| Our Utah County State Legislators Have Really Dropped the Ball for UVU Another fall semester has begun at Utah Valley University. Once again, UVU administrators are struggling with how to handle more students with less money. UVU’s enrollment is expected to grow by 11 percent this fall. That’s the latest in a pattern of rapid expansion of the student body. In 2008, UVU grew by 12 percent. Last year, it was 8 percent. That is a phenomenal growth rate, by far the largest in the state! But, unbelievably, UVU’s budget was also cut by 12 percent last year and the legislature is considering more cuts next year! That is a travesty. We should be thrilled so many students want to take advantage of Utah County’s public university. UVU is the college of choice for many of our young people through Utah Valley, the state, and even other parts of the country. The future of our valley and our state is directly correlated to these students’ ability to receive an excellent education. But such rapid growth is causing severe strain to UVU, increasing class sizes, forcing the hiring of more temporary teachers, and leading to a frantic scramble for classroom and lab space. Some facts: 1. UVU receives the least per student in state funding of any state higher education institution, and this despite its record enrollment growth. 2. UVU has one of the lowest ratios of campus space per student. 3. UVU President Matt Holland recently had to make a public appeal to Utah Valley residents to urge local legislators to support a new science building on campus. Why weren’t they more proactive? It’s high time we had state legislators from Utah County who are excited about UVU. As a representative from the UVU District to the Utah State House, I will make UVU a top priority. This is what I would do: 1. Sponsor legislation that would mandate more equalized spending across our higher education institutions. We need to place UVU on a competitive par with other higher education institutions in terms of state funding 2. Regularly attend UVU Board of Trustee meetings to understand UVU’s needs and work with the UVU Board and President Matt Holland to meet those needs. It’s embarrassing for the university president to have to make a public appeal to residents to lobby their state legislators. State legislators should be wholeheartedly on board from the very beginning. I certainly will be. 3. Create a study group of legislators to examine the creation of loan and grant programs to help low-income high school seniors qualify for tuition. We need to provide incentives for young people to go to college. Our current legislators don’t do that. For example, in 2007, a bill to provide a $300 tax break to lower income families for higher education tuition was never even voted on by the House. Orem legislator Brad Daw never supported the bill and Orem Senator Margaret Dayton voted against it. Not only would I have voted for it, I would have sponsored the legislation in the first place. 5. Be the Leader in Pushing Specific UVU Projects. Our local Orem representatives, including Brad Daw and Margaret Dayton, spend much time and energy posturing as tough guys against the federal government, but they don’t devote nearly as much energy to the needs of UVU right here in their own backyard. (Despite the fact that they represent the part of Orem that includes UVU, they did not initiate the effort to get state legislative approval of the new science building!) But this is not just an accident or an oversight: Philosophically, both Dayton and Daw are fundamentally opposed to investing in public education. I think they are out of step with the majority of people in Utah Valley. Do we really want to oppose making the best investment a society can make, which will enable all our bright young people to make the very most of their educational opportunities? Human minds are the last things we can afford to waste! I think it’s time for action. It’s time for all of us here in Utah Valley to show some pride and get behind our very own Utah Valley University! The quality of the education of our children and grandchildren depends on it. And the very future quality of our society depends on these students being able to do quality work at a quality university. Let’s not let them down! Alan Keele, Candidate for the Utah House from District 60, Orem. |
Friday, August 27, 2010
I won't drop the ball for UVU!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
A life-long resident of Orem, whose great-great-grandparents on my Patten side actually settled Orem, I am a moderate pluralist who believes every American should have a voice in civic affairs. My candidacy is supported by moderate Republicans, moderate Democrats, and moderate Independents, all of whom have a great deal in common: we want to help make a better life for the residents of Orem, of Utah County, of the State of Utah, of the United States, and for all other citizens of the planet. But “all politics are local,” so we need to begin at home.
My first priority is, and our first priority should be, to help provide a quality education for our most precious resource: our children. Each child in Orem deserves the very best loving and intelligent teachers focused precisely on his or her needs. The future of our community hangs in the balance. Will we have increasing numbers of capable, competent, creative citizens or increasing masses of discouraged, dysfunctional deadbeats? Education is the key!
We can do better to arrange for optimum classroom size and for more highly qualified and adequately paid teachers who are thrilled to be able to bless the lives of young Oremites.
We must not allow ourselves to be misled by well-intentioned libertarians posing as conservatives who do not believe in funding our public school system! There’s just too much at stake here in Orem for us to allow radical experiments in education by unqualified ideologues driven by extremist special interest groups such as the ultra-right-wing Eagle Forum or Patrick Henry Caucus. Our public school system is the safest, most conservative, proven method for providing a good education for all our children, but it requires support! It’s our best investment for the future. It cannot be allowed to stagnate and we cannot allow it to be attacked and undercut by extremists.
Some other important priorities for me are: Helping to reduce both fossil fuel use and our terrible winter air pollution by bringing all Orem homes up to modern insulation standards. This can be done at zero net cost, using the money saved from vastly reduced future utility bills. Such a project would create many jobs, especially in our hard-hit construction sector. We also need better public transportation and urban planning to reduce air pollution, traffic congestion, and needless sprawl (thus saving Oremites huge sums in fuel costs, needless expenses for extra cars for family members, etc.)
I am open to suggestions for other ideas which will improve the quality of life for citizens of Orem. I must say I am adamantly opposed to ridiculous, costly, (and probably unconstitutional) “Message Bills” which serve no purpose but to allow certain egotistical legislators to strut around the grandstand for their narrow ideological base.
Like the vast majority of Oremites, I am a proud American, a patriot who loves America and rejoices that Utah was able to become a State of the Union back in 1896. I believe Utahns ought to continue to be the very best patriotic Americans, not supporting fearful, angry seditionists who speak ill of our government, our president, and of our nation, implying that we ought to somehow try to secede from the Union. (That bloody flag of States Rights was waved by traitors way back in the 1850’s and the ensuing war didn’t end well for Americans, especially for those from places like South Carolina, if you recall.)
We need to help build America, to help model for all Americans what a successful community looks like. Orem and Utah can lead the way or we can gradually slide downward in all the indicators of success in a community, especially education, to always be tied with Mississippi for last place. It’s a clear choice! I think we can work together to make Orem more of a shining city on a hill than it already is.
Thanks for your support!
Cordially, Alan Keele
My first priority is, and our first priority should be, to help provide a quality education for our most precious resource: our children. Each child in Orem deserves the very best loving and intelligent teachers focused precisely on his or her needs. The future of our community hangs in the balance. Will we have increasing numbers of capable, competent, creative citizens or increasing masses of discouraged, dysfunctional deadbeats? Education is the key!
We can do better to arrange for optimum classroom size and for more highly qualified and adequately paid teachers who are thrilled to be able to bless the lives of young Oremites.
We must not allow ourselves to be misled by well-intentioned libertarians posing as conservatives who do not believe in funding our public school system! There’s just too much at stake here in Orem for us to allow radical experiments in education by unqualified ideologues driven by extremist special interest groups such as the ultra-right-wing Eagle Forum or Patrick Henry Caucus. Our public school system is the safest, most conservative, proven method for providing a good education for all our children, but it requires support! It’s our best investment for the future. It cannot be allowed to stagnate and we cannot allow it to be attacked and undercut by extremists.
Some other important priorities for me are: Helping to reduce both fossil fuel use and our terrible winter air pollution by bringing all Orem homes up to modern insulation standards. This can be done at zero net cost, using the money saved from vastly reduced future utility bills. Such a project would create many jobs, especially in our hard-hit construction sector. We also need better public transportation and urban planning to reduce air pollution, traffic congestion, and needless sprawl (thus saving Oremites huge sums in fuel costs, needless expenses for extra cars for family members, etc.)
I am open to suggestions for other ideas which will improve the quality of life for citizens of Orem. I must say I am adamantly opposed to ridiculous, costly, (and probably unconstitutional) “Message Bills” which serve no purpose but to allow certain egotistical legislators to strut around the grandstand for their narrow ideological base.
Like the vast majority of Oremites, I am a proud American, a patriot who loves America and rejoices that Utah was able to become a State of the Union back in 1896. I believe Utahns ought to continue to be the very best patriotic Americans, not supporting fearful, angry seditionists who speak ill of our government, our president, and of our nation, implying that we ought to somehow try to secede from the Union. (That bloody flag of States Rights was waved by traitors way back in the 1850’s and the ensuing war didn’t end well for Americans, especially for those from places like South Carolina, if you recall.)
We need to help build America, to help model for all Americans what a successful community looks like. Orem and Utah can lead the way or we can gradually slide downward in all the indicators of success in a community, especially education, to always be tied with Mississippi for last place. It’s a clear choice! I think we can work together to make Orem more of a shining city on a hill than it already is.
Thanks for your support!
Cordially, Alan Keele
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
I DARE! (Independent Democrats and Republicans for a new Effort to bring back good governance to Utah)
A one-party system benefits only extremists. Think of Cuba or North Korea.
America’s greatness comes from its robust multi-party system.
This inspired American system harnesses the power of all its citizens. Working together, Americans compromise to find common ground to solve mutual problems.
Why should Americans in Utah miss out on the benefits of the American multi-party system? We have serious challenges in education, air pollution, and jobs creation. Meanwhile, the Utah State Legislature fiddles, passing wasteful and unconstitutional “message bills” while Rome burns.
I’m Dr. Alan Keele, a retired BYU professor. I’m running for the Utah State House as a Democrat. My standards are the shared community’s standards and those of my Church, including such “hot-button” issues as abortion and gay marriage.
Deeply concerned about the political climate in Utah, I have taken to heart the First Presidency’s plea for “men and women to be willing to serve on school boards ... state legislatures, and other high offices .. including involvement in the political party of their choice.” The political party of choice for me happens to be the Democratic Party. (My former mission companion in Germany, Elder Marlin K. Jensen, spokesman for the Church on the problem of the one-party system, has categorically stated: “Any notion that it is impossible to be a Democrat and a good Mormon is wrongheaded and should be obliterated.”)
I want to get involved with what I am calling Independent Democrats and Republicans in a new Effort (I DARE!) to bring back good governance to Utah. For the sake of our community I want to help restore what Elder Jensen called a “robust, multi-party system.” Won’t you join me on November second? Do you DARE cross party lines – just this once? – to join me in standing up for Democracy? I hope you do! Thanks!
Dr. Alan Keele (Contact me with suggestions or support: akeele@gmail.com )
America’s greatness comes from its robust multi-party system.
This inspired American system harnesses the power of all its citizens. Working together, Americans compromise to find common ground to solve mutual problems.
Why should Americans in Utah miss out on the benefits of the American multi-party system? We have serious challenges in education, air pollution, and jobs creation. Meanwhile, the Utah State Legislature fiddles, passing wasteful and unconstitutional “message bills” while Rome burns.
I’m Dr. Alan Keele, a retired BYU professor. I’m running for the Utah State House as a Democrat. My standards are the shared community’s standards and those of my Church, including such “hot-button” issues as abortion and gay marriage.
Deeply concerned about the political climate in Utah, I have taken to heart the First Presidency’s plea for “men and women to be willing to serve on school boards ... state legislatures, and other high offices .. including involvement in the political party of their choice.” The political party of choice for me happens to be the Democratic Party. (My former mission companion in Germany, Elder Marlin K. Jensen, spokesman for the Church on the problem of the one-party system, has categorically stated: “Any notion that it is impossible to be a Democrat and a good Mormon is wrongheaded and should be obliterated.”)
I want to get involved with what I am calling Independent Democrats and Republicans in a new Effort (I DARE!) to bring back good governance to Utah. For the sake of our community I want to help restore what Elder Jensen called a “robust, multi-party system.” Won’t you join me on November second? Do you DARE cross party lines – just this once? – to join me in standing up for Democracy? I hope you do! Thanks!
Dr. Alan Keele (Contact me with suggestions or support: akeele@gmail.com )
My Background and Why I'm Running
I’m Dr. Alan Keele, a recently retired BYU Professor of German Literature, Humanities, and Honors, and I’m running for the Utah State House from Orem’s District 60. District 60 extends roughly from Center Street south to the University Parkway and from I-15 east to the Provo River. (I consider it noteworthy that these boundaries correspond almost exactly to the homestead of my paternal great-great-grandparents, Thomas Jefferson Patten, Sr. – nephew of the martyred Apostle David W. Patten – and Joanna Holister, who were the very first Mormon pioneers to settle in what is now Orem. Needless to say, given the name Thomas Jefferson Patten, they were life-long Democrats, as I am. Of course, in the early days, almost all Mormons were Democrats, but that’s another story.)
My wife, Linda Kay Sellers Keele, also a life-long Democrat, was born in Rexburg, Idaho, but when we met and married she was a very popular teacher at Orem High. One of Miss Sellers’ students was a youngster named Gary Herbert. Another was Steve Baugh’s wife Kathy. All the students at Orem High loved Miss Sellers and were not too happy when I stole her away.
Linda and I raised all six of our children here in Orem and sent them to Orem Elementary, Lakeridge Jr. and then on to Mountain View High. One of our daughters, Celeste, also attended the gifted and talented program at Cherry Hill. We are deeply grateful as a family for the blessing of good public schooling and we are committed to helping maintain its excellence. For example, all of our children speak French because of the fantastic French program Mr. Wally Fairbanks had here at Mountain View for many years. Three of them later served French missions. They all learned their Math from Mr. Joel Gardner. Kris played some varsity basketball here. Heather and Kris had a great time acting in school plays and musicals.
All six of our children went on from their solid background at this school to graduate from BYU and the University of Utah. Three have since earned additional law degrees, including Kamron, who graduated from Tulane and earned an additional masters in tax law at Georgetown, Heather, who graduated from Yale, and Jeremy, who has joint degrees from New York University and Harvard. Kristopher has his Masters degree in History from the University of Toronto and is in charge of Middle-East analysis for the CIA. Brandon has a Ph.D. from BYU in Microbiology and is a specialist in HIV/Aids at the National Institutes of Health.
So our commitment to public education runs deep. But so do our roots in public education: Linda’s father was a very popular teacher and principle in Rexburg, and a life-long Democrat. Both my parents, life-long Democrats, were public school teachers. My late father, Frank Keele, taught Music and my mother, Lasca Keele, taught English at Wayne High, where I graduated before attending the University of Utah. My mother’s family has deep roots there in rural Wayne County. My maternal great-grandfather Seth Taft Jr., for example, represented Wayne County in the Utah State Legislature. My mother Lasca Taft Smith Keele, who is here with us today, tells me her Grandpa Taft was a Democrat. In 1907, while still quite a young man, he was killed in a tragic accident at Bingham Canyon when a train carrying members of the Legislature on a visit to the mine was struck by a runaway car.
I served an LDS mission in Germany. When I returned, I came to BYU to teach in the brand new Language Training Mission. After graduating from BYU I earned my Ph.D. at Princeton and then returned to BYU as a faculty member where I taught for nearly 40 years. I served twice as an LDS campus bishop. The second time, my BYU Ward met in the oldest LDS Ward Chapel in Orem, the one on 800 South, just a block east of State Street – you may know it; it used to be painted an ugly green – for which, I learned from the plaque out front, my great-grandparents Thomas Jefferson and Clara Isabelle Patten donated the land and paid out of their own pockets for the construction of the roof.
Now, with all that as background, let me tell you more specifically why I have decided to run for the Utah State House. When I was an LDS missionary in Germany, I was blessed with a wonderful and remarkable companion whose name was Marlin Jensen. In fact, it was Marlin who lured me away from the U. to come teach in the first class of the new German Zone of the Language Training Mission, which he was in charge of. Marlin was later the best man at our wedding.
Fast forward to the present. Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy, a life-long Democrat from Huntsville, home of great old Democrats like Gunn McKay, is now Church Historian and has been the official spokesman for the First Presidency on a matter of grave concern to Utah and the LDS Church. Here’s what Elder Jensen told the press over ten years ago: “We [the Leadership of the LDS Church] regret ... more than anything, that there would become a church party and a non-church party. That would be the last thing that we would want to have happen ... Any time you don’t have the dialogue and the give-and-take that the democratic process provides, you’re going to be poorer for it in the long run ... [because] this deprives residents of the debate and competition of ideas that underlie good government.” Elder Jensen went on to say: “There are ... issues like ... the environment [...] and [...] education [where] we’d really benefit ... if there were a more robust dialogue going on. But we’ve lacked that and I think we’ve suffered ... because of it.”
Jensen said concerns also exist in the Church leadership that this unofficial, de-facto linkage of one party and the Mormon Church is damaging to the Church itself. He said Church leaders fear that by being closely identified with one political party only, the church’s national reputation and influence is subject to the roller-coaster turns and dips of that party: “There is a feeling that even nationally ... it’s not in our best interest to be known as a one-party church” he stated. “The national fortunes of the parties ebb and flow,” Marlin continued. “Whereas the Republicans may clearly have the upper hand now [in 1998], in another ten years they may not.”
Elder Jensen was attempting to remind us of some obvious facts. One is, for example, that if we inadvertently make it seem like only Republicans can be Mormons, we effectively place about three-fourths the population of the US off-limits to missionary work. Abroad there are other similar examples. I have personally witnessed severe stress to the testimonies of European saints, for example, who could not fathom why in the 2004 election nearly 90% of their fellow Mormons here in Utah County routinely reaffirmed their support for George Bush and Dick Cheney’s globally unpopular war as well as their inhumane and unconstitutional torture policies. Torture is not a family value.)
In 2008, the First Presidency again asked Marlin to speak out about various Utah bills sponsored by Chris Butters and others in the Legislature, which are perceived by so many in the community and throughout Latin America to be anti-Hispanic and racist. Elder Jensen urged Utah’s lawmakers, in his words, to “take a step back” [with] “a spirit of compassion” as they considered their slate of bills aimed at immigrants and their families. “Immigration questions are questions dealing with God’s children,” Elder Jensen reminded them. “I believe a more thoughtful and factual, not to mention humane approach is warranted, and urge those responsible for enactment of Utah’s immigration policy to measure twice before they cut.”
Jensen urged Utah lawmakers to: “Meet an undocumented person,” thus putting a human face on the issue. “Come to know their family,” he said. Elder Jensen referred to his own great-great-grandfather, who was among those who immigrated during the LDS Church’s early days. “If there is a church that owes [a] debt to the immigrant and [to] the principal of immigration,” Jensen concluded, “it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
In his earlier, 1998, remarks Elder Jensen said it was time for LDS members to take a broader view of political affiliation. He correctly pointed out that it was the gay-rights and abortion planks in the platform of the National Democratic Party at the time which caused so many Mormons to think the Democratic Party was off limits. He explained: “We ... hope that [Mormons] wouldn’t abandon a party necessarily because it has a philosophy or two that may not square with Mormonism. Because, as I say, [parties] in their philosophies ebb and flow.” He continued: “You know, the Republicans came very close last time to bringing a pro-abortion plank into their platform. That was maybe the biggest battle of their [1996 national] convention ... Which shows that if you’re a pure ideologue, eventually you’re going to have trouble in either party. Everyone who is a good Latter-day Saint is going to have to pick and choose a little bit regardless of the party that they’re in and that may be required a lot more in the future than it has been in the past. But I think there’s room for that and the gospel leaves us lots of latitude.” (I would just add to that the thought that with a one-party system, we have the worst of both worlds because we can’t influence either party: the Democrats won’t be considerate of Mormons’ wishes because we don’t vote for them anyway, and the Republicans can ignore us because we always reliably vote for them no matter what.)
Finally, Elder Jensen stated categorically: “Any notion that it is impossible to be a Democrat and a good Mormon is wrongheaded and should be obliterated.” This was music to my ears, but it was the very final part of my dear friend’s statement which particularly struck a nerve with me: “Faithful LDS members,” he concluded, “have a moral obligation to actively participate in politics and civic affairs, a duty many have neglected.” Ladies and Gentlemen, I am retired. I would love to go fishing more and spend more time in Hawai’i and in Germany, but I feel I cannot in good conscience neglect my moral obligation to participate in civic affairs.
Elder Jensen’s remarks were a follow-up to a letter sent out by the First Presidency on January 15, 1998, to be read in sacrament meeting, which states: “We wish to reiterate the divine counsel that members ‘should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness’ [D&C 58:27]... while cooperating with other like-minded individuals.” The First Presidency also reminded members that “Governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them.” [D&C 134:1] “Members of the Church are under special obligations to seek out and then uphold those leaders who are ‘wise,’ ‘good,’ and ‘honest,’ the letter continues” [D&C 98:10]. The First Presidency concludes: “Thus, we strongly urge men and women to serve on school boards, city and county councils and commissions, state legislatures, and other high offices of either election or appointment, including involvement in the political party of their choice.”
As you know by now, or did I mention it? the party of my choice happens to be the Democratic Party. But my candidacy today is really about the American two-party system. Think about it: What makes America so great? What really distinguishes America from countries like Russia, China, Belarus, and North Korea?
I think it’s the two-party system which harnesses the great power of our diversity – neighbors working with neighbors to find common ground to solve mutual problems. It eliminates extremism to have to compromise with your diverse neighbors. You end up with better government. So for the future of our children and grandchildren, I want to work together with Republicans , Independents, and Democrats in this community to restore to our political system those good old neighborly American values of a robust multi-party system!
Remember the words of Elder Jensen: “Any time you don’t have the dialogue and the give-and-take that the democratic process provides, you’re going to be poorer for it in the long run ... [because] this deprives residents of the debate and competition of ideas that underlie good government.”
So I think all Americans need to begin again to work together to solve our American-sized problems. I invite you to join me in helping America fix her inspired two-party system. And since all politics is local, we’re starting right here at home, in Utah County, in the middle of Orem! We could call this first step in helping restore healthy, bi-partisan cooperation in America the I DARE Initiative: it would be an Independent Democratic and Republican Effort, I DARE. Here’s our new cartoon mascot showing a donkey embracing an elephant. That’s me reaching out to my Republican friends. The happy little dog with an I written on him – sorry Independents – is thrilled that his friends have made up and are working together again. He’ll be their loyal companion through thick and thin. Here’s our unofficial campaign song: Oh, the donkey and the elephant can be friends...
I call on Republicans, Independents, and Democrats alike to come together to break the log-jam. Let’s send moderate people of both parties to the Utah State Legislature. Dare to cross party lines if you have to, dare not to automatically vote a straight ticket for once! Remember: Governments were instituted of God for the benefit of men and women; and he holds men and women accountable for their acts in relation to government. We must not, we DARE not take such a great opportunity and such a great obligation lightly. America and its inspired two party system badly needs your thoughtful vote on November second! Thank you! God bless America!
My wife, Linda Kay Sellers Keele, also a life-long Democrat, was born in Rexburg, Idaho, but when we met and married she was a very popular teacher at Orem High. One of Miss Sellers’ students was a youngster named Gary Herbert. Another was Steve Baugh’s wife Kathy. All the students at Orem High loved Miss Sellers and were not too happy when I stole her away.
Linda and I raised all six of our children here in Orem and sent them to Orem Elementary, Lakeridge Jr. and then on to Mountain View High. One of our daughters, Celeste, also attended the gifted and talented program at Cherry Hill. We are deeply grateful as a family for the blessing of good public schooling and we are committed to helping maintain its excellence. For example, all of our children speak French because of the fantastic French program Mr. Wally Fairbanks had here at Mountain View for many years. Three of them later served French missions. They all learned their Math from Mr. Joel Gardner. Kris played some varsity basketball here. Heather and Kris had a great time acting in school plays and musicals.
All six of our children went on from their solid background at this school to graduate from BYU and the University of Utah. Three have since earned additional law degrees, including Kamron, who graduated from Tulane and earned an additional masters in tax law at Georgetown, Heather, who graduated from Yale, and Jeremy, who has joint degrees from New York University and Harvard. Kristopher has his Masters degree in History from the University of Toronto and is in charge of Middle-East analysis for the CIA. Brandon has a Ph.D. from BYU in Microbiology and is a specialist in HIV/Aids at the National Institutes of Health.
So our commitment to public education runs deep. But so do our roots in public education: Linda’s father was a very popular teacher and principle in Rexburg, and a life-long Democrat. Both my parents, life-long Democrats, were public school teachers. My late father, Frank Keele, taught Music and my mother, Lasca Keele, taught English at Wayne High, where I graduated before attending the University of Utah. My mother’s family has deep roots there in rural Wayne County. My maternal great-grandfather Seth Taft Jr., for example, represented Wayne County in the Utah State Legislature. My mother Lasca Taft Smith Keele, who is here with us today, tells me her Grandpa Taft was a Democrat. In 1907, while still quite a young man, he was killed in a tragic accident at Bingham Canyon when a train carrying members of the Legislature on a visit to the mine was struck by a runaway car.
I served an LDS mission in Germany. When I returned, I came to BYU to teach in the brand new Language Training Mission. After graduating from BYU I earned my Ph.D. at Princeton and then returned to BYU as a faculty member where I taught for nearly 40 years. I served twice as an LDS campus bishop. The second time, my BYU Ward met in the oldest LDS Ward Chapel in Orem, the one on 800 South, just a block east of State Street – you may know it; it used to be painted an ugly green – for which, I learned from the plaque out front, my great-grandparents Thomas Jefferson and Clara Isabelle Patten donated the land and paid out of their own pockets for the construction of the roof.
Now, with all that as background, let me tell you more specifically why I have decided to run for the Utah State House. When I was an LDS missionary in Germany, I was blessed with a wonderful and remarkable companion whose name was Marlin Jensen. In fact, it was Marlin who lured me away from the U. to come teach in the first class of the new German Zone of the Language Training Mission, which he was in charge of. Marlin was later the best man at our wedding.
Fast forward to the present. Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy, a life-long Democrat from Huntsville, home of great old Democrats like Gunn McKay, is now Church Historian and has been the official spokesman for the First Presidency on a matter of grave concern to Utah and the LDS Church. Here’s what Elder Jensen told the press over ten years ago: “We [the Leadership of the LDS Church] regret ... more than anything, that there would become a church party and a non-church party. That would be the last thing that we would want to have happen ... Any time you don’t have the dialogue and the give-and-take that the democratic process provides, you’re going to be poorer for it in the long run ... [because] this deprives residents of the debate and competition of ideas that underlie good government.” Elder Jensen went on to say: “There are ... issues like ... the environment [...] and [...] education [where] we’d really benefit ... if there were a more robust dialogue going on. But we’ve lacked that and I think we’ve suffered ... because of it.”
Jensen said concerns also exist in the Church leadership that this unofficial, de-facto linkage of one party and the Mormon Church is damaging to the Church itself. He said Church leaders fear that by being closely identified with one political party only, the church’s national reputation and influence is subject to the roller-coaster turns and dips of that party: “There is a feeling that even nationally ... it’s not in our best interest to be known as a one-party church” he stated. “The national fortunes of the parties ebb and flow,” Marlin continued. “Whereas the Republicans may clearly have the upper hand now [in 1998], in another ten years they may not.”
Elder Jensen was attempting to remind us of some obvious facts. One is, for example, that if we inadvertently make it seem like only Republicans can be Mormons, we effectively place about three-fourths the population of the US off-limits to missionary work. Abroad there are other similar examples. I have personally witnessed severe stress to the testimonies of European saints, for example, who could not fathom why in the 2004 election nearly 90% of their fellow Mormons here in Utah County routinely reaffirmed their support for George Bush and Dick Cheney’s globally unpopular war as well as their inhumane and unconstitutional torture policies. Torture is not a family value.)
In 2008, the First Presidency again asked Marlin to speak out about various Utah bills sponsored by Chris Butters and others in the Legislature, which are perceived by so many in the community and throughout Latin America to be anti-Hispanic and racist. Elder Jensen urged Utah’s lawmakers, in his words, to “take a step back” [with] “a spirit of compassion” as they considered their slate of bills aimed at immigrants and their families. “Immigration questions are questions dealing with God’s children,” Elder Jensen reminded them. “I believe a more thoughtful and factual, not to mention humane approach is warranted, and urge those responsible for enactment of Utah’s immigration policy to measure twice before they cut.”
Jensen urged Utah lawmakers to: “Meet an undocumented person,” thus putting a human face on the issue. “Come to know their family,” he said. Elder Jensen referred to his own great-great-grandfather, who was among those who immigrated during the LDS Church’s early days. “If there is a church that owes [a] debt to the immigrant and [to] the principal of immigration,” Jensen concluded, “it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
In his earlier, 1998, remarks Elder Jensen said it was time for LDS members to take a broader view of political affiliation. He correctly pointed out that it was the gay-rights and abortion planks in the platform of the National Democratic Party at the time which caused so many Mormons to think the Democratic Party was off limits. He explained: “We ... hope that [Mormons] wouldn’t abandon a party necessarily because it has a philosophy or two that may not square with Mormonism. Because, as I say, [parties] in their philosophies ebb and flow.” He continued: “You know, the Republicans came very close last time to bringing a pro-abortion plank into their platform. That was maybe the biggest battle of their [1996 national] convention ... Which shows that if you’re a pure ideologue, eventually you’re going to have trouble in either party. Everyone who is a good Latter-day Saint is going to have to pick and choose a little bit regardless of the party that they’re in and that may be required a lot more in the future than it has been in the past. But I think there’s room for that and the gospel leaves us lots of latitude.” (I would just add to that the thought that with a one-party system, we have the worst of both worlds because we can’t influence either party: the Democrats won’t be considerate of Mormons’ wishes because we don’t vote for them anyway, and the Republicans can ignore us because we always reliably vote for them no matter what.)
Finally, Elder Jensen stated categorically: “Any notion that it is impossible to be a Democrat and a good Mormon is wrongheaded and should be obliterated.” This was music to my ears, but it was the very final part of my dear friend’s statement which particularly struck a nerve with me: “Faithful LDS members,” he concluded, “have a moral obligation to actively participate in politics and civic affairs, a duty many have neglected.” Ladies and Gentlemen, I am retired. I would love to go fishing more and spend more time in Hawai’i and in Germany, but I feel I cannot in good conscience neglect my moral obligation to participate in civic affairs.
Elder Jensen’s remarks were a follow-up to a letter sent out by the First Presidency on January 15, 1998, to be read in sacrament meeting, which states: “We wish to reiterate the divine counsel that members ‘should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness’ [D&C 58:27]... while cooperating with other like-minded individuals.” The First Presidency also reminded members that “Governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them.” [D&C 134:1] “Members of the Church are under special obligations to seek out and then uphold those leaders who are ‘wise,’ ‘good,’ and ‘honest,’ the letter continues” [D&C 98:10]. The First Presidency concludes: “Thus, we strongly urge men and women to serve on school boards, city and county councils and commissions, state legislatures, and other high offices of either election or appointment, including involvement in the political party of their choice.”
As you know by now, or did I mention it? the party of my choice happens to be the Democratic Party. But my candidacy today is really about the American two-party system. Think about it: What makes America so great? What really distinguishes America from countries like Russia, China, Belarus, and North Korea?
I think it’s the two-party system which harnesses the great power of our diversity – neighbors working with neighbors to find common ground to solve mutual problems. It eliminates extremism to have to compromise with your diverse neighbors. You end up with better government. So for the future of our children and grandchildren, I want to work together with Republicans , Independents, and Democrats in this community to restore to our political system those good old neighborly American values of a robust multi-party system!
Remember the words of Elder Jensen: “Any time you don’t have the dialogue and the give-and-take that the democratic process provides, you’re going to be poorer for it in the long run ... [because] this deprives residents of the debate and competition of ideas that underlie good government.”
So I think all Americans need to begin again to work together to solve our American-sized problems. I invite you to join me in helping America fix her inspired two-party system. And since all politics is local, we’re starting right here at home, in Utah County, in the middle of Orem! We could call this first step in helping restore healthy, bi-partisan cooperation in America the I DARE Initiative: it would be an Independent Democratic and Republican Effort, I DARE. Here’s our new cartoon mascot showing a donkey embracing an elephant. That’s me reaching out to my Republican friends. The happy little dog with an I written on him – sorry Independents – is thrilled that his friends have made up and are working together again. He’ll be their loyal companion through thick and thin. Here’s our unofficial campaign song: Oh, the donkey and the elephant can be friends...
I call on Republicans, Independents, and Democrats alike to come together to break the log-jam. Let’s send moderate people of both parties to the Utah State Legislature. Dare to cross party lines if you have to, dare not to automatically vote a straight ticket for once! Remember: Governments were instituted of God for the benefit of men and women; and he holds men and women accountable for their acts in relation to government. We must not, we DARE not take such a great opportunity and such a great obligation lightly. America and its inspired two party system badly needs your thoughtful vote on November second! Thank you! God bless America!
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