Beyond Two Flags, a Deeper Question Lurks

 

Utah Senators love to boast of their conservative bona fides, but their recent behavior during the debate over SB31, the efforts to change Utah’s flag, raises legitimate concerns over their governing style. You see, they never had public support for this change, yet SB31 did end up passing, and at the moment, we are getting a new flag. Whereas the will of the people was ignored, efforts are underway to get a ballot referendum to stop it. So while those Senators responsible boast about how conservative they are, one tends to wonder… is it Conservative to ignore the Will of the People? Should that referendum even be necessary? For many, the answer should be no.

 

  At the heart of conservatism is a belief that government should be small, its role limited and defined, and that government ought not to engage in things that cost time and money that are not necessary. You see, many polls showed that as much as 70% of the public didn’t want this new flag. Countless videos exist of various public meetings where the subject is brought up, only to have few, or in some cases no one supporting this change, and yet, this was brute forced through despite the fact that our current flag is uncontroversial and even unoffensive. One senator was so determined to push this through he even torpedoed the effort to reform his last controversial bill, SB54, despite pledging support for the reforms. Worst of all, this Senator did so, while  blaming the Grass Roots activists advocating for preserving our traditional 100 year old flag, and reforms to SB54, at one point going so far as to say that one activist, “loves the old flag so much, he used it to burn down the SB54 repeal.”

 

   The behavior of some of these Senators during this debate notwithstanding, the fact that they ignored the public at large, and responded with hostility, flippancy, and mockery and then did this anyway raises concerns. Do we live in a Representative republic, or not? Should those elected to public office be representative of the will of the people or should they do what they feel is best regardless?

 

   The effort to repeal SB31 by ballot initiative is a means by which the State may resolve this question. 

A flag for all of us? Or the aristocracy?

It is the deeper issue at the heart of the matter. You see most people who are upset with this change to the State’s iconography are more upset by the flagrant disregard of public feedback during the process, and the flippant behavior of those pushing this change, knowing full well they did not have public support. One Senator even lamented to the press that, “Flag bills are hard,” yet had he the support of the public, it would not have been. The difficulty was born from the fact that he was, in fact, representing his own personal interests, rather than the will of the people. I have a hard time reconciling that behavior with the values and principles of conservatism which would generally require a government not take action against the will of the majority of the citizens they represent, or more importantly, not spend or grow government in frivolous ways on unnecessary things.

 

   On the surface, it seems as though there are those in a position of power who believe it is their obligation to use that power as they see fit. But fundamentally, if this is the government we have, then what we have is, at best, an aristocratic government, not a representative one. And surely one can surmise that if that is the case, then the path towards dictatorship is self-evident, and one cannot fault concerned citizens for a more raucous tone when they are blatantly being ignored by some, and ruthlessly mocked by others in power. Never mind the off-putting image of those with power punching down at those without. We hate it when Democrats do this to our grassroots activists, is it any better when a Republican does it to those same activists?

 

   For many, however, the job of a representative is to represent the will of the people, and that includes an obligation to stop unpopular legislation, something Republicans seem unable or unwilling to do of late, whether it’s SB31, SB54, or even expanding to the national level, Obamacare and Biden’s reckless spending packages. When those unpopular measures come from a Republican, like Trump’s Bump Stock ban, or Bush’s Patriot Act, the party is even more unwilling to truly represent the people they’re supposed to represent. Calls for a reduction in spending, a restoration of lost liberties, a repealing of Obamacare, a sunset of the Patriot Act, and an Audit of the Fed have fallen on deaf ears for decades now. To illustrate a point… I have been involved since 2008… and virtually all these problems remain. Add SB31 to a growing list of issues Republicans won’t do anything about… but will gladly fundraise on later.

 

Denver's flag and Utah's flag.
Utah's new flag will blend in, not stand out...

   That’s why this referendum is so important. We need to answer the fundamental question, is the job of a representative, within a Representative Republic, to represent or just do what they feel is right, at the moment? It is my opinion, and the opinion of my friends and fellow concerned citizens that it is the former, and that the only time a representative should go against the will of the people is in instances where the people are demanding things that violate the US Federal Constitution, or the Utah State Constitution. Otherwise, a Representative has the obligation to listen to his or her constituents and take those positions back with them to Capitol Hill.

 

  I hope you will agree with us and join the effort to answer this question by supporting the Referendum on SB31. We will need your signature, and we can use as many volunteers as we can get, but as you can see, it’s not about the flag. It’s about determining exactly how our leaders ought to be conducting themselves, the flag itself is merely ancillary to that larger contest of ideas.