Fellow residents of the state of Utah, I hope we all appreciate the blessing we enjoy by having our current state Legislature. How many places can say they have the smartest and best Legislature (or any other type of body) in the known universe?
As they like to tell us, they are far brighter than anyone at the federal level. They like to say that the best level of government is that which is closest to the people, and they are closer to us than the federal government and are far better than the national government in all things, whether it be health care, land management or anything else they can think of.
Not only are they far brighter than those at the federal level, but they are also far brighter and better than those at the local level (how they reconcile that with the idea of “the best government is that which is closest to the people” is another example of how their thought processes are far superior to normal people) and local officials should not be allowed to solve their local problems without permission and insights from the legislature. This applies to managing development, land use, health care, parking, air quality decisions and many other issues.
Not only are our legislators smarter and more competent than federal and local officials, but they are also superior to the governor and the state’s executive branch. How can the governor or anyone in the executive branch measure up to the Legislature’s unmatched superiority? How can the state hope to be able to competently manage the COVID-19 pandemic with only scientists, well-trained health care professionals and experienced business people?
How can the state plan for the re-opening of the economy without a special legislative task force to give them directions and require them to report to the Legislature as to why they aren’t adopting the Legislature’s obviously necessary guidance? They are far smarter than the governor and the team which has been dealing with the pandemic for the last several weeks.
Not only are our legislators far brighter and superior to the federal level going up, the local level going down and the governor and executive level going sideways, but they are vastly smarter and better than the lowly citizens who vote them into office. Just look at how much better they are at understanding what is best for us than we are.
If we, the people, would have just listened to them, we wouldn’t have pesky and immoral medical marijuana or Medicaid for poor people. If we didn’t try to interfere, the Legislature could, by their vast intellect and methodology, continue to gerrymander to insure their and their party’s reelections. We would currently enjoy a revised tax code that rearranged the law to tax all kinds of things the people are too stupid to understand.
If there was any question about the higher level our Legislature operates on, the speaker of the House answered it in his opening address at this year’s legislative session. He lectured us on how we, the people, just aren’t smart enough to understand how government works and we should just rely on them and trust them to do things we just can’t comprehend.
They demonstrate their surpassing abilities by conducting legislative business in closed caucuses, so that we the people don’t have to try to figure out their higher thoughts. They make their decisions behind closed doors and go ahead and vote as predetermined so we won’t need to strain our tiny brains. They continually ignore what a majority of the citizens want because they know better.
So, Utah citizens, relax and rest assured that we have the best and brightest legislators anywhere to look after us. We don’t need to worry about the issues because we have our super Legislature to do that. If you don’t believe me, just ask them. They are always glad to expound on their superiority. Or is it just arrogance?
Rick Burtenshaw
Rick Burtenshaw, Cottonwood Heights, is a retired attorney and banker and has been a constituent of the Utah Legislature for over 60 years.