David Rodeback's Blog

Last time I described what I generally look for in candidates for local office, focusing on qualities more than issues. I also promised my readers a list of things candidates can do or say to encourage me to vote for someone else. That's today's topic.

I recently held forth on the weeks or months potential candidates spend considering whether to run or not. This early phase of our electoral process is below the radar for most offices, but it's as important as anything in our politics. We must get the right kind of people on the ballot, so we can vote for them. Today's topic is how to recognize them once they're on the ballot.

A billboard I passed on the freeway the other day urged me to live the American Dream, but the dream it offered was not the real one.

Election days are important in our democratic republic, and so are the campaigns which precede them. But one of the most crucial phases in our self-government comes much earlier. It ends with the filing period, but it begins long before.

Presidents Day was earlier this week. It's almost March, and I haven't blogged since Veterans Day, November 11, 2010. Am I still a blogger? I hope so. I feel like a blogger, but I'll understand if you're inclined to wonder what I've done for you lately, and if your answer is, nothing whatsoever.

Many military veterans deserve more praise and gratitude than they have ever received. The late Sergeant John Scott Pinney is among them. Veterans Day seems like an appropriate time to tell you his story.

It's hard to believe something which makes us so uncomfortable is a good thing, but it really is.

Here are some words I don't say every decade: I'm voting for a Democrat.

This blog post is rated PG, because talking about New York politics involves adult themes. You've been warned.

Today's word is socialism. We'll talk about it and its role in the present debate over the Alpine School District's official mission, goals, and values.

Today's word is democracy. It has at least as long as history as republic and at least as many legitimate meanings.

If you're a lion, the zebra effect makes it hard to distinguish specific animals in a running herd. In politics, well, stay tuned. I'm about to invent a meaning.

Today's word is republic. It's word with a long history, and that history matters.

A lot of what's being said these days in school board races and in the Alpine School District generally turns on the definitions of words with many definitions.

As I write, it's still National Punctuation Day, but only just barely. And I've been campaigning again . . .

Have you noticed that the Republican establishment wants nothing to do with so-called Tea Party candidates? They were wigging out before Tuesday's final batch of primaries, and they still are. It's not that they have anything against tea. They just don't like conservatives -- not that this is news. They didn't want anything to do with Ronald Reagan, either, back in the day -- until the people left them no choice. The American people, that is.

Last time we considered my block of 200 West in American Fork, we noted some improvements at each end, on the corners. Today we'll take a quick stroll and consider what lies between the ends. Then I'll suggest some conclusions.

Today I'll take a few minutes to tie up some loose ends in our calm, rational discussion of immigration policy, and I'll answer an important question some of you are asking.

A pastor in Florida plans to mark September 11 by burning copies of the Koran. You may have noticed that Americans have the right to do some un-American things, even if they're wrong.

Main Street in American Fork runs east and west; for several blocks it is also US 89. One block to the north, in Utah's inimitable way of reckoning streets, is 100 North. At least, that's true for a while. Then, before it reaches 200 West (or "Second West," as we sometimes say), 100 North veers wantonly away from its historic Mormon rectilinearity and becomes Pacific Drive. So our little block of 200 West is actually between Main Street and Pacific Drive. Today and tomorrow, we'll talk about the block and how it has changed in the dozen years I've been watching it from the inside.

Estimates of the number of illegal immigrants now in the United States range from 10 million to at least 25 million. What are we to do with them? Wave our magic wand and make them citizens? Herd them into cattle cars and ship them across the border? I'm glad you asked.

Surely, if a clear majority of Americans oppose the building of a new, prominent mosque at or near Ground Zero in Manhattan, one level or another of our government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" could stop it, right? Well, not exactly . . .

My discussion of immigration policy continues with talk of the border and of the benefits of legal immigration. Within reason, where legal immigrants are concerned, I say: the more, the better.

Just wait 'til you see how I try to get you in the mood to share my fantasy. I figure you might need some help with that, since you (unlike I) did not just return from Disneyland.

Some hard questions are reasonable to ask, even if they seem harsh, as long as they are asked for the purpose of finding an answer. And humanity doth not live by bread alone (to borrow a phrase).

It was mere coincidence that I took a trip to Idaho this weekend to visit family.

If it was the angels, one of them was named Heather.

Late-night thoughts on this evening's events and tragedy, and larger things.