Author Archives: ptmadmin

With December being a month of religious holidays for so many different people of faith, and with Christmas hitting us at the end of the week, I would hope that the concept of religious freedom crosses the minds of all Utahns.

It just so happens that my political career has coincided with the steep secularization of the United States. It’s really easy to see. There’s a lot more debate about America being a “Christian nation,” which will always be the high-sign that secularization and religiosity are colliding. And, in Utah, this same debate sounds a lot like Utah being described as a “Mormon state.” read more

A couple of years ago, the State Legislature removed the state-portion of the sales tax on most food items. Effectively, that meant instead of paying a full 4.75 percent on tax at the grocery store, we would spend only 1.75 percent on taxes.

Sutherland was a big supporter of the repeal when it passed during the 2006 legislative session. In the summer of 2005, in an Interim Committee meeting, we testified that,

The sales tax is the best tax, if there is such a thing. It is fair – it taxes consumption. It is simple – a uniform statewide sales tax is easy to understand and apply. Wealthier people will pay more, poorer people will pay less. It captures more of the dollars of out-of-state consumers…For these reasons, the sales tax ought to be used more aggressively in tax policy. read more

As fate would have it, today’s Mero Moment falls right in between the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and Veterans Day.

Over the weekend I took my dad to an inspiring Veterans Day celebration. It was a musical mixed with old film footage from World War II. As I sat there with dad it dawned on me that, when I turned 19 years old, I was in Nashville, Tennessee on my way to school in Dallas, Texas. My dad turned 19 at Iwo Jima.

At 19 years old, dad had already been overseas for a year. He celebrated his 18th birthday in San Diego at boot camp. He went from there to the Philippines where, after several months, he contracted malaria and was sent to Honolulu to recover. When he felt better he was back with his naval group in the deep Pacific. He rejoined his group at night and didn’t know where he was. At morning, with the break of dawn, he found himself at Iwo Jima. Eight hundred ships and boats were poised for attack. Dad drove an LCM – those landing crafts that you see in newsreels where the gate comes down and the Marines hop off for battle. read more

In 2008, the Utah State Legislature passed SB81 in an attempt to curb the growth of illegal immigration in the state. Many of us who opposed SB 81 warned that there would be many unintended consequences and that we really wouldn’t discover many of these until it became law – which it did last July 1st.

I received a call from a friend last week who helps Hispanics start businesses in Utah. She told me that several of the folks she’s helped recently were being denied a license to pay sales taxes because they were undocumented and did not have a valid Social Security number. In the past, she told me, no one asked for a Social Security number for someone to start a business. She wondered if I’d look into it. read more

I am so tired of hearing liberals talk about health care as if it’s some alien life form. Health care is pretty simple: take care of yourself, don’t do anything too reckless, don’t over-indulge yourself (and don’t indulge at all in some things), exercise, eat right, get enough sleep, get married, have kids, and stay married. Do all of those things and you’re going to stay pretty healthy.

Notice that good health has very little to do with health insurance. It has nearly everything to do with living right. read more

The Canadian Hockey League is, arguably, the best junior hockey league in the world. Many of its stars go on to become professional hockey players. But what makes them so successful? As author Malcolm Gladwell writes, “You can’t buy your way into [the league.] It doesn’t matter who your father or mother is…nor does it matter if you live in the most remote corner of the most northerly province of Canada. If you have the ability, the vast network of hockey scouts and talent spotters will find you, and if you’re willing to work to develop that ability, the system will reward you.” read more

This week I want to talk about multi-level marketing.  When I was a younger man, and living back in the Washington, D.C. area, a friend of mine approached me about becoming involved in a company called Shakley.  It sold a product line of vitamins and cleaners and cosmetics that used natural ingredients.  My wife, Sally, and I looked over the products, used them for a while, and decided to get involved.  As young as we were, we had entrepreneurial visions of owning our own business and becoming filthy rich. read more

As fate would have it, I have known Joe Cannon for 30 years. Joe is the editor of the Deseret News. I met him just shortly after I joined the LDS Church in the Washington, D.C. area but before my wife, Sally, joined. He helped to teach her the Good Word every Wednesday night at 7:30 for nearly a year. In other words, he’s a good friend and I admire him greatly.

Just before Sally and I moved from DC to Provo to attend BYU, Joe pulled me aside and, in all seriousness, told me, “No matter what you see or hear out there in Utah, the Church is still true.” read more

In a post-911 world, privacy is an elusive ideal. The Patriot Act alone gave government broad powers to be more intrusive in our private lives. And while those powers, arguably, can become too intrusive, few people would argue that 911 didn’t change the way we think about such things.

Technology alone has changed our ideas about privacy – not James Bond-like technical advancements (although I’m sure spy equipment isn’t what it used to be), but reasonable technology designed to share information about our lives. read more