Steve Olsen

In the Feb. 28 Standard-Examiner, an opinion piece by Rev. Neal Humphrey was published under the headline, "The demise of the Democratic Party in Utah".

Is the Utah Democratic Party in danger? Maybe, but before we get into the real reasons, I need to comment on Rev. Humphrey's article.

For beginners, I was so startled by his claim that Democrats want Mitt Romney as the Republican presidential candidate I had to re-read it several times to make sure it wasn't a typo. Only someone living in a cave could make that claim. Anyone paying the slightest attention to current events could tell you the exact opposite is the case: we Democrats are giddy at the thought of President Obama running against either Gingrich or Santorum in November.

Now that 2012 is here and America is gearing up for a new election season, I feel I must speak out about the sentiment, expressed by so many Utahns, that Obama is leading the nation to socialism.

I have to admit up front that I may not be fully informed on the matter, since I never watch Fox News, but for what it's worth, here's my take on this issue:

None can deny that in January 2009, President Obama inherited a job more difficult than any of his predecessors since Roosevelt. In addition to two wars, the nation's economy was in free-fall. We were losing almost 800,000 jobs a month, and many economists predicted we were heading towards a second Great Depression.

We have a new national sport in 2011. This new sport is politician bashing. Polls show job approval ratings in the low teens for Congress. Everyone is disgusted with the levels of partisanship in Washington. Everyone thinks they're all crooks with their hands in the pockets of special interests. There is frustration over gridlock and the inability of our leaders to get anything substantive done, whether it's addressing our fiscal problems or dealing with the moribund economy.

I don't disagree with these sentiments. But as an engineer, I instinctively think in terms of finding root cause. There is a technique called "five why" where you keep asking "why" something is wrong until you can't go any further - and then you have the real problem.

I'm wondering if I'm the only one in this state saddened by the pathos surrounding Utah's senior senator, Orrin Hatch.

He is deserving of praise. Looking at his early years in the Senate, he was justifiably respected for being a principled conservative voice who also realized that there is more that unites Americans than divides us, and worked diligently to find areas of consensus to solve the problems this nation faced. The most noted example of this admirable trait was his friendship and collaboration with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. Senator Hatch himself said of this partnership:

What a year it was in Utah politics. First a Utah Senate leader was arrested for drunk driving, and then attacked law enforcement officers in the courtroom, trying to weasel out on a technicality. Then it was a Utah House leader who was rewarded for his admission of hot-tubbing with a teenage girl by a standing ovation in the Legislature. (Except for Ogden's Neil Hansen, who kept his seat during this charade.) Despite massive problems facing the state because of the Great Recession, the Legislature wasted even more time than usual on useless message bills this year.

Two events are happening this Saturday that are of critical importance to all of Utah's citizens: the Republican and Democratic state conventions. Because of Utah's unique election system, almost all of the candidates appearing on your ballot this November will be chosen by delegates to those conventions.

There's a lot of anger out there.

Whether you're talking the nationwide tea party movement, angry congressional town hall meetings last summer, rock-bottom levels of trust in the federal government, or a backbencher congressman shouting "You lie!" to the president during a joint session of Congress, the country is seething.