The Brain: To use or not to use

WB
Last Saturday marked my initial foray into the world of the Utah Republican Party Nominating Convention. The meeting clearly highlighted the best and worst of Utah politics. The best is seen by the excitement, passion, and commitment of all these great people who want to be a part of the political process. In many states the impact you can have is spread across so many primary voters but in Utah you can have great influence with one vote. You can make a difference. You can have power. Sometimes a smaller group of people having power isn't wise. Sometimes it is. There can be no definitive perfect solution or ruling. In Saturday's case, a smaller control hungry group wielded its power to take down one of Utah's most underrated politicians. Elections are becoming more about rallying behind a passionate campaign slogan than following a platform of solutions and good ideas. Many were swept away by the idea that Bob Bennett was a liberal and against the constitution. A complete view of his character contradicts the thought overwhelmingly. Can you make the claim if you isolate and distort a few individual votes out of context? Of course. And it did happen. And like sheep, many went over the ledge fighting against Senator Bennett. They chose an unknown quantity. Two men without a record who have not held public office. It is easy to claim to be something if you only can be judged by that claim alone. A friend pointed out to me that one candidate reminded him of many religious leaders that focus on one belief and let that idea supersede all other ideas, perhaps akin to one's love for the bible making him blind to the idea of modern day prophets and revelation. I feel that many delegates wanted to show that they have power to remove someone from office even if it wasn't in the best interest of Utah and the nation. Bob Bennett's greatest fault was highlighted by Mitt Romney when he said, "He spends so much time fighting for us, that he hasn't spent time defending himself." This is bigger than Bob though. Hopefully time will prove that Utah delegates made a good decision today. We do not want to be known for being deceived to remove one of our greatest leaders for an arrogant attorney and a previously failed politician. Time is always the best judge.