Simple Utah Mormon Politics

The Greek economic tragedy is proving several truths. (1) "Too Big to Fail" is a dangerous lie.  (2) Socialist welfare schemes invariably fail. (3) Establishment solutions to problems do not solve the problems, because they are not intended to. Rather they push the problems down the road, enriching the Establishment elite in the process. (4) Moral hazard makes people stupid, and (5) If we don't quickly learn these lessons, bailouts will become more and more common--until there is no one left to perpetuate the charade.

Forgotten amid the debate as to whether the federal government should be the one to provide for the poor is the reality that we Americans still have more than our share of poor among us.  The irony likely escapes many of us who think of ourselves as an exceptional nation--as a shining city on a hill.  No matter how we hope to approach the much needed solution, the reality is that the American house of cards is built on too much empire and too little charity.  In order to survive the coming economic storm, we have one alternative--to become more giving. Americans can learn a great lesson from the example of the LDS Church Welfare system.

It's a much smaller group than the Utah State Republican Convention I attended last week, but I am attending an equally interesting meeting--the Organizing Convention of the Utah Republican Liberty Caucus.  Come along for the ride as I discover what it's all about. I heard about the Republican Liberty Caucus on Facebook. It was only a 45 minute drive, and I didn't have anything better to do, so I thought I would see if I could learn something from people bound to be more intelligent than me.  My hunch was correct.  My visit to the RLC has been a bonus. Following the singing of the national anthem and a prayer, the meeting opened with the "Are You a Socialist?" quiz.  Here are some of the questions: Have you read the Constitution in the past 4 years Do you support inheritance tax? Do you support graduated income tax? Do you support a return to a gold or other precious metals standard? Do you favor a system of free public education? Do the poor have claim...

We all want to be safer, right? Sometimes we scream "There oughtta be a law!!!"  Congress made a law once that was fully intended to make things a lot safer, but which didn't (okay, maybe they've done that more than once).  The unintended consequences of the Seamen's Law, contributed to the deaths of hundreds of people.

Other than the declaration that "Adam was the first man of all men", very little has been revealed to LDS Prophets about whether or not the theory of evolution is correct.  It has been promised that such truth will come in due time.  Latter-day Saints are encouraged, however, to accept truth from wherever it may come.  In that spirit, allow me to wantonly speculate on how religious and scientific truths may one day come into harmony. Feel free to speculate along with me. Updated May 10, 2010: Might there have been death before the fall?  YES! There might have...

I never thought I'd spend the whole day giving a delegate's-eye view of the Utah Republican State Convention, but I've never had so much political fun in my life. For those who got to read along, I hope it was helpful to you to know a little bit more about how conventions work. I'm worn out, but it was a very fun day.  Included in this article are some parting thoughts about how I thought things turned out. If you were there, or if you listened in, I'm curious how you felt about the outcome. Updated 5/10/2010 with vote tallies for 1st and 2nd (and hopefully 3rd) rounds of voting.

Now available, check out my after-convention wrap-up by clicking here . This seems like a good place to start a new blog article about the Utah State Republican convention. The other article has gotten very long.  And more importantly, the excitement is about to begin!!

Note: My apologies to readers.  I have gone to Part 2 of live blogging at the Republican Convention, and I FORGOT TO TELL YOU.  Sorry!!  But Check it out by clicking here.    Also, check out my after-convention wrap-up by clicking here . It cost me 14.95 to report to you from the Salt Palace Convention Center, so I hope someone finds this interesting!  If you wanted to know what happens at a political convention, you've come to the right place. While you're at it--see if you can notice my bias.  ;-)

Glenn Beck at the chalkboard Some liberals would probably find it highly satisfying to hear me say that Glenn Beck is just like Satan, but that's not what I'm going to say. We're all at least a little bit like Lucifer, to be right honest, because none of us are perfect. But Glenn Beck is a little more like Lucifer than most people would think. One of Satan's greatest ploys is to mix truth with falsehood. Glenn Beck uses this tactic on a regular basis.

A tip of the hat to Cliff Lyon at OneUtah.org, who put me onto a book called "The Authoritarians" by Bob Altemeyer.  Am I an authoritarian? I took the quiz on the book's pages 11 and 12.  I hope you'll take the survey, too.  See below how I answered the questions, along with my reasons for my answers.

United States Supreme Court The United States Congress still abides only partially by the concept of "one person, one vote".  While the House of Representatives is apportioned according to population, every state, regardless of population, has two United States Senators.  It makes no sense to me, then, that the Supreme Court would have let this "disparity" stand while striking down similar disparities in several States in the 1960's.