Utah Legislature hitchhiking on the highway to hell
What in the world does the President of the United States have on you guys? Or have you simply lost your collective minds?
How else do you explain a recent citation issued by the Legislature’s Senate President and House Speaker thanking the president for his work on behalf of the people of Utah?
It turns out that the citation was the Legislature’s response to Sen. Mitt Romney’s crossing political lines to vote to convict the president during his impeachment trial.
The suck-ups not only betrayed the offices they were elected to hold but the people of the state who elected Romney to represent them in the United States Senate.
It was an insult to all involved and an act of cowardice.
Originally proposed as a state resolution, it was toned down to a citation because a resolution requires bringing the matter up on the chamber floor, which would have given the opposition, i.e. Democrats, an opportunity to argue against or amend it.
Look, the president has done the state of Utah no favors.
Oh, he may have fallen in line with the hardcore who haven’t seen a public land they wouldn’t sell off for strip malls or mining and drilling that forever scars the land. And some may not have bought into the fact that there are serious environmental issues facing the state, from the diminishing air quality to lack of wilderness protection, which the president has done nothing to correct.
But is the Legislature so weak that it needs to take a knee to this guy? Of course.
We all know that the Legislature is spineless and caves to outside pressure, usually from the church.
But this is just too much.
Utah has not had a favorable relationship with the federal government since day one when the feds insisted the state give up plural marriage so it could join the Union.
We know how Utah claims to be a stronghold in the fight for state’s rights.
We know how Utah struck back ignorantly against every measure drafted by the Obama administration.
It’s not like Utah has cozied up to the guy in the White House forever and been staunch in support of whichever president sat in the Oval Office. That is, until now.
Over the years, there are probably more instances of opposition to administrations gone by than there have been agreements.
And there’s that nagging hypocrisy of a place that likes to claim how closely it holds family and religious values to its heart, standing tall behind a womanizing, lying, cheating, bombastic narcissist who happens to occupy the White House right now.
It just doesn’t fit.
Of course, neither do most neo-conservatives who bear no relationship to traditional Republican Party virtues and have signed onto what many pundits have now dubbed “the party of Trump.”
But even the most loyal among those Trump Thumpers has got to admit that this citation by the Utah Legislature is over the top. Way over the top.
Maybe it’s because Utah doesn’t want to be the last one picked when choosing up teams on the playground.
Maybe it’s because Utah has become more amoral in its culture, racism, business strategy, and political posturing.
Or maybe — and most likely — its Legislature is filled with cowards who are afraid of the playground bully who bloodies their noses and steals their lunch money.
Mitt Romney a big boy.
He’s got plenty of business connections, plenty of money to fall back on, and even a house with a garage that has an elevator so he can park his vehicles on different levels.
We won’t need to hold any benefits to help Mitt pay the electric bill. And even though our politics are polarized, that’s OK because he represents something that once commanded respect: traditional Republican values. You didn’t have to agree with those GOP principles to respect that they were painfully thought out and honestly represented.
It is, however, impossible for a thinking person to admire and respect what has become of the GOP, which continues to hitchhike on the highway to hell.
Unfortunately, the Utah Legislature is right there with thumbs out, too.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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