Category Archives: Editorial Commentaries

Editor’s note: This article from commentator Paul Mero is a response to Taylor G. Petrey’s recent piece “The failures of Mormon conservativism.” These opinion articles are part of an ongoing Deseret News opinion series exploring ideas and issues at the intersection of faith and thought.

Taylor G. Petrey is a progressive provocateur who dares tell Latter-day Saints what to believe about politics, sex, and gender. Petrey tempts members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to think that it’s time for “a revitalization of Mormonism’s past and potential.” read more

Is it possible to defend religious freedom and not oppose LGBT rights? Yes. In fact, standing down on those rights is the only way to effectively defend religious freedom today. Kathy Carlson is right to advocate for a Christian view of the LGBT community. No, her prescriptions are not popular among conservatives or in Utah, and incomplete in crucial ways, but a couple of us have been quietly arguing behind the scenes, considering the spirit of what she advocates.

The irony of my message is not lost on me. As surprising as all of this will sound to fellow conservatives – and as cynical as all of this might sound to the LGBT community coming from me – it is time for those of us who cherish religious freedom to stop, yes stop, opposing gender equality. This is no trade-off, no compromise nor quid pro quo. Neither is it unilateral surrender. It is neutrality and it is wisdom. read more

Is it possible for Utah conservatives to support women’s issues without buying into progressive or feminist ideologies? The right answer is yes, of course. But this journey has its distractions for Utah conservatives. And, as we know, especially during a hurried and heavily prioritized 45-day legislative session, most legislators, lobbyists and media have the attention span of tsetse flies, circumstances highly discouraging when asked to unpack issues wrongly perceived as too partisan or politicized. read more

A lot of time and effort have been and are being spent on addressing intergenerational poverty (IGP) in Utah. A lot of money soon could follow. But before that happens, many systemic barriers, political and programmatic, must disappear.

The good news for the Utah Legislature is that a focus on IGP children now will save taxpayers dollars down the road. Situational poverty will be with us always. But intergenerational poverty is a culture; it is learned. It is in control of the human spirit. We can break this cycle if we put our minds and resources to it. It can all but disappear in a generation. That reality will save millions of dollars over time. More important, it will give hope to the hopeless and literally save lives. read more

Conservatives value the experience that often attends age. But Hatch didn’t begin his Senate career as an old man. He was 43 years old when he defeated 18-year incumbent Frank Moss, not much older than Utah’s junior Sen. Mike Lee when he defeated 18-year incumbent Robert Bennett. In fact, candidate Hatch famously asked his old opponent, “What do you call a senator who’s been in office for more than two terms? You call him home.”

Four years ago, when facing what he perceived to be a tough convention fight in the 2012 Republican primary, Hatch promised delegates that if they elected him, he would not seek to serve a seventh term. Of course, between then and now a lot has changed in Utah politics. read more

I contend that our general distrust of the stranger, though instinctive, is harmful to a free society. I contend that a public relief system built upon distrust of the stranger, though intuitive, displaces exactly the human dignity needed to maintain the integrity of public relief. Last, I contend that unless we flip the script about the stranger we will do more to perpetuate poverty, especially intergenerational poverty, than we ever might save in tax dollars for our “prudent” distrust of the stranger. read more

Religious freedom is alive and well, according to Pyle, because religious diversity, especially “no organized religion at all,” is on the rise. For Pyle, choice is the core of religious freedom, especially the choice “not to follow, rather than having it chosen for [us] by peer pressure or tradition.”

My friend, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan reminded us, is entitled to his own opinions, but he is not entitled to his own facts — and Pyle flings facts around with the reckless abandon of a howler monkey at Hogle Zoo. With no small hint of glee, Pyle tries to humiliate LDS Church apostle Jeffrey R. Holland for saying that a rise in secularism does not bode well for society. Pyle claims, while denying cause and effect and carelessly referencing selected statistics, Elder Holland is simply “wrong.” Both context and facts suggest Elder Holland is absolutely correct. read more

Today’s strident populism, personified by Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, is fed by voter frustration, anger, fear and despair. But, I would argue, at the heart of today’s strident populism is our moral abandonment of the poor. Americans give time, money and other resources to the poor but fail to provide the most important assistance: human dignity. We fail to see them as ourselves and, because we fail in this respect, the poor are effectively cast out, separated from the dignity we afford ourselves. read more

I am out of the Republican Party. With the rise of Donald Trump, the Republican Party has dumped the last vestiges of conservatism. Though party faithful scramble, spit and stutter to make the best of this intellectual disaster, it pains me to see so many otherwise reasonable people defending the indefensible.

There is no lesser of two evils in the choice before conservatives. Both candidates are politically evil. I will not vote for one evil because I think the other is more evil. Bill Buckley famously held that he would vote for the most electable conservative. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Trump is conservative. I think building some gargantuan wall on our southern border is un-American. I think rounding up millions of people and isolating an entire religion are un-American ideas. Trump is not America first; he’s cynicism first. He’s fear and anger first. read more

Addressing intergenerational poverty is tricky business. If we are trying to break the cycle of poverty, innovative and nontraditional measures must be employed. We just cannot keep using the same failed approaches. To stop intergenerational poverty, we must focus on rising generations — the children of these families trapped in poverty. With situational poverty, parents need and receive direct help with their temporary circumstances. With intergenerational poverty, the adults in the room are either very often the problem or live with circumstances that don’t allow them to be the solution. The only way to effectively break these cycles of dependency is to focus on the children and, frankly, until now, many conservative policymakers have been reluctant in principle to bypass parents. read more