"Let Us Have Peace"

Yes, those are the words of U.S. Grant from his first Inaugural Address. General Grant and the Fourteenth Amendment may be vindicated as so far, Utah Governor Herbert has not ordered state troops to fire on Ft. Douglas that overlooks Salt Lake City from the Wasatch foothills to the East. As Grant won a bloody war to secure the United States and establish Constitutional protections of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all the people of the United States, we now face a Constitutional crisis that our nation will endure without resort to civil war.

I'm highly suspicious that Judge Shelby of the U.S. District Court, District of Utah, planned ahead to issue his decision on same-sex marriage for the week before Christmas. He may have hoped that the spirit of the season would temper any adverse reaction to the ruling. It's not over yet as a legal question until the Supreme Court eventually decides the issue as it certainly will. But as even most of the opponents of same-sex marriage believe that it will eventually happen, I wish it would happen sooner rather than later so that we can stop arguing and all calm down to deal with the inevitable and get over it. It is not worth civil war and it is not worth tearing families apart, least of all at this season of the year.

Republican Honor Roll - Immigration Reform

The U.S. Senate passed Immigration Reform today!! It's not perfect, but it follows principles of enforcement,  a pathway to citizenship, opportunities for entry to work, etc. It's a "compromise." Just like our wonderful, inspired Constitution itself.

Indeed we could say it follows the principles of the Utah Compact supported by the LDS Church along with the admonition that immigration reform should balance enforcement with respect for families and all people.

It passed with all of the Democrats, both Independents, and a good number of Republicans. The Republican "yeas" are those who get my "statesmen (and women)" award this evening:

Orrin's Escape Hatch

My wife went to the Republican caucus last night. There were 178 in attendance at our precinct as opposed to 10 at the Democratic caucus. Now is not the time to talk balancing out the neighborhood a little, but the vast infusion of numbers had its influence to moderate the participants into a rejection of the tea party extremists in favor of our sitting Senator Orrin Hatch.

Tempting as it may be to fall into Monty Python "Silly Party" parlance, Senator Hatch is certainly no moderate. He is clearly conservative. But he is not of the tea party. The slight turn towards the center did not bring the local caucus into the moderate middle, but it did save them from going over the cliff on the far right of the mountain pass.

Huntsman Humanistically Explains Mormon History; Hatch Panders with Palin; and Libya Is Nearly Liberated

So, Jon Huntsman makes national news announcing he actually believes in science and local news in response to a national press question saying the LDS practice of banning African-Americans from the priesthood was "wrong." I suppose it is easy for some to be offended by a sense of lack of loyalty, but here's an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints:

Forget everything that I have said, or what . . .  Brigham Young . . . . or whomsoever has said . . . that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world. 

Elder Bruce R. McConkie. I dunno, but that sounds like it was "wrong" to me. That's why the Lord had to reveal a new course and "all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past" are gone. Don't let semantics offend so easily especially when outweighed by much bigger offenses. Let's move on, people.

Utah's Lollipop Guild

Utah Senator Mike Lee
Current Mayor of the Munchkin City

Long-time Conservative and
Wannabee-Munchkin Orrin Hatch
and Wannabee-Hatch Jason Chaffetz

I know I'm being less than charitable here, but I'm trying to make a moderately passionate point.  I leave out my own Congressman Rob Bishop because, while positively, absolutely, undeniably, and reliably conservative, and my favorite guy to yell at during patriotic, community parades, he has successfully maintained just the sliver of independence from the Utah Munchkin Caucus.

Senator Matheson, Congressman Shurtleff

It could be worse. The down side is that Utah could very well send four Republicans to the House with a new Congressional District and we need to figure how to balance that out a little. And it certainly won't help the National Democratic Party trying to capture back some influence in that body. But maybe, just maybe, there's a chance to send a Democrat from Utah to the U.S. Senate which hasn't happened for 40 years!

Plenty of Room in Heaven

I had an interesting thought. I certainly could not claim a vision, but I had an image in my head of Harry Reid and Orrin Hatch in their future mansions on high.  Their palaces are right next to each other. They talk over the fence, the best of friends. They laugh and laugh at the things they thought were so important down here.

I can even see Richard Nixon's place of glory right next to Teddy Kennedy's.  They sit and talk about all the repenting they had to do to get there and are so grateful for an infinite Atonement.

And I don't see how this would in anyway be offensive to official LDS teachings and scripture.

And I remain grateful for passionate moderation and especially for an infinite Atonement.