I sent the following letter to the delegates from my precinct to the Utah State Republican Nominating Convention which will be held on May 8th, 2010. If any of the candidates get’s 60% of the delegate votes at the convention, the candidate will become the Republican Party nominee without a primary election. I am posting it here as an open letter to all delegates to the state convention.
———————————-
Dear delegates,
Thanks for reaching out to ask for my opinion and for all your work to represent us at the state convention.
You might remember me from our neighborhood caucus meeting. I also ran to be a state delegate with the intention of replacing Mr.Bennett. I realize that in our precinct, most of you expressed support for Mr.Bennett, and that professor Frederickson, in particular, is a personal friend for his (though she did emphasize, to her credit, that just because she is a friend does not mean that she agrees with him). I hope you realize that I do not think he is a bad person. He has done what he thinks is right, and that is admirable. I do think, however, that what Mr. Bennett thinks is right and what I think is right are no longer aligned.
Yes, it is true that working within the current system Mr. Bennett would be able to leverage his seniority to direct federal monies to Utah, and to Orem. At our caucus meeting, Mayor Billings repeatedly emphasized that Mr. Bennett had been instrumental in getting the funding for several programs that have greatly benefited our city. And if our goal were to continue to work within the current scheme of things then Mr. Bennett would clearly be the right man for the job. But our goal isn’t to get the most out of the current scheme. We aren’t just looking to get the most advantage out of the status quo. The system is broken. Federal monies come with federal strings attached which are used to wield undue influence well beyond the constitutional roles of the national government. We are tired of selling our independence in exchange for federal money earmarked for our state and city. We don’t want to get the most out of the current scheme, we want to overhaul the scheme to return it to the principles of liberty, limited government, and individual natural rights.
Mr. Bennett is part of the era of Big Government Republicanism with which we have all become so disillusioned. No matter how good his intentions, he has been in Washington too long and as a consequence his views of how government should work have become mired in the status quo. The kind of changes we need to make in Washington require fresh, energetic, even revolutionary thinking to re-found our nation on the principles of good government identified by the original founders. Under our constitutional republic, revolutions are fought with ballots instead of bullets. We want a revolution at the ballot box. We want a new senator that represents the principles of our revolution. That is why Mr. Bennett will not be reelected.
I encourage you to reject the current scheme of things in Washington and embrace the need for new representation by voting for Mike Lee or Cherilyn Eager for Senator at the Utah State Republican Convention on May 8th.
Thank you for considering my point of view,
J. Max Wilson
https://www.sixteensmallstones.org