As a small business owner who has spent the last half-decade building my company from the ground up, I have always counted on Utah’s Republican members of Congress to champion the free market principles they so proudly campaign on. These principles — limited government intervention, fair competition and economic freedom — are not just conservative talking points, they’re the foundation upon which businesses like mine thrive.
That’s why the deafening silence from Utah’s all-Republican delegation regarding President Donald Trump’s recent executive overreach is not just disappointing — it’s an abandonment of the very principles they claim to uphold.
When the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration improperly deported Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia and ordered his return to the United States, our congressional representatives remained mostly silent as the president openly defied a direct order from the highest court in the land. The rule of law — a bedrock principle for stable markets — was undermined, and not one of Utah’s federal representatives saw fit to defend it. When at last Rep. Mike Kennedy did act, it was to encourage the president’s reckless and unconstitutional behavior.
Perhaps most egregious is the hypocrisy displayed by my own congressman, Rep. Burgess Owens. At an April 16 Americans for Prosperity event in Lehi, Owens was positioned as a “principled free market conservative,” arguing that Utahns know better than the federal government how to spend their money. Yet this same congressman called President Trump an “absolute genius” entrepreneur after the president’s “liberation day” tariff enactment tanked U.S. markets and Trump to reverse course.
How can Owens claim to support free markets while praising government interference that caused market volatility? How can he champion economic freedom while remaining silent when the president threatens to deport American citizens or interfere with the economic standing and operation of private companies like Susman Godfrey and institutions like Harvard?
This inconsistency extends beyond Owens. Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis, along with Reps. Blake Moore, Celeste Maloy and Mike Kennedy, have all campaigned on platforms of limited government and economic freedom. Yet when presented with clear examples of government overreach that threaten these principles, they choose capitulation and sycophancy over bedrock conservative principles.
As a business owner, I depend on regulatory certainty and the rule of law. When the president can arbitrarily target companies or institutions with punitive actions and our elected officials remain silent, it creates an environment of unpredictability that damages all businesses. Today it might be a company that doesn’t align with the administration’s politics; tomorrow it could be mine.
The $2 billion grant freeze on Harvard that Rep. Owens called “a great idea” sets a dangerous precedent. Whether one agrees with Harvard’s policies or not, using federal funding as a political weapon against private institutions introduces government coercion into what should be market-driven decisions.
True conservatives should be alarmed at this expansion of executive power. True free-market advocates should condemn the use of government authority to pick winners and losers in the private sector.
These representatives promised to defend free market principles and constitutional constraints on government power. Instead, they have chosen partisan loyalty over the economic philosophy they claim guides them.
Utah deserves representatives who will stand up for genuine conservative principles even when it’s politically difficult. Our state’s entrepreneurs and business owners depend on consistent application of free market ideals — not fair-weather rhetoric that changes depending on who occupies the White House.
(Alex Thompson) Alex Thompson is a public policy and legal consultant and founder of West Public Affairs.
Alex Thompson is a public policy and legal consultant and founder of West Public Affairs.
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