September is a great month. Football . . . cool temperatures . . . great hiking weather. I recently hiked with family members to the top of Deseret Peak, a gorgeous hike, close by, that is never crowded. The Stansbury Mountains are suprisingly green and lush once you get into the canyons.

At the top of Deseret Peak, majestic views open up in all directions. Mount Timpanogas, Mount Nebo, Francis Peak, Simpson Springs, Ibapah and the Deep Creeks, Rush Valley, Skull Valley, the Salt Flats, and the Great Salt Lake are all visible from the 11,000-foot summit. It's a steep hike at the end, and it pays to be in good shape.

Here's a short description of the hike, from the trailhead in South Willow Canyon, at Utah.com: http://www.utah.com/hike/deseret_peak.htm 

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Staging rallies is not a tactic typically employed by the right. Following in the protest-marching footsteps of the 60s counter-culture, liberals have, generally speaking, made that particular form of political communication theirs. 

One of the hypotheses for this fact is that conservatives tend to have busier schedules – it’s much easier for college students and DINKs to attend an anti-war protest than it is for people juggling kids’ soccer games, choir practice, and a full-time job to make it to, say, an anti-anti-war protest. 

So when conservatives do hold public rallies, it’s much more interesting to watch. How do mild-mannered, law-abiding conservatives behave when they want to raise a little, well, “heck”? 

We got the chance to see that on Saturday, when Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin held a “Restoring Honor” event at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., as an estimated quarter-million or more Americans gathered to talk about faith, love, patriotism, and respect for veterans. 

The attendants (can’t really say “protesters”) came dressed in all manner of flag-themed clothing, with the occasionally military uniform and three-corner hat thrown in. And as for behavior, the results were stunning. It’s hard to imagine that 250,000 (or more) people could gather in such a limited space and conduct themselves so well. The atmosphere was polite, friendly, and clean. (I did not see a piece of litter the whole day.) 

What’s equally interesting to watch is the coverage of such an event. The 8/28 rally caused a little bit of a stir because of the date – the anniversary of the Reverend Doctor’s “I have a dream” speech. Several outlets felt compelled to make jabs at Beck’s rally (the AP, in their lead, noted that it was a “predominantly white” crowd) while skimming over the fact that it boasted more participants than Al Sharpton’s competing rally by orders of magnitude.

Participants came from across the country, with good representation from Utah. Politicians and their staff came out, knowing that the LDS Beck is a popular favorite back home. Having said that, the event was surprisingly apolitical – Beck specifically asked that no one bring political signs and made no threatening remarks about the forthcoming election.…

Though, with the White House only about a mile away, he probably didn’t need to.  

It’s a given that every election cycle produces its share of strange and weird political ads.  However, an ad in a California Congressional race tests the boundaries of weirdness.

Republican candidate Mattie Fein, who is running against Democratic incumbent Jane Harman has unleashed this parody of the Mel Brooks classic movie “Young Frankenstein.”  Apparently, the point is something about nuclear technology going to Iran and federal bailouts.  Just watch…

A major international debate has raged over competing ways to energize the economy -- stimulate with deficit spending, or spend modestly with a more austere approach.

Well, a recent New York Times story notes that German has taken a conservative approach to fighting the recession and it seems to be winning, with quarterly economic growth equal to a nearly 9% annual rate, the best in 20 years, if current growth stays on track. Meanwhile, in the U.S., which is spending big and running up massive deficits, and in free-spending European countries, economies are floundering and threatening to dip back into recession.   

Says the Times story:

Germany has sparred with its European partners over how to respond to the financial crisis, argued with the United States over the benefits of stimulus versus austerity, and defiantly pursued its own vision of how to keep its economy strong. ...

By paring unemployment benefits, easing rules for hiring and firing, and management and labor’s working together to keep a lid on wages, Germany ensured that it could again export its way to growth with competitive, nimble companies producing the cars and machine tools the world’s economies — emerging and developed alike — demanded.

Germans steered clear of the debt-fueled consumption boom that many believe contributed to the financial crisis. During the recession, Chancellor Angela Merkel resisted the palliative of government spending that the United States and some European partners felt was crucial to restoring growth.

Read the entire story here.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law has published a new paper, "Voter Registration in a Digital Age," which examines a recent and growing trend in various states of using modern technology to improve the voter registration system. A Brennan Center message about the paper says:

America's paper-based voter registration system is overly costly, duplicative and rife with error.  This report documents two new paperless registration procedures now being implemented in the states -- automated registration, where voter registration agencies electronically collect and transfer registration applications, and online registration, where citizens submit applications over the Internet. 

These state reforms increase voter roll accuracy, boost the number of registrations, and save millions of dollars a year.  These changes are remarkably easy to develop and maintain, and they enjoy broad bipartisan support from state policymakers and election officials alike.

Among the report's findings:

• DMV voter registrations nearly doubled in Washington and Kansas, and increased by even more in Rhode Island and South Dakota, after automation.
• An analysis in Arizona found that electronic registrations are as much as five times less error-prone than paper.
• Delaware's paperless "motor voter" system saves election officials more than $200,000 annually; Arizona's paperless system saved its largest county more than $450,000 in 2008.

This wave of reform should spur similar progress nationally.  For more information, please contact us or visit our website. 

I read with great interest your featured article on the mid-term House races – especially regarding the race for the seat representing Legislative District 22, where challenger Noel Fields is running against incumbent Susan Duckworth.  I found the comments by Utah Democratic Party Executive Director Todd Taylor to be highly amusing.

Noel has met with voters in Legislative District 22 in Community Council meetings, on front door-steps and at community events throughout the summer. What Noel has heard most are voters' real priorities: rising property/income taxes, worries about job security and the overall cost of government, which has been growing thanks to additional “fees” like the Unified Police Department fee imposed by the Salt Lake County Council (led Democrat Peter Corroon). We continue to hear voters emphasize how imperative job creation is and how we need to sustain Utah’s positive economy.

Meanwhile, Mr. Taylor trotted out the old Democratic warhorse: Republicans want to cut your government benefits. I’m surprised that these misleading allegations are out so early this year. Usually this ghost story is told around Halloween.

The fact is Noel hasn't addressed this issue. Social Security and Medicare entitlements are federal entitlements - local legislative candidates have no say in this spending.  Noel cares for seniors and others on Medicare and/or Social Security. However he realizes that we must live within our means. Noel gets that an extra $200 a year isn't something someone on a fixed income can easily afford. 

Voters need real solutions to overwhelming problems. Noel hears and understands this. His answers address actual issues, not seasonal boogie-men. Check him out. I believe voters will send a message that it's time to get to work and not just tell stories.

Immigration has been a hot topic recently and it’s a topic you’ll hear a lot about over the next few months. The Salt Lake Chamber has proposed an innovative state immigration policy… combining the need for federal action with supportive state action that protects the public and sustains the economy.

Utah is not a border state. Immigration affects us differently than other states, particularly those with an international border. The Chamber supports a solution that is unique to Utah and reflects our culture as a welcoming, friendly and international community.

Ultimately, immigration and border security are federal issues that require federal policy and enforcement. We encourage Congress to enact comprehensive reform and we expect our federal delegation to address the issue in a manner than reflects the values of our state.

The manner in which Utah resolves the immigration issue will have far-reaching effects on our state economy—for better or worse. Carefully crafted immigration policy can strengthen our state economy. For two years the Chamber has supported an employer-sponsored worker program that addresses many of the issues of concern. A summary of the program is available at slchamber.com.

We applaud Governor Herbert for bringing together interested groups to discuss the future of immigration policy in Utah. As the debate progresses, we urge a civil and constructive discourse.

Your friendly public servants here at the Tax Commission will be basking In Clear the Air glory come Saturday morning.

We, like 351 other agencies and companies, participated in the statewide Clear the Air campaign. Clear the Air is the only issue -- other than Mother’s Day and apple pie -- that Gov. Herbert, Mayor Corroon and Mayor Becker agree upon.

But when Mayor Becker issued the Clear the Air Challenge earlier this summer, all three were in the same ship. They encouraged their employees and people across the Beehive State to join the fun.

Throughout July a competition was held to reduce vehicle emissions by choosing walking, biking, taking public transportation, riding in a car pool and stringing errand trips together.

Nearly 90 Tax Commission employees participated in the event and recorded trips saved. Here’s our final tally:

• Miles saved - 48,762 (That’s twice around the earth)
• Trips saved - 3,393 (A weekly trip to the grocery store for 65 years)
• Pounds of emissions eliminated - 81,720 (The weight of 9 average African elephants)
• Dollars saved - $27,354 (Should cover this year’s Christmas bonus)
• Gallons of gas saved - 2,212 (At 3 bucks a gallon, who’s complaining?)

At the Farmer’s Market on Saturday we will receive the team award for “Best Integration of TravelWise Strategies.” I’m unsure what the exactly means, but it sounds impressive. Hopefully we have done our small part to improve air quality, reduce traffic congestion and conserve energy in Utah.

Congressman Rob Bishop and members of the 10th Amendment Task Force plan to introduce a Federalism Resolution before leaving D.C. for the August recess.

The resolution is a statement of federalist principles that reaffirms Congress' commitment to the principle of federalism and the 10th Amendment. The resolution also acknowledges the historical purpose and relevance of federalism and recognizes that the cause of liberty demands that we return to Americans control over their lives and make government accountable again by bringing it closer to the people.

Following is the text of the draft resolution:

Recognizing that the cause of liberty demands that United States citizens have control over their own lives and government should be made accountable again to the consent of the governed, bringing it closer to the people and making it better able to solve their problems and serve their common good.

Whereas this is a Nation of States, and federalism is central to the structure of government and the very definition of American constitutionalism; Whereas throughout the history of the United States, most powers of government and the decisions that affect citizens’ day-to-day lives were to be made at the State level;

Whereas James Madison famously noted in The Federalist,‘‘The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined’’, and ‘‘Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.’’;

Whereas the relationship between the Federal Government, several States, and the sovereign people is summed up most succinctly in the Tenth Amendment, ‘‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.’’;

Whereas the structural division of powers and functions between the Federal Government and several States serves a practical and principled purpose that provides a double security against abusive or tyrannical government by causing each level of government to check the other in

the name of upholding the rights and protecting the liberties of the people of the United States;

Whereas ever-increasing amounts of regulations and laws emanating from the Federal Government, occurring in stages over the whole course of the 20th century but gathering particular momentum with the expansion of

regulatory government in the 1960s, have centralized and bureaucratized political rule in the United States, undermining the balance of federalism and threatening self government;

Whereas there are many areas that in recent decades have become Federal Government concerns but are better dealt with at the State and local levels of government including, education, transportation, health care, and homeland security;

Whereas this situation requires, and the very future of freedom and limited government depends on, a serious reassertion and restoration of American federalism and a real decentralization of government power and vast areas of policymaking from the Federal Government to States, local communities, neighborhoods, families, and individual citizens;

Whereas while recognizing that the restoration of federalism will require a widespread and extensive restructuring of government operations, up to and including the possibility of constitutional amendment to correct fully the

systemic problems of modern government, it is believed the best way to achieve the goal of real structural reform is by implementing practical but significant policies that will prove the virtues of federalism and begin the momentum toward change and build a new national consensus

for decentralizing policies;

Whereas under the current Administration, the ideology of big government has found a new voice and a new sponsor, and the results, from massive spending to the takeover of whole industries to new regulatory initiatives to

the explosion of debt, have been especially threatening and destructive to the idea and structural integrity of federalism; and

Whereas in an atmosphere where courts and the executive seem to be moving in the opposite direction, a new Congress must take upon itself the responsibility to limit the scope of Federal powers, extend the ability of the States to assert their legitimate powers, and thereby provide for the dynamism, opportunities, and creativity needed to solve problems, foster prosperity, and get the United States moving in the right direction:

Now, therefore, be It Resolved, That—

the House of Representatives—

(1) (A) recognizes that the cause of liberty demands that United States citizens have control over their own lives and government should be made accountable again to the consent of the governed, bringing it closer to the people and making it better able to solve their problems and serve their common good; and

(B) recognizes the historic and continuing importance of federalism and reaffirms its commitment to safeguard and uphold constitutional government as defined by the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; and

(2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that—

(A) this situation requires, and the very future of freedom and limited government depends on, a restoration of American federalism and a real decentralization of government power and vast areas of policymaking from the Federal Government to States, local communities, neighborhoods, families, and individual citizens; and

(B) while recognizing that the restoration of federalism will require a widespread and extensive restructuring of government operations, up to and including the possibility of constitutional amendment to correct fully the systemic problems of modern government, the best path toward achieving the goal of real structural reform is through practical but significant policies that will prove the virtues of federalism and build a new national consensus for decentralizing policies.

In its latest Policy Perspectives newsletter, the Center for Public Policy & Administration at the University of Utah has published some interesting information about the demographics of Social Media users.

The article by Megan Crowley is a followup to a previous article, Social Media Guide for Local Government,  about how local governments can effectively use Social Media. The article on demographics was written in response to a question by a reader who wanted to know what demographic groups use Social Media, how often they use it, etc.

Read the demographic information here.