with Utah having a higher percentage of younger voters among our population; a consistent supermajority – incentive goes down whether there is no hope of winning or virtually no chance of losing; and lack of adequate information. There is little we can do about age except to reach out to young people and encourage them to be informed and involved. (It was the questions of my teenage neice that finally pushed me into taking some action.) The consistent supermajority in this state makes it so that I am more inclined to vote for Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. I will only vote for candidates I can support based on their positions and qualifications, but if both parties offer such a candidate I will go with the Democrat every time. The lack of adequate information is what this group is most directly hoping to address which is why it cannot afford to be limited to a website and a blog-cloud. We need to do things that will catch the attention of all citizens whether they use the internet actively or not. The information that we provide must be information from candidates for voter consumption as well as information from voters for use by candidates and elected officials.

Scott also identifies the obstacles we face such as lack of time in our busy world and the challenges of organizing diverse people. Scott points out the potential for duplicating the efforts of other groups such as Project Vote Smart (PVS) and The League of Women Voters. These are very real issues to consider. My goal has been to minimize the demands that we make of those who participate and find ways to get maximum benefit from those things we do ask of them. A good example of such an approach is Downsize D.C. which has made it very easy for people to participate in politics by providing information on the subjects they are trying to address and allowing people to write to their senators and representatives with one link. (Click the link, add your personal comments and click "Send" to deliver messages to all your legislative leaders at once.) By working in tandem with existing groups such as those listed above we can have a greater impact in our initial efforts. One difference I see between what I hope to accomplish and what PVS is trying to do is that I want to focus on our one small state. I believe that the nationwide efforts of PVS help to perpetuate the top first mentality that is a root of many of our problems. I would encourage anyone who is so inclined to support and assist the efforts of PVS but their focus should not be confused with what I hope to develop.

Anything But Neutral should focus on gathering information from candidates here in Utah and sharing that information as widely as possible As much as possible, let the candidates speak for themselves and encourage them to speak about issues rather than getting too focused on parties, associations, and opponent bashing that pervade national politics. This is why I called for people to ask questions of the candidates locally and post their answers before election day. I know we’re pretty late this cycle, but hopefully we can do something now just to get some momentum before we enter the post-election burnout period. After election day I will quickly share my ideas of how we can make a difference in our political process between elections – hopefully without burdening our already busy lives too heavily.

I wholeheartedly agree with Scott’s conclusion:

I encourage others to get involved and help in this effort. But let’s not delude ourselves. We are fighting against significant disincentives to political involvement. Simply providing information and discussion isn’t going to overcome that.

Categories
Local State

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:

  1. In your opinion, what is the most important job of a state legislator?
  2. What is the most important challenge or issue for the state of Utah?
  3. What is the most important challenge or issue for House District 20?
  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?
  5. 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.

Categories
culture State

Like Sheep . . .

I have been noticing the various political yard signs popping up as we approach the general election and based on what I have seen I am beginning to think that in Utah, the most politically active non-candidates are almost universally leaning Democratic. Considering that Utah is still expected to heavily favor the Republican tickets at all levels I thought of the phrase from Isaiah to describe Utah politics:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. ( Isaiah 53:6)

So many people here will not take the time to be civically active and informed, but a small portion of them (50% in a good year) will go to the polls and perform their civic duty of selecting anyone with an R next to their name.