Paul Mero

In the aftermath of the Texas shooting, perhaps now is a good time to revisit how a free society should respond to mental illness. The Texas shooter, Devin Kelly, had a long and documented history of mental illness and violence. He beat his wife regularly and even beat his little boy so bad that he fractured the boy’s skull. Kelly was dishonorably discharged from the military for his illness-induced violence.

Most folks in the little town where he was from said they knew something was wrong with Kelly. A childhood friend of his wrote, “To be completely honest, I’m really not surprised this happened, and I don’t think anyone who knew him is very surprised either.” Think on that statement. Anyone who knew him should not be surprised this happened. What happened was that Kelly mercilessly murdered 26 people – and, yet, nobody was surprised that he murdered all those people? Maybe that should be the first sign for intervention. If you are not at all surprised a person could murder 26 people in cold blood, maybe you ought to pick up the phone and call somebody. read more

What happens if Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia proves collusion but nobody believes him? Why are conservatives so quick to indict Hillary Clinton about her Russian connections but give Donald Trump a pass? Has the idea of objective truth become passé? Are we at an unrecoverable point in time when tribal politics has laid waste to objective truth? The answers to these serious questions will determine freedom in America for generations to come.

The basis for every conspiracy theory is that somebody is lying about something and that the people tasked with holding people accountable are a part of the conspiracy. Hence, in Trump’s Russia connection, we cannot believe Jake Tapper from CNN but we must believe Alex Jones, the king of conspiracy theorists. Tapper is out to get Trump while Alex Jones is simply telling the truth. Anyone who voted for Trump and/or believes that Washington D.C. is a swamp of corruption needs to believe that Tapper is the enemy and Jones is a truth-teller. read more

Even before Arizona Senator Jeff Flake finished his floor speech announcing his retirement and why he is retiring, opinions already were flying. Donald Trump and Steve Bannon saw Flake’s speech as a sign of victory. Hugh Hewitt dismissed it as a Hail Mary, Flake’s only political option in a losing reelection campaign. Ross Douthat called Flake’s retirement speech “defiant surrender.” Social scientists tell us there is simply no voter appetite these days for the conservatism Flake represents. And, in a typical non sequitur of thought, the New York Times editorial board thinks all of it is simply an assault on the Obama agenda. read more

No good deed goes unpunished. You would think I would have learned that lesson by now after 30 years in politics. Of course, career politicians do not care about such lessons. Their interest is their career, not truth, not plainness, not honesty and certainly not the other guy’s opinion. But some of us working in politics have made a career of at least trying to do the right thing for the right reasons in the right way.

You might think that a conservative condemning the agendas of Donald Trump and Steve Bannon might be considered a virtue, an act of integrity an act of honesty. But, as I found out this week, such is not always the case. After penning a commentary for The Salt Lake Tribune calling out Steve Bannon as an enemy to Utah, ideologues and opportunists wasted little time rebuking me. My point is not “woe is me.” My point here is that ideologues and opportunists will always plague politics and will always be an enemy of the right thing. read more

If you want elevated dialogue, you need an elevated mind. Most Americans, across the political spectrum, seem to mourn the loss of civil dialogue. Indeed, civil dialogue has been kicked to the curb in the age of Trump. But Trump is only a symptom, even if a modern icon, of discord. The true villain here is the mundane minutia that fills our minds through round-the-clock information on social media. It has lowered our civic IQ, then lowering the substance of civil dialogue.

Social media creates the delusion that all opinions are of similar value. Social media is the great equalizer. Unfortunately, its egalitarianism is mongrelized not idealized. It often displays the beauty of humanity along side the “wild ranting of the unhinged masses” – the opposite of any truly transcendent environment. Look at a museum or an art gallery or, what used to be, the college classroom. Very discriminating. Very enlightened. Very serious. Then look at social media. Picture yourself standing in the Louvre and now picture yourself in any number of social media conversations. read more

At the crux of the current and contentious, nearly decade-long, debate over health care is one question: What the hell is our objective? For me, the humane objective is to ensure that everyone receives the medical care they need when they need it. In doing so, we must incentivize personal responsibility and supercharge our sense of moral obligation to provide medical care for those who are unable, at any moment, to obtain it on their own. But, as our all-knowing yet ever-learning president discovered, achieving this objective is complicated. read more

When Donald Trump issued an executive order putting Dreamer kids on a short game clock he reignited a legal and constitutional debate about separation of powers, presidential powers and the rule of law. This debate first stirred passions in 2012 when Barack Obama first issued his own executive order enabling a specific subset of undocumented immigrant children to stay in the United States without fear of deportation. Those kids are among the many known as Dreamers – children brought to the United States by their parents through no choice of their own. read more

Were you to Google the term “Imposter Syndrome” you would most likely run across a quick definition: “Individuals who are marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud.” I can relate. I have lived with the burden of this Imposter as far back as I can remember.

To be even more exact, upon impending success, the Imposter constantly whispers in my ear that I am a poser, always the worst person in the room, always fearful that I’ll be discovered as a fraud, always needing to work harder than everyone else because everyone else was smarter and more talented, always waiting for the other shoe to drop, careful to avoid celebrating success, uncomfortable taking compliments, never happy with my work, self-defacing, self-critical, self-sabotaging and self-deprecating, never content and always, always focused on my weaknesses, shortcomings and failures. read more