The caucuses were a smashing success. I’m not a person who throws around superlatives, but the participation was so high in some areas we were all amazed.

To the right are some figures I’ve collected and a comparison with the caucus attendance two years ago. Some of the districts had spectacular increases in attendance.

A big thank you to Hinckley, the legislative district chairs, and the caucus coordinators across the county who put the caucuses together this year. We are grateful for your hard work.

Our convention is coming up in May and all Democrats are invited to attend. Only the county delegates will be allowed to participate in the voting, but everyone is welcome to attend and join the celebration.
It is a celebration because we’ve already made great strides in changing politics in Utah County. We should celebrate that. We all should be proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish so far.

There is still much to be done. We’ll talk about that and ask for your support as the campaign goes on. Candidates need support in many ways. Funds need to be raised to provide resources for these wonderful candidates.

But for a morning in May we’ll just meet, enjoy the association with each other, mingle with our candidates, and relish the moment. Come join us.

The convention is on Friday, May 3, at 9 a.m. at Dixon Middle School. I look forward to seeing you all there.

In Utah County, however, I believe we have seen a slow and steady erosion of democracy. We have seen many Republicans chosen for, not elected to, office and many who have never run against opposition. Without a single statement from LDS church leadership to back it up, we have heard for years the empty claim, if not the unspoken assumption, that "good" Mormons can only be Republicans. This, a myth that makes reason stare not only in a plural society like America but in an increasingly international church, not to mention in a party as apparently inhospitable to Mormons as Mitt Romney's party is. Perhaps Romney's fate stings, but his spurning by the evangelicals comes as no less an assault than that experienced by Mormon Democrats in Utah culture for some time. Recently, I read one Republican incumbent in Utah County express "surprise" that a Democrat, and fellow Mormon, would choose to run against him. Surely such surprise is a symptom of a broken system.

Freedom depends on diversity. It is not secured through staid tradition, chauvinism, censorship, or intimidation. Consensus that relies on habitual and categorical trust of some and distrust of others is a threat to the free flow of information and to freedom itself. Freedom is secured in a culture that acknowledges diversity of opinion and celebrates genuine exchange of ideas. In a culture of exceptional homogeneity of belief, the preservation of political openness is even more vital. I suppose this is the same reason why the LDS church depends on councils, counselors, and auxiliaries. It impoverishes a church, as it does a plural society, for anyone to feel shamed merely because of a difference of opinion, as if holding a minority viewpoint were necessarily a symptom of following the wrong spirit.