Paul Mero

For nearly eight years, Jim Ferrell has been a part of Sutherland Institute’s Transcend Series of lectures and classes. We created the Transcend Series initially for state legislators to help them cut through politics and focus on sound, principled-based policy. Our first class in 2004 was dubbed the “Sutherland 20,” a group of 20 legislators who have since served in legislative leadership including two Speakers of the House.

Jim Ferrell’s role is to help participants to see colleagues, constituents and political opponents as people and not simply as objects. That sounds simple enough but in the heat of political battle you would be amazed at how easy it is to slip into seeing others as objects to push, pull, climb over, ridicule, condemn and otherwise marginalize. read more

The Boy Scouts of America are scheduled this week to decide whether or not to lift its long-standing ban on accepting homosexual scout leaders in local troops. The push to lift the ban comes from two members of its national board who both support homosexual scout leaders but worry more about how progressive-minded corporations extort BSA over its no-gay policy. These corporations threaten to quit donating to BSA until the ban is lifted.

There are no serious political threats to BSA driving this renewed debate. Nobody beyond homosexual activists and those two BSA board members are pushing the issue. There’s no legal threat against BSA – in 2000, the United States Supreme Court settled the issue: BSA does not have to accept homosexuals scout leaders if it doesn’t want to. read more

Last week The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a new web site targeted to people struggling with homosexuality and the relationships they have within their families and faith community. In announcing this unprecedented outreach, LDS Church Apostle Dallin H. Oaks said,

Same gender attraction presents many issues and questions in society at large. These include what causes it, whether it is subject to change in kind or degree, and whether, or the extent of which, laws like marriage should accommodate it. Our discussion is limited to two related questions we sometimes hear in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints… read more

Like many of you I’m tired of this political season. Mentally tired of all of the lies – yes, lies. I don’t know if it’s possible for a presidential candidate to run for office without lying. Sometimes the lies are purposeful like Obama on Benghazi and sometimes they’re simply part of survival like all of the flip-flopping by Romney.

Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote, “To tell the truth, rightly understood, is not just to state the true facts, but to convey a true impression.” I like that standard of honesty but it’s a standard not met by many candidates. Campaign ads exist to paint mental pictures for voters about opponents. When Congressman Jim Matheson ran ads saying that Mia Love unjustifiably raised taxes as mayor of Saratoga Springs he portrayed Love as a big spender. In reality, Mayor Love and the city council were tasked with raising taxes for a rapidly growing community – someone had to do it sooner or later. That didn’t make Love a big spender; it made her a leader. read more

Voters in Colorado, Oregon and Washington will soon decide whether or not marijuana will be legalized in their states. More and more conservative and libertarian politicians are getting behind the movement to legalize pot. Anti-immigration stalwart Tom Tancredo from Colorado and libertarians Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are high on that list (pun intended).

Tancredo asks, “What is the law against marijuana if it isn’t the Nanny State telling you what you can do and what you can’t do to your body and with your body?” I know there are many opinions and perspectives that pro-pot people would cite to make a compelling argument. But I think Tancredo’s question just about sums up the whole debate, including why society feels it’s important to “legislate morality.” read more

Like millions of other Americans watching Monday Night Football this week, I was in disbelief. It didn’t matter what team you were routing for, if you had even one good eye to see with, you knew that the losing team got robbed by an obviously wrong ruling on the field. The call was so obviously incorrect that every commentator, especially former players and retired referees, were dumbfounded and nearly speechless.

Most people who follow sports know that the referees’ association in the National Football League went on strike weeks ago and refuse to work until they get a better contract. The NFL, for its part, has failed to successfully negotiate new contracts. In the place of seasoned referees, the NFL hired high school and community college referees to work its professional games. Folks, that’s like asking a kid with a new chemistry set to judge Nobel Prizes in science – it’s not that the kid isn’t interested in the subject, it’s that he’s not capable of judging anything at that level of skill and talent. read more

Two newspaper commentaries recently caught my eye – one from the Deseret News and the other from The Salt Lake Tribune – both written by self-proclaimed LDS Democrats and both arguing a deeply spiritual connection between their Mormon faith and the Democratic Party.

In the Tribune, former state legislator Scott Daniels tries to make the case that the Book of Mormon, held sacred by Latter-day Saints, is a blueprint for liberal fiscal and social policies. Daniels writes, “I don’t see how it is possible to read the Book of Mormon, believe it is the word of God and support the Romney-Ryan tax and budget plan.” He goes on to describe sections of the Book of Mormon that chastise people for materialism and implies that supporting Mitt Romney for president is a vote for materialism. Likewise, I suppose, the author is defending the idea that a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for God’s team. read more

A few weeks ago I mentioned that the annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council was coming to Salt Lake City. Well, it’s here and it’s time to get to work. Sutherland Institute is a proud sponsor of the conference and as a sponsor I have a few insights I can share given the controversies surrounding it.

ALEC, as it’s called, is a lot like Sutherland Institute, except its operating model is a bit different. Instead of being a state-based think tank like Sutherland, it’s a national think tank comprised of delegate members. It’s like a mini-Congress in function. Center-right state legislators from across the nation are ALEC’s primary targets and non-politician supporters make up the rest of its membership because, frankly, somebody’s got to pay the bills for its meetings. read more

My first day working for Congress as a young man was January 5, 1987. That same year the Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug for the purpose of prolonging the lives of AIDS patients, a medicine called AZT. That was 25 years ago. Yesterday the FDA approved another drug, this time taken by healthy people at high-risk for HIV infection. The drug, Truvada, is supposed to be able to reduce the risk of contracting the disease. The FDA’s decision comes less than two weeks after it approved an at-home test for HIV. read more