Richard Davis, founding member of the United Utah Party and former chair, speaks at the 2021 State Convention. Recorded on Zoom, April 24, 2021.

As Uniters, we are passionate moderates. While that might seem like a contradiction in terms, it’s true, and we’re needed now more than ever! We don’t get excited about extreme political positions; we get energized by the reforms that will bring us together and that will bring the government back to the people.

Over these last two weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a Uniter. I’ve also thought a lot about what it means to be the leader of a political party—to be a partisan—in a time when hyper-partisanship is poisoning our nation. One of my conclusions is that the paradigm shift we bring to politics is very much needed. We are needed, now more than ever.

The past four years have been quite a ride. We have gone from nothing to a political party with thousands of registered members and even more supporters who vote for our candidates.

As many of you know, ballots should be arriving soon for Utah residents. For some it will be as soon as this week. For others, it will be later this month. But for each of us, we should make sure to properly fill out the ballots and mail them in as soon as possible. 

As you know, the United Utah Party has many great candidates to vote for. If you are tired of the duopoly we have here in Utah, if you would like to see real change happen, then you should vote for the United Utah candidates. They will bring some badly needed accountability to our government. 

It doesn’t take too much time looking at the news to realize that there are a lot of problems in the world. With all of the fires, the protests, riots, disease, and anger, do we really want more of the same leadership come this fall? 

The fundamental problem is this: Republicans blame the left, and Democrats blame the right, but they both refuse to put their heads together to find any solutions. In this era of hyper partisan politics, it seems everyone is pointing fingers. But what good does pointing fingers do? Blaming the other side does little good to improve our country’s outlook. What we need more than anything are politicians who want to fix this mess and are willing to do so. 

If you are losing heart over the attitudes of many legislators and with local and national partisan divisions, perhaps it’s time for some "CPR"!

United Utah has emphasized the need for more cooperation, collaboration, and compromise. These are the C's of our CPR. It means worrying more about good policy solutions than glib partisan rhetoric. Compromising to find common ground has resulted in some noteworthy legislation, but these bipartisan efforts are too few and too far between.

With the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha Wisconsin, it is clear that we need to find a solution. The protests and riots are not likely to go away on their own. So what should the solution be? 

In the children’s fairy tale, Goldilocks goes through bowls of porridge, chairs, and beds, and discovers that moderation is a good thing. In our scenario, we have one side that wants to bring in troops to try and force people to go home, while the other side has struggled to make adjustments to the police force that are both significant enough to make a difference, and not so repressive that the police force quits. Like Goldilocks, we need moderation here. 

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That quote is attributed to a British politician—Lord Acton. It is still as applicable today as it was when he lived in the 19th century. And it is also just as true in Utah as at the federal level.