Defining “Rights”

I liked this very succinct argument about why health care is not a right. With one exception, the right to representation in court and a trial by jury, {the rights safeguarded in our Constitution} require nothing of any other citizen…

Six Months to Digest

For the first time in years I got to sit through an entire general session of conference with almost no interruption. It was exciting to actually be able to listen to each speaker rather than simply catching bits and pieces…

Federalist No. 1

Starting on my goal to read the federalist papers and glean a greater understanding of the logic of the founders, today I tackled Federalist No. 1 – the introduction. I like the way that the topic is opened with the…

Old Goals, New Goals

I have made a goal ever six months for the last couple of years to review every talk from general conference before the next general conference. I have to make the goal anew each conference because each time I fail…

The “Ohio” Plan

With many people arguing that the primary election system needs to change there have been a variety of suggestions made. The “Ohio” plan, being considered by the Republican Party, is that first one officially being considered by either of the…

Rigging Universal Health Coverage

Devising a system of universal health coverage in Utah is a high priority for our governor (I'd say it's second to expanding our state economy). As usual, Scott is pointing out the glaring flaws in the approach the governor is taking.

Party Shenanigans

I would think that people who are politically involved enough to be elected as delegates and precinct chairs for the Republican party would want to be contacted by candidates so that they could choose who they would support. That is…

April Fools Day

Last year I didn't even remember that it was April Fools Day, but as I look back at what I posted I can see that it was rather amusing.

Straight Party Tickets

The only argument that I can imagine in favor of the straight party option on a ballot is that someone might accidentally vote for the wrong candidate when they mean to vote for candidates from a single party. This is where technology can help us. Since we have already moved to touch-screen voting machines we could change the straight party selection so that the straight party selection would make the candidates from our chosen party stand out but the voter would still be expected to select the individual candidates for their votes to be cast in each race.

Join the Game

When we recognize that most “news” is really entertainment it’s easy to see that politics is really a sport. John Florez is absolutely right in saying It’s time we all join the game and back some rookies. Assuming that more…