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Friends (yes!) in politics
Tweet The following post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations. Politics certainly creates strange bedfellows. Over the span of my career I have...
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Obama now lying about his lies
Tweet The following post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations. President Obama, Vice President Biden and staff as the House passes the health care...
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Bright, principled Sen. Lee makes the establishment cringe
Tweet There’s a lot of hostility toward Mike Lee from the the Washington and Utah Establishment. (Photo: Hannibal Poenaru) The following post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired...
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Stop sniping about website fiasco – focus on real health care issues
Tweet This post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations. I’ve watched with great interest how Obamacare seems to be crumbling right before our eyes....
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Men (and women) behaving badly
TweetThis post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations. Do you have a right to behave badly? Most people probably would answer “no” to that question...
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The law that sounds reasonable – but isn’t
Tweet This post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations. Partisan activists have used words like tolerance, fairness and equality to gain special...
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A culture of corruption in Utah
Tweet This post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations. As the John Swallow scandal reveals more and more culture of corruption within Utah’s...
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Quick to judge, quick to condemn, and short on humor
Tweet This post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations. When Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman went on his post-championship game rant...
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Here’s how Utah can really level the educational playing field
Tweet This post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations. Photo by Anissa Thompson Ten years ago, Sutherland Institute published a powerful analysis of...
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Election solution may be a Pyrrhic victory – Mero Moment, 3/11/14
TweetThis post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations. (Scroll down for podcast.) As the legislative version of the Count My Vote initiative is...
View ArticleMero Moment: Social Issues Divide the Parties
Former Alabama Governor George Wallace is famous for saying in 1968 that there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between Republicans and Democrats. Today we hear the same thing from libertarians such...
View ArticleMero Moment: Privacy and Bad Behavior
Forty-seven years ago in the Griswold case, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment to the Constitution “has a penumbra where privacy is protected from governmental intrusion.” A...
View ArticleMero Moment: Weary of Lies
Like many of you I’m tired of this political season. Mentally tired of all of the lies – yes, lies. I don’t know if it’s possible for a presidential candidate to run for office without lying. Sometimes...
View ArticleMero Moment: ‘Freedom to Marry’
By Paul Mero If you believe that the “freedom to marry” includes any relationship outside of one man and one woman, you don’t understand the meaning of freedom. Most people are at liberty to do a great...
View ArticleMero Moment: Secede over pot and Obamacare? You’re nuts
Did you know that there are public petitions in all 50 states in support of secession? I didn’t, but former presidential candidate Ron Paul knows. He likes the idea that states should secede from the...
View ArticleMero Moment: Spending Pledges vs. Spending Limits
As Congress begins to drive America off the fiscal cliff, the politics of taxes and spending will reach new levels of absurdity. Over 20 years ago a young upstart in Washington, D.C., Grover Norquist,...
View ArticleMero Moment: Our best gun control
In 2008, the United States Supreme Court ruled that “the Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense” as it struck down a gun ban in the District of...
View ArticleMero Moment: How the U.S. Should Fix Immigration
Immigration is a hot topic again after the presidential race showed that Latino voters made an impact on Barack Obama’s win and Mitt Romney’s loss. There remain questions about the real impact of that...
View ArticleMero Moment: Budget Deal? It’s Just More Spending
In these weekly commentaries I try to stay pretty even-keeled but the whole “fiscal cliff” mess has driven me over the edge. The nation – the American people – are $16 trillion in debt – $16 trillion...
View ArticleMero Moment: Herbert – A Gut Conservative
In the course of my career I’ve met many politicians. I have seen the worst of them and I’ve seen who I consider to be the best of them. Personally identifying with a politician – seeing them as...
View ArticleMero Moment: The Sundance tempest
Last week my Sutherland colleague Derek Monson wrote about the Sundance Film Festival. To highlight the unbelievable truth that a whole bunch of your tax dollars go to a film festival in Park City,...
View ArticleMero Moment: Obama’s Utopia
With the second inauguration of President Barack Obama, his speech was impressive – even Reaganesque. He began by citing the Declaration of Independence – always a safe bet and very conservative...
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What the Republican Party needs to champion
The following post is a transcript of a weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations: There is growing angst in Republican circles over the direction the Republican Party ought to take....
View ArticleMero Moment: 3 Reasons BSA Shouldn’t Cave In
The following is a transcript of a weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations: The Boy Scouts of America are scheduled this week to decide whether or not to lift its long-standing ban...
View ArticleMero Moment: Smoking, dating, and competing rights
The following post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations: Well into the new legislative session, already we see signs that state legislators...
View ArticleMero Moment: Stuck inside a selfish box
The following post is a transcript of a four-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations: For nearly eight years, Jim Ferrell has been a part of Sutherland Institute’s Transcend...
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The brutal politics of sequestration
The following post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations: In December 1995, just one year after the Gingrich Revolution when Republicans captured...
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The problem with Agenda 21
The following post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations: A recent op-ed in The Salt Lake Tribune calls on the Utah Senate to oppose a resolution...
View ArticleMero Moment: Same-sex marriage and our better selves
The following post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations: This week the United States Supreme Court received arguments in two cases regarding...
View Article‘The Cause of Freedom’
The following post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations: At the 2013 Sutherland Institute annual dinner on April 9, we will release two new...
View ArticleExceptional Utah
Listen to the audio here: http://sutherlandinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/4-9-13MM.mp3 Receive the Mero Moment each week directly to your iTunes by clicking here. The following post is a...
View ArticleSpecial interests go to extremes against spending limits
The following post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations: For the last few years, Sutherland Institute has been working on proposed legislation that...
View ArticleWhat makes for reasonable gun regulation?
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/4-30-13MM.mp3 I’ve possessed a concealed carry permit for over five years now. I believe in the right to bear arms and I’d use a handgun or any...
View ArticleMy letter to the Boy Scouts of America
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/5-7-13MM.mp3 The Boy Scouts of America is scheduled to vote later this month on its proposed nondiscrimination policy on sexual orientation for...
View ArticleReality check on ‘most trusted person’
Who is the most trusted person in your life? And why is that person your most trusted person? What triggers these questions is a recent Reader’s Digest poll surveying subscribers about their most...
View ArticleThe caucus devil we know
Over the past two years I’ve taken part in a few private meetings regarding how Utah’s caucus and convention system could be changed to avoid having the “angry few” disproportionately influence the...
View ArticleParadoxically, cult of privacy led us to NSA problems
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/6-11-13MM.mp3 Are you concerned about the National Security Agency gathering blanket data through cell phone companies and Internet activity?...
View ArticleIs the ‘gay rights’ bandwagon good for business?
A growing number of private businesses are adopting internal policies addressing discrimination in the workplace regarding homosexuality. These nondiscrimination policies are adopted to assure...
View ArticleWhy Common Core is not conservative
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/7-8-13MM.mp3 Common Core is a way to standardize math and science education. It was devised by states not wanting to comply with No Child Left...
View ArticleArguments against repealing compulsory education are insulting
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/7-30-13MM.mp3 Periodically, our friends at Utahpolicy.com survey their readers on political issues of the day. Just this week, it ran a survey...
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How religion-free trend affects public policy
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/8-20-13MM.mp3 The following post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations. A sign on a...
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The push for pot
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/8-27-13MM.mp3 The following post is a transcript of a 4-minute weekly radio commentary aired on several Utah radio stations. When Colorado and...
View Article3 ideas that changed the world
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/9-3-13MM.mp3 Standing in a checkout line at the supermarket, I saw a special edition of Time magazine titled “100 Ideas That Changed the World:...
View ArticleIs our 226-year-old Constitution in crisis?
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/9-17-13MM.mp3 This week, specifically September 17, marks the 226th anniversary of the United States Constitution. While our Declaration of...
View ArticleThe motives behind Count My Vote
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/9-24-13-2MM.mp3 One of the reasons I love working for Sutherland Institute is that I can say what I mean without fear of political reprisals....
View ArticleWhen spoiled children decide elections
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/10-1-13MM.mp3 Only eight months ago we were talking about the threat of budget sequestration – a dramatic showdown between congressional...
View ArticleThis is why depending on D.C. is a bad idea
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/10-8-13MM.mp3 If all the wailing and gnashing of teeth surrounding the partial government shutdown shows anything, it’s that we’ve become overly...
View ArticleFinally, candor from both S.L. newspapers
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/10-15-13MM.mp3 In one of his first editorials since taking the helm at The Salt Lake Tribune, Terry Orme sets his leadership with a piece titled...
View ArticleCount My Vote will put decisions in hands of fat cats
http://sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/meromoment/1-20-14MM.mp3 During a Sutherland Institute panel last week at the state Capitol discussing the Count My Vote initiative, I mentioned that I...
View ArticleLearning the delicate dance of candor and civility – Mero Moment, 3/18/14
Ten years ago this month Sutherland Institute finalized plans for a very unique project in Utah politics. It was 10 years ago that we created our Transcend Series. Hundreds of elected officials and...
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