I went to my neighborhood exercise class recently. I had missed class two days earlier because I was on the radio announcing my run for the 2nd District congressional seat against incumbent Rep. Chris Stewart.
My yoga instructor asked, while twisting her arms behind her back, “What makes you think you can do any better than Jim Bennett?”
She remembered Bennett’s run in the 3rd Congressional District last year with the new United Utah Party, after Rep. Jason Chaffetz up and left.
I reminded her that Utahns think independently and demonstrated that in the last presidential election, when 22 percent of them voted for a candidate other than the Republican or Democrat. Another yoga exerciser, in the middle of a difficult leg stretch, commented that she had been looking for an alternative in that election.
In response to the first question, I said that when Jim Bennett ran, he was at a severe disadvantage. As an upstart, built on grass roots, our party had just barely planted the seed. It will take time and money to grow that into recognizable sod.
The alternative the United Utah Party offers is practicality, not partisanship. I told my exercise buddies, in between a warrior one stance, that Bennett’s Republican opponent, John Curtis, was someone the voters believed would be pragmatic. After all, Curtis had once been a Democrat but was now a Republican, which suggested that he wouldn’t be beholden to party orthodoxy.
I know plenty of people who supported Curtis who are now disappointed with him because, after he won, he succumbed to the pressures of party loyalty. An independent candidate like me does not have to answer to a political boss or party machine that will make life unbearable if I step out of line. I’ll be free as a representative in 2nd District to vote for the people, unlike Chris Stewart, who is always obligated to vote with his party regardless of whether or not its proposals are in the best interests of the people he represents.
In the last presidential election, people were deeply dissatisfied with two extremely flawed candidates, and they were hungry for alternatives. This congressional race provides an opportunity to make a real choice rather than simply give in to a broken two-party system.
One of the most amazing things about this country is that we have the opportunity to actively participate in our government. We just need to start believing that again. I’m running for Congress because I think we need to be more committed to solving problems than pleasing a party. It’s time that the people of Utah had a real choice.
Jan Garbett
Jan Garbett, the United Utah Party’s candidate for Congress from the 2nd Congressional District.