Or in Massachusetts and California, for that matter?

Folks in other states will have to take care of their own problems. But in Utah, a petition being carried by an Orem meter-reader could, if it miraculously got on the ballot, go a long way toward dealing with the one-party chokehold that is destructive of democracy in any land.

Chad Clifton's idea, not original with him, is to end the traditional, but not constitutionally mandated, winner-take-all allotment of Utah's five electoral votes and share them out in proportion to the number of votes received.

In such a system, votes cast for a Democratic presidential candidate in Utah might actually count, as might even more votes cast for a Republican candidate in Massachusetts, by being added to at least some of those cast in other states, whether that candidate carried the state or not.

Such a system, if widely adopted, would go a long way toward putting electoral votes in all 50 states in play, requiring that candidates pay attention to the concerns of voters everywhere, not just the handful of swing states that now decide elections, and not just the major population centers that would dominate national elections if the Electoral College were abolished outright.

There could also be another, more local, benefit from a proportional system.

If Utah were to become mildly competitive in the presidential race, even if one of five electoral votes were all a Democrat could reasonably hope for, more Democrat-leaning voters might bother to vote at all. They'd be the ones more likely to vote for Democrats in races from governor on down to members of the Utah House and county commissions. That could sap some of the GOP strength in the Legislature and local governments, forcing them all to moderate their positions and improve their rule.

Which is why the Republican Legislature not only would never approve such a change on its own, but also has already made it next to impossible to achieve the reform through the difficult voter petition process Clifton is trying to use.

Democracy is seldom a priority for those who already hold power, in Utah or anywhere else. It should be for everyone else.