Paul Mero

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

Utah isn’t the only state to favor some private businesses over others. My friend, Darcy Olsen, who runs the Goldwater Institute in Arizona, recently described what’s going on in her state.

As I speak, the Arizona State Supreme Court is deciding a lawsuit to determine whether cities in Arizona can give taxpayer subsidies to private companies.

In 1910, at the state’s constitutional organizing convention, Arizona’s founders banned gifts to private companies through sad experience. In the closing decades of the 19th century, local governments borrowed money to force-feed private railroad development. Pima County outside of Tucson, for example, took out $300,000 in bonds in 1882 for a railroad that promised to build some 100 miles of track. The money was spent but the railroad dissolved after a mere 10 miles of track was constructed. The bonds were worthless, but taxpayers were still on the hook for the money. read more

After another round of devastating defeats at the State Legislature and now, with Jon Huntsman moving on, gay activists in Utah are trying out a new strategy. They’re focusing on more liberal city and county governments such as Summit County, home to many of the resettled California snobs in Park City and other progressives who despise historic Utah.

Last week, the Summit County Council passed a resolution in support of gay rights. Not having the political courage to call the resolution what it really is, the Council titled it “Inclusive Communities: A Vision For Common Ground.” Of course, the “common ground” portion pays homage to the gay rights group Equality Utah and their “Common Ground Initiative.” And why not? They wrote the resolution. read more

This week I’ll address the controversy of abortion. As college graduations and commencement ceremonies go this season’s were relatively uneventful – except on the campus of Notre Dame University. This year the Catholic school had a very special guest for its commencement address: President Barack Obama.

Having President Obama speak at Notre Dame is like having Ted Kennedy address graduates at BYU – not that it’s shocking, in and of itself, but that it’s out of character. And, frankly, there’s nothing really wrong with being forced out of character once in a while. read more

Today, I want to shed light on the work of the United Nations – not because I think the UN is a diabolical machine of the New World Order (although I do think that), but because more and more American jurisprudence is looking to international law to achieve radical change in American culture – the gay rights decision in the Lawrence case a few years ago is a perfect example of this judicial hubris: what Justices can’t establish through American precedents and state laws, they now reach across the oceans and grab from international law and treaties. read more

Evidently, it’s not just me. A growing number of Americans aren’t happy with the federal government’s approach to fixing our economic woes. Obama’s numbers are dropping and ever-increasing numbers of Americans have grave doubts about the government’s ability to solve these problems.

I’d like to think these concerns are for the right reasons. But I’m not sure they are. People probably just want to get back to the lives they’ve been living for the past several years. The Dot.com crash interrupted their lives…9/11 interrupted their lives…and now the big easy-money mortgage crash has interrupted their movies, soccer games, vacations, early retirement plans, and everything else we seem to truly cherish. read more

This week let’s look at the changing political face of Utah. On a plane ride home over the weekend I picked up a copy of Newsweek. The March 16 issue has a grim and ominous picture of Rush Limbaugh on the cover with the headline, “Enough! A Conservative’s Case Against Limbaugh.” An associated article that caught my eye was titled “You Can’t Go Home Again” with this sub-head, “Reagan called it the place where good Republicans go to die. But has the very idea of Orange County expired?” read more

This week we’re back on the wagon with Utah’s quirky liquor laws.  Yesterday, the Utah State Legislature passed compromise bills to reform Utah’s existing liquor laws.  The compromise was a love-fest that included the next President of – whatever company his dad buys for him – Jon Huntsman, Jr., the LDS Church, and special interest groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

For decades, Utah liquor laws have attempted to stigmatize public consumption.  Like every other state in the Union, Utah has an Alcoholic Beverage Commission that regulates the sale of liquor and controls liquor sales at the point of purchase through state liquor stores. read more

You know, I have to admit it – Obama had me going. When he spoke of change, I actually believed he meant real change – like change that we haven’t seen before. I actually believed him that there was this new idea, called change, that we hadn’t ever experienced before. Well, was I mistaken.

Let’s face it. There’s only so many ways we can do government. We either free people or enslave them. Obama actually had me thinking there was another way to do government – like use government to solve everyone’s problems and still be free and prosperous. read more

We’re now mid-session with the Utah State Legislature and, while many things have been settled, there are still many matters left to be decided.

Settled is the gay rights debate.  Settled is the budget controversy.  Remaining are ethics and health care reforms, liquor laws, illegal immigration, the Western Climate Initiative, and, what’s known as the PTA bill.

I think we’ve turned a corner on ethics reform.  The biggest hurdle has been to convince legislators that there’s a huge perception problem.  For the last few years, they’ve settled on the idea that isolated problems have arisen and have been addressed.  But what they failed to fully comprehend is the public’s perceptions of their dealings.  In fact, they’d been responding in the absolute opposite, and wrong, way – the more they get criticized the more they’ve been inclined to think that doing something was an admission of guilt – and then they get themselves caught in a vicious public relations cycle.  The less they do about it, the more they get criticized, the more they get criticized, the less they do about it. read more