Iraqi's took to the the polls last week to vote in their parliamentary elections (same thing as our Congressional Mid-Term elections).  Voter turn out is expected to be in the 62.4% range of eligible voters - 9% higher than the State of Utah had for the 2008 Presidential elections!

Let me repeat that for emphasis - a country that has NO history of representative politics is participating in representative politics in larger numbers than a state that has a 114 year HISTORY of electoral participation.

What does that tell you about Utah politics and Utah voters?  A lot as far as I am concerned.  Here we have a state whose residents either can't be bothered or are seriously disenfranchised - or perhaps a mix of both.  As we saw in the article from City Weekly people who are energized and excited about a campaign (some for the first time ever) are being told by party apparatchiks that they need to shut up and line up behind the party's chosen candidate because that person has a better chance of winning.  While I agree that the apparatchiks have a point about the demographics of the district in question, I would never EVER tell someone to shut up and get behind a candidate until AFTER the endorsing convention is over!  That is a sure fire way to suppress the turn out of your own people!  It is a sure fire way to never make your way out of the minority. 

The majority party in this state also bears some culpability for the dismal voter turn out to be sure.  What have they done to get their own people excited about turning out to vote?  In 2008 we saw a candidate who (in every state but Utah apparently) got voters excited and engaged.  We saw a candidate whose energy and enthusiasm got people off of the couch and active (many for the first time) in a campaign.  Is the Utah GOP going to take from those lessons and use them this year?  We shall see as the campaign unfolds, but I have to say that we are slowly running out of time to get those first time folks fired up and in the fold.  Caucuses are two weeks from tomorrow!  Will turn out be high due to participant excitement (as much of the country saw in 2008) or will it be the usual small handful of die hard party faithful that show up.

The status quo does not have to be the way it is.  We CAN change how things are done here in Utah...we can change how our Legislators represent us.  However in order to do that WE HAVE TO CHANGE FIRST and the first and best way to change is to get to caucuses two weeks from tonight.  Going to caucus is the first step to change how each party does it's business.  It requires a few hours of your time to be sure but it is well worth it in the end.