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.

Compromise is valuable but doesn’t always give us the best results. For example, the attitudes regarding wearing masks have made it difficult to make policy that is widely acceptable. There are those who see a mask mandate as essential to stopping the spread of a new disease, and there are others who don’t want to wear a mask at all.

A compromise might be to mask half the time, or in half of all public places, or covering just half of your face. Of course, this sort of middle ground would not be considered a solution at all. For that, we need the P's of our CPR.

United Utah also promotes practical and pragmatic solutions. There are many agencies, both governmental and non-governmental, that gather data. This information should inform decision making.

Evidence-based policy should over-ride promotions of special interests, whims of party leaders, and traditional approaches to problems, when traditional approaches no longer work. The best economic minds should guide economic decisions; best practices should inform education policy; and health professionals should direct public health policy. 

The R's of our CPR are reform and respect. Government reform is one of the primary tenets of the United Utah Party. The intent of each of the reforms listed in the Party Platform is to engage citizens in their governance, hold office holders more accountable, and make their work more transparent.    

Within the preamble of the United Utah Party platform, is found the following statement:

"The United Utah Party is not ideological. We ask instead that people come to the political process with good will and good faith. Being a Uniter means doing the listening and the hard work required to find common ground. We persuade when we can, extend a hand of friendship when we cannot, and we respect the voice of the people either way."

If you agree with me that our elected officials need a lot of our CPR, support the United Utah Party candidates now in their campaigns, and next month on the ballot.