Tuesday, March 23, 2010, is political caucus night in Utah. It's grassroots politics at the level where politics works best -- nearest the people who can exercise their Constitutional franchise to vote for the candidates of their choice.
Each party has caucus information on its state website. You can determine which voter precinct you live in, and you can find the location of your meeting.
The important thing is that we all decide now to go and participate with our precinct neighbors regardless of party. I have determined to go to my precinct meeting this year to either be elected myself as a state delegate pledged to Mike Lee, or to support someone else who has the same position I do.
That's what I'm interested in, but you can pick your own battles -- the important thing is that you choose to take action and not remain a disgruntled bystander.
This morning I was in line to have a safety inspection on my car so I could get it re-registered. It seemed everyone in the waiting room was voicing an opinion about our current political process. After listening to them wrangle for a few minutes, I dared to weigh in. "How many of you (there were twenty people in the room) are going to your caucus meeting on Tuesday night?" To a person -- all twenty -- no one even knew what a caucus meeting was. That's the experience that prompts this post.
At these meetings delegates to the respective political party state conventions will be elected. Those delegates will in turn nominate their parties' candidates for the upcoming presidential mid-term elections in November.
All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representives are up for grabs every two years. One-third of all the U.S. Senate seats are in the mix every two years.
If you don't go to your caucus meeting and make your will known on Tuesday night, then you have no voice in what happens thereafter. If you don't like the candidates available for the primary and then in turn the general election in November, and you don't attend your caucus meeting on Tuesday night, then you'd better just keep your mouth shut in November because by then it will be too late.
The caucus meeting is the fundamental voice of America at work. It is the canary in the mine shaft that signals the will of the people to their elected officials. This year in particular there is more at stake than ever before. We are being held hostage by a political process in Washington D. C. that is increasingly ineffective and corrupt.
Bob Bennett has been my candidate for all three of his elected terms -- totaling 18 years. This year, however, my support has turned to his most logical replacement, Mike Lee. I've cited all my reasons in a previous post back in January.
Whatever your persuasion or your motivation, please exercise your franchise as an American voter. Attend your caucus meeting on Tuesday night -- it's America at its best when what you want most is change YOU can believe in, not what someone else tells you it should be.
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