A couple of items from the WCF back burner, just to give our readers a little something to chew on...
In the midst of the continuing Emerald City Lame Duck Mayor News Drought, we'll spring a couple of items from the WCF back burner, just to give our readers a little something to chew on, (and to let you all know we're still alive):
As a followup to these fantastic 3/25/11 and 5/20/11 Salt Lake Tribune Op-ed pieces, here's the latest GRAMA-topical writeup from former reporter and current associate BYU professor of communications, the inimitable Man of the People, Joel Campbell. Despite months of weekly GRAMA Task Force meetings, wherein the sheer elegance of Utah's existing GRAMA law has been painstakingly revealed, it seems that some Utah legislators still cling to the notion that their legislative business ought to be conducted in secret, and that communications with "constituents" who seek favors and handouts should not be publicly revealed:
And here, from the pages of the Deseret News, is the latest corporatist "Republic v. Democracy" rant, courtesy of recently-ousted corporatist whore, U.S. Senator Bob Bennett:
In the interest of keeping the topic in context (and perhaps to puncture some of the mind-numbing ideological silliness), we've rounded up a couple of counter-points.
First, here's a little something from somebody named William P. Meyers, who properly points out that the terms "constitutional republic" and "representative democracy" (our preferred terminology to describe our American (Utah) polital systems) are not mutually exclusive, and that these definitions actually have substantial definitional "overlap":
And next, here's a great counter-rant from Trib contributor Bangs Tapscott, who argues that this whole "America (Utah) is a republic" meme is merely a Republican scheme to replace "democratic ideals" with the concept "that democratic participation is a hazardous thing that needs to be limited, and that power belongs, not with the people, but with those at the top and that when they get grown up they should elect prominent citizens to power, then sit down and shut up and let those they elected run things, and not try to exercise power they’re not entitled to":
That's it for now, O Gentle Ones. Who'll be the first to throw in their own 2¢?
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
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