As is my tradition (and when I have nothing in particular springing to mind but still want to post), I present to you my quarterly rant that is posted in the Young Democrats of Utah newsletter. I figure it was original content when I wrote it, and odds are you don’t know what craziness I have come up with this time around!

This time around I present to you my “Smart Ass” column, unabridged:

All right, I know that you may look at some of Utah’s laws and feel them to be archaic, misguided, and perhaps even detrimental to the state.

But fear not…I have a great idea that could really be revolutionary. You see, after searching on a series of tubes I like to call the Internet, I discovered a concept called representation. You see, basically, we are supposed to elect people who represent us in government. In return they gain our votes and are chosen by the people to represent them; if someone does not represent us, they get kicked out. This of course assumes that people care and participate in their government and want to make the world a little bit better of a place.

I know, I know, this is a little crazy of a concept, but I feel that it is really a good way to go. Allow me to explain.

Let us suppose our state legislature tries to pass a law that is widely unpopular – I dunno, something like having private vouchers in our education system, liquor laws that prevent adults from acting like adults, or building a stadium that the people really don’t want to pay for (you know, just in theory) – well under representation these things don’t happen because, well, the people don’t like it. Furthermore if something does happen to slip through the legislature, the will of the people can easily override the representatives by vetoing the law with out any sort of trickery on behalf of the lawmakers or elect people who better represent them.

Now I know that this is a crazy Liberal (note the capitalization on the letter “L”) idea that probably won’t catch on in Utah any time soon, but I feel that it is my duty as a young idealist to really push for something along these lines. I mean I think it is a great idea to have the 43 percent of people who did not vote Republican in the previous gubernatorial election to have a greater say than the current 23 percent they currently have in the legislature. I mean there is nothing that could possibly explain why people are not currently under represented by 20 percent, right?

Now some people may disagree with me. “Curtis,” they say, “why would I actually want the interests of the people to be represented in the Legislature…how can I possibly punish a teachers union, liberal city, environmentalist, or low-income family under this system?” Well, I can’t lie; it will be much more difficult to do those things under this system. If someone wants to do those types of activities they will have to convince the majority of the people to actually agree with them, rather than just the majority of people who already agree with them.

You know, as I flush out this idea a little more, I start to realize how strange an impractical this idea really is. I mean why would lawmakers want to put the interests of the citizens above their steak dinners and Jazz tickets? Alright, I take it all back. After all why fix something that isn’t broken? I have not heard of anything passing that the people were upset enough to complain about. Still representation sounds like a good idea, I dunno, I’m just being a smart ass.