To “Lee” or Not to “Lee,” That is the Question

Mike Lee, Photo courtesy of United Liberty

The attacks on Senator Mike Lee have been steady and well thought out.  This is a tactical strategy put out by those who want to take away his seat.  It all begins with Bob Bennett, Mike Leavitt and his CMV group, Thomas Wright (who is considering a run against Lee), and helped with the backing of the Romney’s, with the Mitt Romney anti-Mike Lee rants put out in his recent tour around the state.  Top that off with a polling company that uses data from a focus group that wants to make YOU feel that this is all real.  We will go down that rabbit hole another time.   (Quinn Monson)

Mike Leavitt, Photo courtesy of Lawrence Jackson / AP

Thomas Wright, Photo courtesy of The Salt Lake Tribune

Now, those are all well-known names.  You trust them, right?

Well, you shouldn’t.

What is in it for you?  Nothing.  What is in it for them?   Power!  Let’s be honest, this isn’t Republican or Democrat either.  After Bob Bennett lost to Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater, we had a primary, and Mike Lee won that.

Then Bob Bennett’s son went on the campaign for the Democrat in the race.  That is funny.

So don’t think the Republican ideals really mean that much to many in the party.  They don’t.  But the power … that means something, and they will do anything to maintain it.  The people can and should take this power back.

Here’s the deal.  Mike Lee is a constitutional scholar.  He isn’t playing the DC game, and all sides of the aisle are frustrated by that.  He was actually elected to end The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.  Stop it however he could.  Defund it, Repeal it.  That was the message from the people in Utah.  And many others in the nation really appreciate what he has done.  Read this article here.

Or listen to this quote: “Scheffler, Iowa’s GOP National Committeeman, said the group was looking for someone who hadn’t been to Iowa already and who does not “wilt under political pressure and is willing to stand up” for constitutional principles.” Found in the article here.

This government shut down isn’t because of Mike Lee.  It’s because the Democrats won’t even vote on the 9 compromises being offered by the House. This has happened 18 times in our history.  And it usually ends with government being more responsible to it’s citizens.

Now, what is in this for Mike Lee?  Think about it.  He is going to have a huge fight to maintain his seat.  He could sit comfortably back and do nothing, get along with all the Republicans, and have a chance at a long career in politics.  Or, he could actually “Stand for Something.”  That phrase should sound familiar to those who are members of his faith.  They have been admonished by our past prophet Gordan B. Hinckley to stand.  Mike Lee is standing on high moral ground when he stands for the Constitution and the rights of the citizens of these United States.  I hope he keeps standing.

The goal of the people putting out the articles, creating the attacks, and starting an initiative known as Count My Vote, is about power.  That’s it.  The Republican establishment lost power in 2010 when Bob Bennett was systematically removed from power after following the Republican led TARP bailouts.

So many people should have gone to jail on Wall Street, so many people should have paid for their blatant disregard of the free markets and the backroom, government/business deals.  The market was correcting.  That was actually a good thing.  Sometimes the markets need to correct.  We need to be in balance, and that was starting to happen.  However, the scary, dooms-day rhetoric of the Republicans led by Ben Bernanke at the head of the Federal Reserve, said we “HAD TO”, or our way of life would end.  Well maybe for a few people at the top of the food (aristocratic) chain.  Maybe for the people at Goldman Sachs.  They actually had the guts to say that Main Street had to have these bailouts on Wall Street.  I was trading the market when AIG received it’s $80 Billion bailout.  And there were so many more to come.

That’s where is started.  Then Obama was elected President.  Obamacare became a huge issue.  Everyone knew that Bennett had proposed a similar bill and it was distasteful for the Republicans.  We had sat on the sidelines, allowing the powers that be to control our system in Utah.  We stood up.  We took notice.  We wanted to understand how to change the system.  A group known as “Club for Growth” came forward.  They wanted Bob Bennett out, and so they simply taught everyday citizens the Utah system.  The Caucus or the Neighborhood Election.  Brilliant.

So now that the Republican Establishment couldn’t get their way, they needed to figure out how to beat the system.  They flooded the caucuses with their people to elect Orrin Hatch for ANOTHER (too many to count) term.  It worked.  But it was SO expensive.  They felt that a primary would have been so much easier.  It’s easy to fool most of the people in Utah with catchy ads, big name endorsements, and lost of name recognition.

Now, the people of Utah are not fools, but we are busy.  We have lives.  We have soccer games, jobs, stress, grocery shopping, church responsibilities, and frankly most of the time, politics isn’t a fun topic.  It can be negative and draining.

So a brilliant system was put in place.  The Neighborhood elections.  The neighbors get together once every two years and hold a meeting (a caucus), and they decide amongst themselves in like-minded meetings (Democrats, Republicans, Constitution Party etc, each in their own meetings) who they would like to have represent their neighborhood on the ballot.

We are busy.  We trust our neighbors.  So we elect them.  Now, they get to really get to know all of these candidates.  From National offices like Congress and Senate, to state offices like Governor, State Legislator, and State Senator.  Right down to the Sheriffs office.  Some people are elected as county representative’s called county “delegates” and others are elected as state “delegates.”  What a beautiful thing…a Republic.

Now, you get to go on with your busy life, go to soccer games, be the Scout leader, do your job, mow your lawn, etc.  And you have someone in your neighborhood that will “vet” all of these candidates.  Slick ads and endorsements won’t be deciding.  Someone will have a chance to meet with all of these candidates and hear them on multiple occasions.  They will see through the rhetoric right to the heart of a person (most of the time.)

You see, Orrin Hatch thought he’d stacked those caucuses so well, and guess what, he did.  But then, those delegates got to know him.  They learned there was a lot more to the picture than what the mainstream media puts out there.  They started looking at his voting record.  Some of them, a lot of them, changed their minds.  He had to go to a primary anyway, even after putting in over $2 million before convention.

CMV sounds good on the surface.  Give the “people” the chance to have their vote heard.  But that’s the amazing thing.  You are heard.  You are heard louder because you have elected someone to represent you from your neighborhood.  You have a true Republic.  Now, I know the LDS church is not getting involved either way on the CMV front, but I would like to quote the LDS church’s official statement from last year.

“Precinct caucuses are the most fundamental grassroots level of political involvement. They are best served by a broad representation of Utah citizens. Those who attend play a critical role in selecting candidates for public office.”

 If you read their statement, they talk about the declining attendance of the caucuses.  We’ve heard all of the rhetoric about how caucus attendance has dwindled.  Funny, nobody had a problem with low caucus attendance when they had their way.  The more people who show up, the more people are heard, and the harder it is to fool some of the people all of the time. I don’t know where their information came from but here are the numbers for you.

Year	Total Attending	Up/Down %
2002	28,207
2004	22,511	-20.19%
2006	34,563	53.54%
2008	23,550	-31.86%
2010	54,841	132.87%
2012	111,944	104.12%

Are you seeing those numbers?  Look at the increase in attendance in 2010 when Lee was elected.  And then again it went up over 100% in 2012.  That is a huge increase since 2002.  That is a 375% increase since 2008.  And I believe it will continue to rise.

The Establishment wants to take the “grassroots” out of the picture.  They know that most people will vote in a primary based on simple sound bites, simple name recognition, catchy slogans, or endorsements.  Principles will be gone, and money will reign.  YOU are the grassroots, and they want to silence that voice.

Read this article about “Big Money Backers.”  That is who wants to take over.  Big Money. 

We have a real issue here, and it isn’t “tea party” or “radical” or anything else. Aligning yourself with our founding documents, our Constitution is not extreme. These are Republicans that are getting educated.  These are Republicans that have watched their country go down the tubes under both sides of the aisle.  These are regular people with jobs, and a mortgage, and kids that need braces, that are tired, and we’ve stood up to our “masters” known as the Federal government, and we’ve said, “Enough!”  And these are Republicans that have begun to see the Democrats eye to eye on civil liberties issues.  Amazing, not radical.

Don’t sign CMV, don’t buy into the trap of the media that are trying to eliminate Mike Lee.  This is the establishment trying to fool you.  Support Mike Lee, because he supports the Constitution.  He isn’t perfect, but everyone who is throwing their hat into the ring has an agenda.  Power.  That’s it.

This is a Fourth Turning.  The time to change things is now.  Leaders stand against all odds.  I was told by a friend that Mike would throw away his political career.  Maybe he has.  But he is a hero.

If you don’t like Mike, show up to caucus.  The caucus system is becoming more and more inclusive all the time.  The SCC (State Central Committee) is working tirelessly on efforts to make everyone feel welcome.  This is your neighborhood.   Make your voice heard.  But do not buy into the garbage of Count My Vote and the media.  They want to take your voice.

To hear how this is happening on a national scale, listen to this.  Glenn Beck fan or not, please realize that the intimidation is real.  We are making a difference, and the establishment is scared.

“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.” —  Mahatma Gandhi 

 (hashtag) #ILikeMike

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Party in Utah? Hardly.

Many believe that Republicans dominate the state of Utah.  Well, that isn’t completely true.  Yes, every elected statewide official has an R behind their name, but that doesn’t mean we are a one party state.  Just look at the party.

Last Saturday at the Republican State Convention, the Count My Vote group (read Buy-my-Vote) wanted to change the Republican system.  This group is headed up by LaVarr Webb (big-money interest), Kirk Jowers (wanna-be candidate for something), former Republican Governor Mike Leavitt (Progressive), Dave Hansen (Former chair, Orrin Hatch and now Mia Love campaign manager), and touted on the air waves by Doug Wright (wanna-be candidate and Progressive).  http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765630111/Why-moderates-lost-the-caucus-vote.html

You see, there really are two parties in Utah, they just all exist under the name Republican.  It is true the Democrat Party is not getting a lot of traction in Utah, so that is not the other party I’m talking about.  However, there is the liberal, almost Democrat-wing of the Republican Party.  Then there is the Republican Party platform group, where most of the actual Republican Party resides.  The first group of Republicans are actually called Progressives.  Delegates, who represent the average Utah voter directly from a neighborhood meeting, would never elect them.  However, their name recognition, and their big special interest money could fool many in a primary.  They would never be elected with D behind their name, so here they are in the Republican Party.

Delegates may have aligned themselves from time to time with what they believed to be Republican values, and found out they were electing “progressive” Republicans.  When Utahns had finally had enough, the “secret” of the caucus was unveiled, and record attendance occurred.  Suddenly neighbors woke up and realized they did not have to wait for a primary, or the general election to “shape” the landscape in choosing candidates.  This is not about delegate power as many have professed, but about neighborhood responsibility.  As any delegate that has served will tell you, the system is different inside than it appears on the outside.  There is so much to learn about the candidates, and the real issues of the day.  The discussions are deep, and the integrity, honesty, and viability of a candidate are more easily accessed one on one, face to face.

The Count My Vote / Buy My Vote alternative is to rush things to a primary where people are elected on how many signs, billboards, radio and TV ads they can get out.  30-second sound bites, little catchy phrases, and worst of all some big name endorsement become the deciding factors in a primary.

Kirk Jowers calls our system antiquated.  While we can always do things to improve upon the system, these neighborhood meetings are vital to maintaining our Republic.  We are a Republic, after all, and NOT a Democracy, as is a common misconception.  He has compared himself to “George Washington” wanting to see delegates give up their power.  George must be rolling in his grave.  George Washington, along with all of the founding fathers recognized that the government closest to the people was the best.  How much closer can you get elections than a neighborhood meeting?

Saying we are not allowing many to participate is not true.  Most people can plan to be there.  Someone will always have SOMETHING that may override their desire to be there.  Yes, there will be young men and women on missions, and in military service.  Their service is valuable to their church, and to our country.  Moreover, they have a vote in the primary and the general election as an absentee ballot when the election is for someone that will actually affect policy.  Their vote is counted for elected governing officials.  Nevertheless, because they cannot attend the meeting, they will not be able to be involved in the discussion; they will not yet know the candidates that are running.  If we open the door in these simple and wonderful meetings to corruption through proxy voting or absentee voting, it will ruin the entire purpose of meeting with your neighbors to discuss the direction YOUR neighborhood would like to see the party move.  The Republican Party is a private organization.  If Count (Buy) My Vote want to control the outcome, they should get elected in their neighborhoods, or start their own organization.

You have heard the accusation that more involvement is needed.  We have had record turnout at the neighborhood meetings for the last 4 years.   This is a red herring.  Turnout is not the real issue.  Control of the party is.  It is hard to control so many engaged neighbors who are electing someone to represent them, and study out the issues, and the candidates in depth.  It is much easier to control the masses with a primary.  The “old-guard” of the Republican Party is not happy with their results, so they want to change the game.  I would love to see more involved.  And I plan to continue to educate people so they can be more involved in the process.  But, apathy will continue until voters decide to not be apathetic.  Changing the system will not change apathy.

Last point, this has nothing to do with any “tea-party” or any other Washington DC group controlling Utah.  This is about Utah values.  This is about Utahns standing up for those values.  It’s about more Utahns reading the Republican Party platform and recognizing its absolute beauty, and then scratching their head and saying, “Why doesn’t my Republican representative stick to the platform?”  It’s about average Utah Republicans taking back control of their own party from the Progressives.

The system works, for incumbents and challengers alike.  The system produces good candidates.  That is why the Progressives want to change it.