Day 44 (Halloween).  Elliptical Trainer: 40:56 minutes, 4.0 miles, 655 calories.  460 crunches.  Weight: 187.8 pounds.  Why was the little Egyptian boy so confused? Because he thought his daddy was a mummy. BOO!

A CNN poll recently showed what I have suspected for a long time…government is doing for the people what they handily could be doing for themselves.  An overwhelming number of respondents said they believed government often provides for its citizens when those citizens are quite capable of personal autonomy and self-reliance.

A recent unscientific Deseret News poll shows Blogs and Internet Sites leading other forms of media and media sources as people’s main source of accessing current events and news.  Out of 890 respondants, 313 individuals (35%) said they prefer Blogs and Internet Sites as their primary source of news and information.  Second choice was Local News Programming (34%), Network News, third (13%)…last place was talking with family and friends (3%).

As unscientific as this poll may be, it, at the very least, shows an increasing trend toward individuals getting up to speed with current events via the internet.

Welcome to Under The Dome VideoCast.  This is an introductory (somewhat experimental) internet video presentation.  Representative Craig Frank shows how simple it is to tape a video message and send that on-line message to a target audience. 

Just a couple of things to remember before you “Click HERE to view” the presentation: first, I am not a professional actor, and second, because of the “experimental nature” of this videocast, you may find it difficult to download this presentation.  The file is a normal .mpg format and will open with almost any media player.  It will take anywhere from a few moments to a few minutes to download.  The first time I opened the file it took approximately three minutes to begin the presentation–so, please, be patient.  I am working with a trained professional to iron out all the kinks.

(***WARNING–the file you are about to access is approximately 90 MB***)

Click HERE to view videocast.

Day 43 (Monday).  Elliptical Trainer: 45:00 minutes, 4.5 miles, 760 calories.  450 crunches.  Weight: 186.8 pounds. 

Day 42 (Sunday).  Off. 

Day 41 (Saturday).  Walk vigorously for  nearly four hours straight, up some pretty good hills in the West Valley and Kearns area for Phil Conder (republican house candidate) and Rep Eric Hutchings, respectively. 

Day 40 (Friday).  No activity.

“The power under the Constitution will always be in the People.  It is entrusted for certain defined purposes and for a certain limited period to Representatives of their own choosing.  And, whenever it is executed contrary to their interests or not agreeable to their wishes, their Servants can and undoubtedly will be recalled.”  –George Washington

Constitutional power is vested in the citizenry—The People.  On the state level that requires a citizenry engaged in the legislative, executive, and judicial processes–Citizens who are willing to vote, even when they don’t think it matters.  Citizens who are willing to hold their local and state elected officials accountable for their public and “private” actions.  When elected officials wield their citizen-granted authority contrary to the desires of the majority, those people must remove their leaders from office by a common voice.  Through the common, majority voice of the people, the rule of law is established and maintained. 

“Trickle Up” Philosophy

Scottish philosopher David Hume concluded that Representatives, having passed the election process, would generally be more virtuous and wise than the ordinary citizen.  Consequently they where expected to be leaders…(American Heritage, Fox, p. 128)

Hume further deduced that in a Representative Republic as subsequent elections are held, such as leadership elections, individuals of greater morality and virtue would be chosen from those already chosen by the common voice of the people.  Thus, a filter of virtue would be created through a natural process of virtuous “mid-level” leaders, choosing by democratic means, even greater virtuous “upper-level” leaders  

Hume’s idea (was that) of filtering the consent of the people through successive elections with representatives choosing representatives of their own, as if in an ascending pyramid.  With each ascending tier of representation, there would be a refining process in search of virtuous statesmen.  Those few at the top of the pyramid would be far removed from popular passions and hopefully patriotic individuals of national (or in this case, state) reputation.  (American Heritage, Fox, p. 129)

So, there you have it.  In Utah, neighborhoods elect county delegates, who, through a convention, in turn elect a candidate(s), who represents them in the Legislature.  Their legislator in turn elects, through a democratic process, their body’s leadership.  All the time, as Hume would philosophize, the level of morality and virtue increases from tier to tier.  This system applies just as handily to the executive and judicial branches in various iterations. 

So What!

I know what you’re saying.  So What?  What does this have to do with me?  Well, in two weeks, three days following the mid-term General Election, right around 5 o’clock in the evening on Friday, 56 (plus or minus) re-elected, and newly elected, representatives of the Utah State House of Representatives will get together in a little room in the Capitol extension building basement and “filter” out (filter up?) their (your) leadership team for the next two years.  You see there’s been another very important campaign going on all this time “under the radar” and will continue to brew for a few days following the first Tuesday’s big events.

The “Other” Election

During this “other” campaign there haven’t been any multi-colored signs hung about, there isn’t a need for those new fancy electronic voting machines (a simple paper ballot is used), and the speeches are relatively short and usually happen one-on-one over lunch. 

Inconspicuous as this “other” election might be, the significance of what will occur on November 10th will be FAR MORE REACHING & FAR MORE IMPORTANT TO THE STATE OF UTAH than all the other state-wide elections combined.  Four individuals in the State House and four individuals in the State Senate will be elected by their respective (majority) bodies to set the Legislative agenda and BUDGET for the next two years—and, that’s a big deal!  And, if you want to get a little more REAL, you can boil that down to one in the House and one in the Senate.  (I’ll give you four guesses and the first three don’t count.)

[Note: Although every Representative and Senator is assigned to work in a sub-appropriations committee, the real monetary agenda is driven by majority leadership who are all members of the Executive Appropriations Committee (where the rubber hits the road) and the governor.]

The Real Legislative Law is 3 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 1

As I see it, the future of Utah’s viability over the next couple of years, to a large degree, is in the hands of nine individuals, the House and Senate Majority Leadership Teams (3+3), the Speaker of the House, the Senate President, and Jon Huntsman, Jr.

These are the individuals who really drive the policy and monetary future of our state.  These are the individuals, as David Hume extrapolated, should be the best of the best, cream of the crop, top of the heap, etc., etc., etc.  These are the ones who should be the most virtuous among us.  They are the leaders entrusted by the people to lead us…into the future.

Day 39 (Thursday).  Elliptical Trainer:  40:12 minutes, 4.0 miles, 637 calories.  0 crunches (I was late getting to the gym this morning).  Weight: 187.8 pounds.

Day 38.  Elliptical Trainer:  40:00 minutes, 4.12 miles, 623 calories.  420 crunches.  Weight: 187.8 pounds.

Day 37.  Elliptical Trainer:  40:00 minutes, 4.12 miles, 631 calories.  410 crunches.  Weight: 187.6 pounds.