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Category Archives: politics
Perceived Electability and IRV – A Case Study
As a followup to last night’s special election to fill Dan Liljenquist’s term as State Senator, I noticed some interesting things based on my interactions with other delegates and my review of the actual results (round-by-round, not just the final … Continue reading
Special Election – Senate District 23
Regardless of who is ends up finishing the state senate term that Dan Liljenquist was elected for there is one campaign promises that I would hold them to even if the eventual winner did not make this promise personally: to make representation a two way street by actively providing information to constituents during the session and by holding a weekly meeting for constituents to come make their voices heard and hear what is happening on the hill. Continue reading
Please Don’t Vote
Voting is no panacea. If we don’t do the work that needs to be the foundation of voting it can do more harm than good. Continue reading
Posted in culture, politics
Tagged caucuses, civic participation, elections, patriotism, Pursuit of Liberty
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Redistricting in Ut(opia)
I have been watching the redistricting process with interest although I have not been able to be as vocal in the discussions as I might have wished. This late in the process we can see the forces at work and … Continue reading
Marginal Logic for Same-Sex Marriage
I’m a big fan of the CATO Institute and their perspective on constitutional government but no matter how much I may generally agree with them, that cannot give them a free pass to use use absolutely terrible logic to promote … Continue reading
Failure of the American Voter
I’ve been thinking about the massive disconnect between the abysmal ratings that Congress enjoys (8% approval I recently read) and the virtual invincibility of Congressional incumbents (incumbents consistently win 90% of the elections where they seek reelection). I realized that … Continue reading
GRAMA Answers – A First Pass
I really appreciated the 36 questions that came out of the first meeting of the GRAMA working group and wanted to offer one perspective on a first pass at answering those questions. I will say upfront that the answers provided … Continue reading
Posted in General, State
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The Straw Man of Teacher Pay
photo credit: 2create I saw a post on Facebook, and later an email, with a title about how overpaid teachers are. The post went on to show mathematically that teachers are not overpaid by any reasonable measurement. Teachers and their … Continue reading
Selective Enforcement of Law
photo credit: ThreadedThoughts In a not-particularly-surprising move, Arizona passed a very strict law giving police broad powers to crack down on illegal immigration. Equally unsurprising is the backlash from those who worry that rights will get trampled in the enforcement … Continue reading
Repeal vs Lawsuit vs Nullification
photo credit: Smabs Sputzer Ever since the passage of that rancid piece of legislative sausage labeled health care reform Republicans have been talking about repealing the bill. Some even talk about “repeal and replace” as their goal. Alongside that rhetoric … Continue reading