Utahs Republic

Posts Tagged ‘republic’

Someone sent me this great clip of John Wayne. Makes me want to watch some of his movies. What a great American.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaPA8fGeRUc[/youtube]

The Salt Lake Tribune reprinted an article from the NY Times entitled “Why state legislatures should not pick U.S. senators.” The author points out how a wealthy robber barron named William Clark, essentially purchased a senate seat by paying off his state legislature. Actions such as these led to the creation and passage of the 17th amendment which put the election of senators into the hands of the people.

The author correctly points out that this is corrupt politics at its worst. However, he is incorrect in his assessment of the 17th amendment.

When the Founding Fathers created our government, the “checks and balances” we often talk about came because of the conflict designed into the system. Each branch of government has the ability to strike at another branch. The congress with its House and Senate has to pass legislation through both. The Senators used to be appointed by the states to further enhance the conflict so that when House members who were elected by popular vote made promises to the people, they could be held in check by those who were looking out for the State interests and wouldn’t have the same body they were looking out for. Senators were to protect the interest of the states while Representatives were for the interest of the people.

It would have been far better that instead of passing the 17th amendment, we had made it a felony to contribute to a state legislator if you were running for federal office. If we had done something like that rather than put the 17th amendment in place, we wouldn’t have the outcry for states’ rights these days because the states would still have an advocate in the Congress.

If we would make the world better, let us foster a keener appreciation of the freedom and liberty guaranteed by the government of the United States as framed by the founders of this nation. Here again self-proclaimed progressives cry that such old-time adherence is out of date. But there are some fundamental principles of this Republic which, like eternal truths, never get out of date, and which are applicable at all times to liberty-loving peoples. Such are the underlying principles of the Constitution, a document framed by patriotic, freedom-loving men, who Latter-day Saints declare were inspired by the Lord.

It is highly fitting as a means of making the world better, not only to urge loyalty to the Constitution and to threatened fundamentals of the United States government, but to warn the people that there is evidence in the United States of disloyalty to tried and true fundamentals in government. There are unsound economic theories; there are European “isms,” which, termite-like, secretly and, recently, quite openly and defiantly, are threatening to undermine our democratic institutions.

Today, as never before, the issue is clearly defined—liberty and freedom of choice, or oppression and subjugation for the individual and for nations.

As we contemplate the deplorable fact that within the brief space of one year, ten European nations have lost their independence, that over two hundred and fifty million people have surrendered all guarantees of personal liberty, deeper should be our gratitude, more intense our appreciation of the Constitution, and more strengthened our determination to resist at all costs any and all attempts to curtail our liberties, or to change the underlying system of our government. (“Essentials of a Better World” 698)

Saturday’s convention was a packed house with a strong distaste for the advances of the federal government. As such, my amendment which recognized that article 4, section 4 of the constitution gives the federal government the right to interfere with a state’s business if forces within the state try to subvert republican government, turned down the amendment until a better one could be recognized. I had several people that voted against it encourage me to try again but without that language so we’ll take it up next year at the state organizing convention.

The convention itself was packed. Over 98% of delegates were present and by now you know most of the outcomes. Bridgewater and Lee will face off in a primary with Bennett being eliminated. Rob Bishop sailed through. Philpot squeaked by without the need for a primary and his opponent Matheson will have to go to a primary having failed to get 60% of his party’s vote. Howard Stephenson (my senator and a champion of Alpine school district parents for his work on helping fight fuzzy math) also got through without the need for a primary.

While on Red Meat Radio this morning, Scott in Sandy called in to share how a Republic is more representative of the people than a Democracy. Here’s a simple analogy.

Lets say you have 100 people in your country. In a Democracy, you would need to get half plus one (50 +1) of the votes in an election, or 51.

On the other hand, if you had 10 states in this country with 10 people each (total population again 100), in each state you would need a simple majority again (5+1) which would be 6 votes in an election. This has the potential to give the winner 60 votes (6 times 10 states) which is more than a simple majority of 51 in a Democracy.

Republics therefore, better represent the majority of the population.

Thanks Scott!

I submitted this letter and amendment to the Utah Republican Party for consideration at the May 8th, 2010 state convention. I hope if you are a State Delegate you will support this amendment and help get your fellow delegates to vote for it. Please forward this link to all your fellow delegates.

The proposal is just the part underlined below. The blue paragraphs above and below it are already in the platform and are included below merely to show placement of the new section on the form of government.

*************************

To whom it may concern:

I would like to propose the following addition to the state party platform. My reason for proposing this change is because society today has become so used to identifying with the “democratic” process, that many people now believe our form of government is a Democracy. We are losing a vital piece of our national identity and by virtue of that, losing the most fundamental aspect of protecting our natural rights by no longer teaching our children what a Republic is, and what Republican government is all about.

Educational networks now promote the false notion that knowledge and morals are democratic which leads to moral relativism. The Framers of our Constitution said only a moral people can preserve a Republic. On this ground alone, we must ensure that each generation of Americans has the knowledge espoused in the proposed addition to the platform.

The one concern some delegates may have is the declaration that the Federal government has the right to intervene in a states’ affairs under the condition mentioned.  This was carefully considered by the Framers as they were most concerned about preserving the sovereignty and independence of the several states. They wrote into the constitution a guarantee to the states that they would be able to retain a Republican form of government, because they knew that only a Republic would preserve the rights of the people. Thus they gave permission for Federal intervention to protect the people of a state should their Republican form of government be in jeopardy of being changed.

Sincerely,

Oak Norton,  State Delegate, Highland 7th

State Delegate Co-Signers
-Lowell Nelson, Highland 5th
-Kristen Chevrier, Highland 4th
-Don Baker, Highland 7th
-Larry Hilton, Highland 7th
-Sarah Nitta, Highland 4th

PREAMBLE
We, the Republican Party of the Great State of Utah, affirm our belief in God and declare our support for government based upon a moral and spiritual foundation. We affirm freedom for every individual as expressed in the Declaration of Independence and protected by the Constitution. We believe that citizens’ needs are best met through free enterprise, private initiative, and volunteerism. We support the “Rule of Law” and believe in upholding the law of the land.

THE PROPER FORM OF GOVERNMENT
We recognize that the United States of America is a Constitutional Republic. We recognize that when Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution declares “the United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a Republican form of government,” this simple declaration gives the federal government the right to intervene in the affairs of a state whenever that states’ form of government is in jeopardy of being changed to something other than a Republic. We further recognize that a Republican form of government is one based on: law; representatives elected by the people to exercise sovereign authority on the peoples’ behalf; a system of checks and balances and transparency of operations; and based on protecting the unalienable natural rights of man as given by a beneficent God to protect the freedom and agency of man.

THE PROPER ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
We believe government properly exists by the consent of the governed and must be restrained from intruding into the freedoms of its citizens. The function of government is not to grant rights, but to protect the unalienable, God-given rights of life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.

To all those visiting the site and agitated that a bunch of nut job (can’t deny it, it comes with a name like Oak) parents are getting nit-picky over the term democracy, I have written a new page of this site to explain the whole story which cannot be explained in a couple of sound bytes in a news story. It’s much more involved. If you want the whole picture, please check it out here. It’s not just the term democracy, but the individual behind it who says the state has a right to your children and that morality is democratic (determined by a vote).

https://www.utahsrepublic.org/democracy-media-fiasco/

Here’s links to a couple of articles in the media this week.

https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/education/precollegiate/article_dd9e4c33-f27e-51d0-b785-266338310af9.html?mode=story

https://www.sltrib.com/Utah/ci_14797234

One more from the AP:

https://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=10238942

For those of you that missed the show this morning, here’s the audio. I even got a pop question from someone who emailed the show asking, “if this is a Republic, should you even be looking at a petition, or should you be working through your locally elected school board to address the issues that you’re finding with the Alpine School District?”

Listen to the audio and see if you’re satisfied with my answer.

The Provo Daily Herald ripped Alpine School District for trying to brush Susan Schnell’s email under the rug and for telling the public that she misrepresented their views. After their own investigation, the Herald found everything Susan claimed and wondered why on earth ASD would be teaching our children that we live in a Social Democracy. Here’s a link and the fantastic ending to the article if you’re not going to read the whole thing.

Alpine District has explaining to do (2/28/10)

This business of “social democracy” deserves close scrutiny. “Social democracy” is a form of socialism, one that stresses political domination of society and the economy. It’s not the outright ownership of the means of production, but rather a sort of “socialism lite” found today in the welfare states of many European countries.

And this again raises the question why this is part of Alpine School District’s mission statement and emblazoned on big signs at district offices. If our educators use such a slogan knowing what social democracy is, they have considerably more explaining to do.

If they are unaware of what “social democracy” is, they should find other professions where ignorance of politics, history and economics wouldn’t be such a liability.