We are Utah County Democrats

As Utah County Democrats, we value religious faith and the protection of religious liberty for all as guaranteed by the Constitution. We seek to work together with people of all affiliations to make our state a better place to live. We recognize that in the political realm, democracy in a pluralistic society requires the religiously motivated to translate their concerns into propositions based on universal values and shared experience, subject to argument and amenable to reason.

As Utah County Democrats, we believe that education is our most important investment in the future. We uphold our country’s longstanding commitment to public education as the foundation of a democratic republic.

We deplore Utah's ranking as the lowest in per pupil spending and the highest in students per teacher in the nation. We stand for strengthening our public schools through adequate funding to allow for smaller class sizes, higher salaries to better attract and retain talented teachers, and better equipped facilities to provide a world- class and well-rounded education for every student. We also call for sufficient resources for higher education, that our colleges and universities may fulfill their roles in preparing individuals for employment opportunities that yield personal satisfaction and economic growth.

We believe that funding education must be a priority and that tax policy should reflect this priority. We must reverse the policies that are eroding the revenue stream for education.

We believe in local control of our public schools. We oppose unfunded and unnecessary mandates and punitive legislation from state and federal government. We call for the development of local working partnerships between educators and parents, to help every student develop the reasoning and social skills required to become a contributing member of society in our increasingly global economy. Our children are our most precious resource. With broad community involvement, we can implement bold innovations to strengthen education in our state.

As Utah County Democrats, we recognize the fundamental role of families. Through families, we learn to support and care for each other, and share values from one generation to the next. By supporting families, we build our communities and safeguard society. We call for fidelity, respect, and compassion in family relationships.

Regrettably, many families struggle today. Often two or more incomes are required to meet daily economic needs. Too many families go without essential health services. Many of our elderly face difficulties caused by poor health, poverty, or restricted services. We call for supporting families with high standards of ethical conduct, a clean environment, reasonable taxes, recreational opportunities, affordable housing and health care, safe and reliable transportation, and excellence in education. Occasionally, families may also need support from the community in order to fulfill care-taking roles. We believe government should rarely make laws with regard to family responsibilities, and then only to protect the weakest among us when life or liberty are threatened.

As Utah County Democrats, we recognize the contributions of immigrants to the betterment of society, both past and present. We also believe that those who come to the United States should do so legally.

Illegal immigration is a federal issue that urgently requires comprehensive reform. We call upon the federal government to adopt policies that provide necessary control of our borders; that recognize the value of hard-working immigrants to our economy and our society; that prevent exploitation of undocumented workers by employers; that deal compassionately with families; and that enable undocumented workers who demonstrate a desire to be law-abiding citizens a reasonable opportunity to come out from the shadows and become legal, fully contributing members of society. We strongly oppose enforcement-only policies, which severely distress and separate families, foster racial tension, and threaten cooperation with law-enforcement officers.

We applaud the Utah Compact and its supporters and endorse the call for a humane approach to this issue. We agree that “Utah should always be a place that welcomes people of goodwill,” and that “the way we treat immigrants will say more about us as a free society and less about our immigrant neighbors.”

We support the DREAM act, which would grant conditional permanent residency to undocumented individuals who arrived in the U.S. as minors and who have completed two years of an advanced degree or have served two years in the armed forces.

As Utah County Democrats, we believe government should live within its means. We deplore the irresponsibility of those who have caused the ballooning federal deficit through mismanagement and the refusal to compromise with reasonable cuts and increased revenues. We seek to elect federal representatives who will work to responsibly reduce our monumental debt without sacrificing investments in infrastructure, education, and technologies that are essential to future economic growth.

At the state level, we support a rainy-day fund to prepare for emergencies. We urge better accounting procedures for estimating revenues and expenditures.

We call for comprehensive tax reform and responsible tax policies.

As Utah County Democrats, we honor our seniors for their contributions to our community and our quality of life. We believe in assisting them to live with dignity and self-reliance.

We support the Social Security system and call for its protection and preservation. We oppose privatization that would convert this essential benefit for millions of Americans into a program of investment schemes for the profit of a small segment of the private sector. We also oppose the program’s abolition, which would result in unprecedented, crippling poverty among seniors. We are open to ideas that ensure that current and future generations of retirees receive the benefits they were promised without adding trillions to our national debt.

Recognizing that hard-working Americans rely on more than Social Security for retirement, we call for reform that protects working families from investment abuse and fraud, and for innovative incentives to promote responsible methods of saving.

As Utah County Democrats, we believe we must balance the food and environmental needs of the people of our county. We call for improving farmers' income, monitoring agribusiness, and promoting conservation, as well as supporting enterprises and cooperatives that will help our farmers gain a greater share of the food dollar in our markets.

We recognize the value of green space and the importance of agriculture in a healthy living environment. We believe we should maintain a healthy and sustainable ecosystem supporting a balanced wildlife population with adequate winter and summer range.

We call for the protection of wilderness along with the right of access to use it responsibly for hunting, fishing, other recreational activities, and multiple uses that do not endanger our natural resources. We also call for the protection of Utah Lake and our canyons.

As Utah County Democrats, we believe in wisely using the energy resources of our state while carefully preserving our environment. We call for improvements to mass transit. We support initiatives that advance the development of clean, renewable energy and that promise a cleaner, healthier environment; decreased dependence on foreign oil; and leadership in future markets.

We decry attempts to import radioactive waste from nuclear facilities outside of Utah for storage, particularly at sites within minutes of population centers.

We call for measures to ensure that our county and our state never become a dumping ground for nuclear waste.

We believe government is constituted of and by the people to provide an orderly and safe society that promotes the common good.

We reaffirm the simple and timeless values that have made Utah and our nation great: protecting freedom, promoting responsibility, supporting families, preparing for the future, and developing common sense solutions to community problems.

We embrace moderation, reason, openness, and inclusion as we uphold Utah's traditional values and build on our noble heritage.