Tag: citizenship

FrontRunner ESR

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This is the time when I wish I had a large audience of local residents. Utah Transit Authority (UTA) has issued a press release announcing their Draft Environmental Study Report for the southern portion of FrontRunner. Because there is no direct link to the individual press releases I will quote much of it here.

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) has prepared a Draft Environmental Study Report (Draft ESR) for the proposed Provo to Salt Lake City FrontRunner Commuter Rail project. . . A 30-day public comment period of this Draft ESR will begin on August 22, 2007 and conclude on September 21, 2007. Written comments on the document must be postmarked by September 21, 2007. Written comments on the Draft ESR should be addressed to Utah Transit Authority, Attn: Provo to Salt Lake City FrontRunner Draft ESR, P.O. Box 30810, Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0810. Copies of the Draft ESR are available for public review at the following locations:

{Most public libraries in the area}

Mountainland Association of Governments

Wasatch Front Regional Council

The Draft ESR is also available at UTA’s Meadowbrook office (3600 South 700 West, Salt Lake City) and on UTA’s website. Comments may also be submitted via the website.

Two public hearing/open house meetings are scheduled to receive comments on the Draft ESR. The Hearing/Open House Meeting dates are scheduled for the following time and locations:

August 29, 2007
Westmore Elementary School
1150 South Main Street
Orem, UT 84058
4:30 p.m. – 7:30p.m. August 30, 2007
Sandy City Hall
10000 Centennial Parkway
Sandy, UT 84070
4:30 p.m. – 7:30p.m.

I encourage anyone between Provo and Salt Lake to look at the ESR and submit their comments to UTA. This is one of those opportunities we have to make our voices heard on a decision that will have lasting impact on our quality of life. I am definitely in favor of FrontRunner but I still plan to read the ESR and see if it raises any concerns. Then I will be submitting my comments to UTA.

Tags citizenship, community, State, transportation

culture

Growing Discomfort

I said before that I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with my favorite major candidates over one issue. That issue is the issue of health care reform. Obama seems firmly in the camp of having the federal government provide health insurance for many or all Americans. I think this is a very bad idea. It looks easy on the surface, but I think it is a step towards making our government financially insolvent.

On the other hand, Mitt Romney has experience implementing health care reform as governor. On the surface his approach sounds more like the kind of thing that I could accept. That means I am more comfortable with Romney than Obama on this issue.

What this country really needs is for the federal government to scale back in many areas where it was not meant to be. We are working towards a homogeneous society where there are no substantive differences between Idaho and Florida. The strength of this country is our freedom to make choices. Unfortunately we are working to create a society where there are no meaningful choices that have not already been made for us through our laws. This is not a recipe for stability. We need the challenge of meaningful choices if we are to hope to build the kind of strong character in our citizens which drives us to do the things that make this country great.

Tags citizenship, government, health care, issues, Romney

culture life

Fireworks and Personal Responsibility

Post author By David
Post date July 20, 2007
2 Comments on Fireworks and Personal Responsibility

It doesn’t take much thought to realize that a hot, dry summer does not mix well with fireworks. Governor Hunstman called on cities to ban personal fireworks because of our conditions this year. The Deseret News Editorial on the idea notes that legal fireworks seldom create problems. The fact that we make laws which we don’t enforce encourages unlawful behavior. We should not be waiting for the government to tell us what is smart.

This situation, and my personal feelings leave me in a bind. Tomorrow all the cousins are getting together to celebrate and the families decided that we would purchase fireworks jointly instead of individually. None of us take the time to purchase illegal fireworks (which are expensive and pale in comparison to the professional displays anyway) but with the extreme fire season we are having this year I believe that it is irresponsible to act as if personal fireworks are some inalienable right. If it were not for the fact that our family has already agreed to do fireworks together I would choose not to do any personal fireworks this year – I’d just stick to the professional displays.

Tags citizenship, family, holidays, responsibility

culture

American Greatness

While writing about Independence Day I began thinking about what makes a nation great. I thought about how we can become greater, and how we can lose our greatness. It seems to turn on our perspective. If we believe that we are great and spend our energy and time focusing on what we have to offer we become greater. If we focus on our perceived weaknesses we lose the greatness that we have.

There is value in admitting our imperfections, but if we focus on those imperfections and idealize what is happening in other parts of the world we will become like the rest of the world. If that is what we want then we must not be a great nation because the rest of the world has something that we want. Sadly on the 4th of July I found a post from a self described “Progressive” stating that we should do away with displays of national allegiance.

If we are to become greater we must recognize what we have to offer the world. What we offer the world is our demonstration of the responsibilities and rights that are inherent in individual liberty. The key is “individual.” Our greatness does not stem from our form of government – that has been copied and modified in many places with varying degrees of success. Our greatness lies in individuals striving to better themselves. We often talk about individuals and families striving for better economic situations, but that is a two dimensional picture. What we should be talking about is the individual liberty to make choices, wrong choices and right choices, and accept the consequences of those choices. We should be emphasizing the responsibility of people in our country to overcome discrimination, not the right of people to play the victim.

I am coming to believe that individuals striving to better themselves does not include individuals striving to use the law to make others participate in improving the economic situation of those around them. As John Stossel put it, “when people are ordered by the government to be charitable, it’s not virtuous; it’s compelled. . . . Moral action is freely chosen action.”

In my Independence Day post I concluded that remembering and reciting our historical founding were keys to becoming real Americans – Americans who have bought into the idea of America and American liberty. As I was looking for ideas on a new title I came across U.S. History.org with a list of 18 historical documents which help define America and what we stand for. These range from the Magna Carta in 1215 to the American’s Creed in 1918. Go have a look. I believe that familiarity with these founding documents will help to create a framework for common understanding of our historical context which then shapes our current issues and discussions.

Tags citizenship, history, liberty, patriotism