Utah Senate Race Down to the Wire

Mike Lee with his wife Sharon

 

 

The Utah Senate race is down to the wire.  The top contenders appear to be Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater.  An amazing thing has happened in this race.  For the first time ever in my lifetime, I am hearing Republicans speak out against a businessman in favor of an attorney.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not endorsing Tim Bridgewater or Mike Lee with this article, because I already said I would not be endorsing anyone in the Senate race, but this has been an interesting turn of events.

Tim Bridgewater with The Tea Party Express

My father is a businessman.  He makes his living in the plumbing business.  There are times when he will go after government contracts because the money is so good.  It is obvious government “anything” whether it is a job or a project has more money involved then the private sector.  He hates having to wade through all the extra paperwork and extra strings that are always attached to this type of work, but if it benefits his company, and benefits his employees, as long as he is honest in his work there is no conflict.  What’s more, because he is a generous man, he then feeds this money back into the private sector through charitable donations, purchases, and raising the standard of living for his employees who also put money back into the economy.  He pays union wages even though his company is non-union.  More good happens when government money is put back into the hands of the private sector.  It would be great if the government never did most of these projects and spent our money to begin with, but it does happen.

So, here we are in the middle of a U.S. Senate race, and many people are blasting Tim Bridgewater for being a businessman.  Now, I would expect that from the left because, “If you haven’t been to Columbia, well, then what business do you have even thinking of taking office.”  However, from the Republican Party this has been quite a shock.  I have never seen such an attack on someone from the business sector ever before.

Republicans usually take great pride in saying, we are the working man, that understands business, that have run businesses, and we can bring Washington back to it’s knees by running it like a business, rather than with an open tap with no end in sight to funding.  Businesses and households cannot be run indefinitely in the red, and businessmen have a tendency to look at the ridiculous spending in Washington and want to cut the waste.  This has been one reason most of the administrations of the Republican Party are filled with working men that have been successful in their businesses, not just lawyers and professors.

Tim Bridgewater comes to this race with much business experience, and I have been surprised by the dismissal given him for his experience that in other races would put him in the top position.  Tim Bridgewater should not be removed in anyone’s mind for his business associations.  Many of the allegations on Tim’s business practices can be easily refuted with very little effort.  He is a good candidate and he is someone who gets things done.

Because of the nature of the problems in this country, Mike Lee, with his Constitutional law background gives a unique perspective to this race as well.   Let’s face it, few are excited about another lawyer in DC, but if there is going to be a lawyer back there, you would want it to be one that understands the Constitution from a Judeo / Christian worldview.  Mike Lee is a good candidate, too.  Some people say he will get nothing done.  Sometimes that sounds pretty good to me, as Washington getting nothing done, would mean they weren’t messing in my affairs either.

All will be decided on May 8^th, unless of course, the people must choose between one of these two in a primary, which is not completely out of the question.

Utah Politics – Meet the Candidates (Well….most of them)

 

Independence Caucus on, January 15, 2010, held an event where all candidates officially running for the U.S. Senate Seat, currently held by Bob Bennett, would have an opportunity to speak to the grassroots movement in Utah.  They had to answer 80 questions to become vetted by Independence Caucus.  Unfortunately two of the candidates did not.  One was the Democrat, Sam Granato, and the other was Republican incumbent, Bob Bennett.

 

We had a wonderful time hearing from Bob Basso, who you all know and love from the YouTube videos, as Thomas Paine.  He spoke as expected about common sense.  We are Americans first and foremost.  In addition, although there is a political Left and Right, we must recognize that the people are moving closer to the moral Right, regardless of party. 

He chastened the “non-representing representatives” who would not answer to the people with a simple 80 question vetting process.

He also gave us hope with a wonderful story of 150 senior citizens in Brooklyn, New York called TOBFCS.  That stands for Tough Old Broads for Common Sense.  They are making a difference.  They have recalled two (2) city council members in Brooklyn, just to point out one difference they have made.

There is great hope in our country.  Even if the news ignores the 1.7 million people who marched in Washington DC, and the hundreds of thousands who gathered around the nation on their state capitols, we know who we are.  We were there.  I was there.  Do not wait to have the media take notice.  They report the news (or their supposed to), they do not create it.  WE DO!

I went into the meeting with my favorites and came out with great respect for all four (4) candidates.  In no particular order, I want to share my thoughts on each of them.  Remember, these are my notes, and my take on their words.

Tim Bridgewater:  Well, out of the bunch, he is the capitalist.  You can feel and hear his business experience.  He understands that growth occurs when businesses and people are left alone and entrepreneurs can succeed.  He is definitely a free-market advocate.  He talked about auditing the Federal Reserve.  He believes in a Balanced Budget Amendment.  He wants to see our spending cut over the next 10 years.  He recognizes that Wall Street was never really the problem, but government interference especially through Fannie and Freddie created the current housing mess.  To read more about Tim visit www.timbridgewater.com

James Williams:  Of all the candidates, I felt he is like most Americans.  He is just fed up and he is willing to put himself out there to change things.  I found him to be a humble man with strong opinions.  He discussed changing the way the budget is created.  If a new item needs federal spending 105% of that amount must be cut from some other place.  This will have a two-fold effect.  One, people will not want to create new spending without thinking about the cuts, and each new program actually cuts the budget overall.  He spoke of asking himself three questions when confronted with a decision. “Is it Constitutional?  Is it moral? Will this better the people of Utah and the U.S population?”  James is also for Auditing the Federal Reserve, cutting capital gains tax and corporate taxes.  For more on James visit www.voteforjameswilliams.com

Cherilyn Eager:  You can tell Cherilyn has been in debates before.  She moved quickly to her points and was focused on getting information out there.  She referred often to the founding fathers, and it is obvious she knows the documents.  She believes in the fair tax as proposed by www.fairtax.org and promoted by Joe the Plumber.  She believes in repealing the 16^th and 17^th amendments.  She wants the Dept of Education gone from our Federal system.  She also believes in Auditing the Federal Reserve.  She does not believe in a Balanced Budget Amendment because she believes that it will be misused to create times of war or crisis in our country so the amendment could possibly be ignored.  She agrees with George Wythe University in that they called Glenn Beck the “Cicero” of our time.  For more info on Cherilyn visit www.Eagarforsenate.com

Mike Lee:  Mike was impressive with his legal knowledge on the Constitution and talked about what his job is not.  He reminded us how far the government has moved from its original purpose.  He recognizes that money needs to be spent on a local level rather than on a national level or dictated by a national government.  He believes in Auditing the Federal Reserve, and recognizes that by printing money they are violating our 5th amendment rights because they are making our property (money) worthless.  He would like to repeal the 16^th and 17^th amendment.  He knows that Congress cannot (should not) legislate beyond the ground rules of the Constitution.  The Federal government needs to stop doing what it should not be doing.  We do not need Federal tax collectors either, because that should be the job of the states.  For more info on Mike visit www.mikelee2010.com

The biggest decision for the conservative movement is choosing which candidate to support.  All four of these candidates appear to have Constitutionally based principles.  I recommend you visit their websites, ask them questions, and vote your conscience.  Remember the only way you will get to vote for them is to become a delegate in your precinct.  To get more information on delegate training you can go to www.UtahRising.com find a representative in your county, and coordinate our efforts.  Utah Rising is not associated with the Republican party.