Ghandi suggested that "politics without principle" was one of seven things that he believed would destroy our society.

​

I want a government dedicated to protecting my right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The principles in the Constitution are the cause of our freedom and standard of living.  

​​

To realize this goal, I want elected officials dedicated to protecting the cause of liberty.

 

This means we need to elect liberty-minded candidates.

 

Citizens with similar ideas and principles band together in groups to promote their common desires for good government.  We call these groups “political parties” and the principles they stand for a “platform.”  Parties choose candidates that accept their platform to run for elected office.

​

There are multiple ways for a candidate to reach the general election ballot.

 

The first is the party leaders can select the candidates.  This is easy and efficient - a small group makes the decision.  It is vulnerable to influence from the outside.  Thankfully, we do not have this system in Utah.

 

The second method is not having any party candidate selection mechanism at all - anyone claiming to be a member of the party can run.  This is also easy and efficient, but it comes with high cost as candidates must communicate directly with a large pool of voters, and the only way to do this is through mass-media.  This means a candidate must either be independently wealthy or backed by someone else’s wealth to run for office.  If a candidate is supported by outside money, they are loyal to that money, not the party or the electorate.  The ideas a candidate can communicate through mass-media are limited to very basic sound-bites. We have this system in Utah, known as SB54, named after the law the legislature passed creating this option.  Any registered Republican can file for office, payto collect signatures and completely bypass any Party evaluation process, and in Utah, as long as their is an “R” by their name on the general election ballot, they will likely get elected.

 

Both of these methods are easy in concept but have definite risks to the platform.  We need a system that allows regular citizens to run for office that does not require personal or outside wealth and provides for deep evaluation of candidate ideas and principles to ensure that the candidate will be true to the party platform.  

 

Fortunately, Utah has a third and superior method for candidates to get on the ballot.  

 

The caucus-convention system relies on a dedicated group of party members to deeply research and evaluate candidates and select them at the convention.  These party members are called delegates and they are chosen by their neighbors at a caucus meeting.  For example, there are 108 county delegates in House District 5.  For a candidate to talk to each delegate for 15 minutes would take 9 evenings at 3 hours each.  That is a better process than some Facebook posts, tweets, short radio and TV ads and a direct mail piece.  A delegate pledges to spend the time needed to read campaign literature, attend events and meet with the candidates personally to inform their decision.  

​

The Party exists to facilitate the caucus-convention system so delegates can represent their neighbors in selecting candidates that will protect and promote our platform.  

 

Cache County is currently 100% Republican in all elected offices.  I want to keep that percentage where it is, but I am nervous that California is coming to Salt Lake and Salt Lake is coming to Cache County.  We need to articulate our principles to keep Republicans in the party, and convince principled Independents and principled Democrats to vote for our candidates.

 

To do this we must kindly and logically defend our platform principles and hold our elected officials accountable to the platform.  We need school board members that respect parents rights and teaches our children reading writing and arithmetic while leaving the social experimentation out.  The woke agenda is already being taught to our children in public schools. 

 

"[W]e shall not prevent the gradual advance of totalitarian control if we do not succeed in defeating the philosophy which produces it."  F.A. Hayek

​

Visit the Precinct Portal for more information on how Caucus meeting works:

​

​