November 2006 Archives

I was planning on only one election-related posting to the Fozzolog -- mostly to spare many of my friends the pain to their brains -- but I feel compelled to make a couple comments in the first few moments after election day. Okay, that's not quite right. This is going to be a long rambling entry. Be warned.

We knew Pete was surely not going to win. I was hoping his supporters would do a little better, but all things considered, Pete and his team did an absolutely amazing job of going up against the petrified Senator Hatch. Pete's first, and undoubtedly not his last, foray into the realm of politics and public service left no small mark.

In my other post about the election, I characterized the Democrat party, at the national level, as being more socialist and anti-religion than ever before. In retrospect, I feel that claim needs some adjustment and clarification. The leadership of the Democrat party are the ones who are way-left-leaning socialist whack jobs who seek to purge us all of theistic impulses and seek to rewrite and/or obliterate the constitution.

The gains made by Democrats in this year's election were not made by the whack jobs. They were made by many conservative and moderate Democrats.

Unfortunately, the party leadership will benefit from these gains, nonetheless. It is a viable argument to vote along party lines for all federal offices because, when it all comes down to it, party affiliation is where the power is in Congress.

Of course, all those propositions for Salt Lake County passed. Higher sales taxes on everything and bonds for recreation and open space will solve all our problems. The folks with the Salt Lake Chamber who worked on the Proposition 3 did an excellent job in their campaign. It helped that nobody really organized any substantial opposition.

That brings up what is probably the biggest caveat of local public policy: accountability. Or rather, the ugly lack of it. That, probably more than any other reason, is why we should -- and I realize I am playing armchair quarterback as much as anyone here -- be more involved in local civic issues.

Who is going to make sure the UTA doesn't horde (and waste) all the sales tax revenues generated from the rate increase resulting from the passing of Proposition 3? Who is going to see that UDOT gives viable east-west corridors options their due time under the microscope? We have to be more involved.

I was listening to the radio in the car for a couple minutes tonight and heard a reporter interviewing a republican congresswoman about various things. During the course of the interview, she mentioned that local issues on the ballot are often there for carefully crafted reasons - to draw out voters who will be more sympathetic to one party or another; it's all party of a grand scheme orchestrated by "those in charge" to (legally) influence elections.

Several states had gay marriage referendums on the ballot in 2004 and many believe that played into the strong republican winnings from that year.

Speaking of gay marriage, I guess Arizona had a ballot initiative to amend the state constitution saying "marriage is only between a man and a woman." It appears to have lost, surprisingly. I was intrigued and looked into it to see if there was an obvious reason it lost. I discovered Arizona already has laws which make gay marriage illegal in the state, but this constitutional amendment would have banned anything remotely like gay marriage -- like civil unions or domestic partnerships. So, I guess I'm glad it didn't pass. That's bordering on bigotry, I think.

Meanwhile, Arizona voters did vote to make English the official language of the state. Three other immigration measures also passed in Arizona: A ban on undocumented immigrants from using state funds for adult education and childcare; A measure preventing illegals from receiving bail, thereby allowing them to flee the country before cases go to trial; A ban on illegal immigrants suing for punitive damages. All steps in the right direction.

I should have done this sooner, but I guess there's still some time before election day.

Vote Pete Ashdown... to send a message

It's pretty obvious Pete Ashdown's campaign will not come close to toppling Orrin Hatch. Many Utahns who have been intrigued by Pete's sensible ideas for government and his stands on 21st century issues of copyright law, Internet governance, and other issues will probably fall back to voting Republican.

Don't do it! Pete is probably the only democrat I'll vote for this year and it's not because I want to see a Democrat majority in the U.S. Senate, because I don't. At the national level, the Democrat party is more socialist and anti-religion than ever before. That being said, Orrin Hatch and the Utah GOP needs to know that a growing set of highly informed voters are displeased with the status quo.

While Hatch has done the "right thing" on the war and the government's handling of terror, he has become a puppet to the entertainment industry and others who want to control what you can and can not do with your own data, hardware, and software; a frightening prospect as we head into an age where we rely increasingly on digital information.

Salt Lake County - Proposition 3

If you live in Salt Lake County, you should know about Proposition 3 which proposes an additional 1/4 percent sales tax be collected and the revenue be used for transportation. Utah County faces a similar ballot initiative.

This is a tough issue and I must admit I'm not completely sold on it either way. But, I wanted to share some of my concerns in case others may not have considered them.

My biggest concern is dumping more money into the giant sucking machine that is the Utah Transit Authority. In addition to getting sales tax money in several counties, the UTA charges gargantuan fares to ride its buses and light rail services. It would be one thing if they were building up a pile of cash to fund future growth, but as we all know, that's not the case.

The UTA is, perhaps, the best example of government bureaucracy out of control in the state of Utah. If I were in charge, I would turn over management of public transit to a private firm. Holy cow, things would change! Fares would drop through the floor! Bus lines that go places other than TRAX stations would reappear on the map. Oh, and a lot of overpaid, underworked public employees would be out on the street.

In addition to more pork-barrel funding of a broken public transit organization, there's the fact Proposition 3 doesn't come close to explaining to the voters exactly what will happen to the money generated. It could be used on any of a number of projects currently in the hopper - and maybe for others dreamed up in the future.

None of the projects in the hopper now deal with east-west travel in the middle of the Salt Lake Valley- a bigger problem than those addressed by the Mountain View Corridor, TRAX lines into West Valley, or future widening of I-15.

I'm also offended by the tone of the political advertisements endorsing the proposition. They infer a make-believe expediency in passing this tax hike- like the Great Salt Lake will flood the valley next year if we don't do something about it right frickin' now!

The commercials claim we must act now to prevent imminent gridlock in 15 years, but, again, there's nothing specific to be done with the money. This is clearly an example of irresponsible government.

There's nothing wrong with us, as voters, saying, "Uh, no. Come back with something that makes more sense and spells things out more clearly."

Don't worry, if it gets voted down, they'll be back next time with another tax hike for transit and transportation. It's becoming a fact of life in Utah.