It is obvious that the people have no say at the Utah State Capitol. Despite Article, 1 Section 2 of the Utah Constitution, which clearly states, “All political power is inherent in the people,” the Legislature has taken it upon itself to smack down the will of the people and ignore our direct orders to institute specific laws that we the people voted for.
The people do not matter to the Legislature.
So if the people do not matter, who or what does? The pockets of special interest lobbyists matter more than the people of Utah, especially when it comes to people’s health. It was already obvious that the Legislature couldn’t care less for the health of the most vulnerable and economically stressed citizen’s in this state.
However, with the introduction of House Bill 288 by Rep. Logan Wilde, it is now clear that members of the Legislature couldn’t care less about everyone’s health. HB288, which would limit the power of city governments to regulate such operations, has been the dream of Geneva Rock and other extractive and air polluting industries for years. Geneva Rock’s dream is every citizen’s worst nightmare.
It is no secret that the Geneva Rock pit at the Point of the Mountain is a major contributor to the bad air we all breathe. Geneva Rock air pollution comes with a little special something extra — silica. What is silica? Think of silica like tiny particles of sharp glass that have a fondness for embedding themselves in your lungs.
Despite all the medical evidence, the Legislature still does not believe that Geneva Rock is slowly killing thousands of Utahns. Why do we allow this to happen? Why do we allow the few greedy oligarchs in Utah to control everything the citizens do? Why do we allow our elected leaders to compromise our wishes, rights and health so their contributors can make more money?
The people of Utah are to blame because we continue to elect these clowns into office. But the real culprits are the citizens who vote a straight party ticket. Instead of taking the time to study the candidates, many people just check the straight party box and move on. The current super majority in the Legislature knows this, and they take advantage of it at every election.
What we need are two revolutions. First, we must eliminate the straight-party vote and take the responsibility of voting seriously. Second, we need to consider when the time has come to take to the streets and march on the state Capitol with pitchforks in hand.
Think about it, every proposition the people passed has been watered down or negated by our elected officials. The Legislature argues that the people were confused by campaign commercials and that the propositions were so poorly written that they needed to be amended to protect the state.
No! The people are not stupid. We take great offense to such a notion. The Legislature has forgotten that it represents the people’s interest, not their own or their few oligarch contributors.
The Legislature is insubordinate to the people and this needs to be addressed. The Legislature needs to know that it serves at the people’s pleasure and can be removed by the people. Of course, we promote peaceful revolution and change, but the people will get tired of trying after a period of time. What happens then, no one knows.
As John F. Kennedy once said, “Every revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. Independence, in the end, is the fruit of injustice. A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government.”
We can only hope that the legislature heeds the words of President Kennedy before they push the people of Utah past the point of no return.
Tony Nelson, Draper, is the author of Point of the Mountain Politics Facebook page.