This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Democracy in Utah is now only a memory. A corrupt, money-driven Republican political machine, beholden only to the National Rifle Association and the Eagle Forum, controls state government and is no different than political machines anywhere.
The arrogance derived from power allows the state's GOP leaders to simply deny any chicanery in a $13 million payoff to silence the losing bidder in a flawed bid process for a billion-dollar state contract. And the majority of a pitifully small number of voters seems perfectly satisfied with the status quo.
The result is that the addled patriarchs of the Legislature will continue to dismiss human-influenced global warming, work doggedly for irrational gun rights, hype carbon energy, fight environmentalists and insist that last-place in public education is perfectly acceptable, despite two-thirds of third-graders who can't read.
The Republican machine has provided a cozy nest for those who find reason and reality uncomfortable and who don't wish to address the inconsistencies of a backward state.
Utah lacks the social capital to support a healthy democracy. Its institutions have failed to produce a majority who demand responsible, ethical government and public policy based on science and the best information available.
Ron Molen
Salt Lake City