Recently, Senator Bob Bennett spoke to the Ripon Society, a Republican group, and made some cogent comments about the Republican Party.  Bennett, who was defeated by state Republican delegates for re-election, said "the demand of absolute party purity endangers our ability to govern." Bennett should know about "absolute party purity." Bennett is no liberal, but he was too far to the left for the Utah Republican Party. That says less about Bob Bennett and more about the extremism of his own party.

Bennett went on to criticize the Republicans as devoid of ideas. He told the group:

"As I look out at the political landscape today, I find plenty of slogans on the Republican side, but not very many ideas." And, speaking from experience, he added: "If you attempt to raise ideas... you're attacked as being a wimp, insufficiently pure, and unreliable."

Indeed, the Republican Party has become the "party of no." Whether the initiative will help the nation or not, the Republicans are opposed to it.   The chair of the Republican National Committee even called the war in Afghanistan a war of President Obama's choosing.  (This despite the fact he inherited it from President Bush.) He also said the war was unwinnable. The chair of the Republican Party even goes so far as to oppose a war that was initiated by a Republican president because the job is now being finished by a Democratic president! 

Bob Bennett is right. At the federal level, the Republican Party has become a party that is not capable of governing. Bennett told the Ripon Society that if the Republicans regain power in Congress, they will be like Robert Redford in the 1972 film "The Candidate." Redford's character in the film, a U.S. Senate candidate named Bill McKay, asks his campaign manager after he wins the election -- "What do we do now?" Actually, that isn't far-fetched. In Utah, we already know what that's like. In the midst of our economic troubles, Republicans in power already say that. That is because they are bankrupt of ideas to help Utah families.  

At the state level, the Republican Party has been the party of inaction. While Utah faces a major economic recession and unemployment in the state is painfully high, Republican legislators, particularly those from Utah County, are focused on message bills. They have no ideas about how to aid families get through the recession by creating jobs or stimulating the economy.  

It is time for a change to a party that:
1. Takes good ideas where ever they come from
2. Doesn't just run on slogans, particularly negative slogans
3. Doesn't demand party purity and ideology over problem solving.
4. Has experienced candidates who are anxious to find solutions, not slogans.

That is the Utah County Democratic Party.