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Utah Stories

Letter from the editor

Utah Stories, letter from the editor—We had our first riot in Salt Lake City. Tempers are flaring. Nationwide we are witnessing violence by Antifa and by far right-wing groups. It seems that our political processes are breaking down and that democracy and capitalism are in turmoil.

by

Richard Markosian

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Utah Stories, letter from the editor—Utah Politics are failing.

Utah Stories, letter from the editor—Utah Politics are failing.

We live in tumultuous times 

Utah Stories, letter from the editor—We had our first riot in Salt Lake City. Tempers are flaring. Nationwide we are witnessing violence by Antifa and by far right-wing groups. It seems that our political processes are breaking down and that democracy and capitalism are in turmoil.

What should we make of this? 

I think time to turn off our TVs.

The world is a pretty great place if you don’t watch TV. Realize that TV is there to get ratings, not to provide you with an accurate picture of the world. I think if cord cutting continues on the trajectory it’s on, we will all be better off.

What should you do instead of watching TV?

Netflix and chill comes to mind.

But there is an even better use of your time, which is to get informed on the local issues in which you can actually make a difference. National politics and politicians get all of the air time and attention. But all of this is just a smoke screen. While we are worried about what Trump is doing, our local political leaders (our Utah State Legislature and governor) are taking matters into their own well-greased hands. 

They are ignoring our best interests and making more decisions behind closed doors—who wants more nasty air? They do. Want more crony deals, chain stores, and development that runs contrary to our values? Political leaders make it clear they don’t work for us but for their special interests.

Former Mayor Rocky Anderson clearly expressed this to me when he came into our studio and was a guest on our podcast.

“We need to stand up and not allow this corruption to happen,” he said regarding the inland port and the rewriting of Proposition 2 with the “compromise bill.” The state is ignoring our will. They are “weaponizing the law.” They are using the law to consolidate their power, rather than allow free-markets and democracy to flourish.

But don’t adopt my opinions. Do your own digging. 

We have designed a podcast that will help you find the truth and evaluate how we best collectively move forward in Salt Lake City: The Utah Stories Show.

Every Wednesday, we release a newsletter with the new episode, where we talk to Utah’s most important influencers, political leaders, and entrepreneurs, and work to get to the bottom of the issues that affect our quality of life in Utah.

You have probably invested a lot into your home and your apartment, invest in your local community.

Check it out by visiting UtahStories.com

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Also, we somehow neglected to include the great Lynne Olson on our list of contributors. For years Lynne has been involved in Sugar House community issues, schools, and does an amazing job at finding great stories for us for our Sugar House section.

Thanks Lynne!

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Utah Stories won the “Best Magazine Feature Story” awarded by the Society of Professional Journalists for Utah. Thank you for the award for our Bangerter Farm story! What a great honor.

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Richard Markosian

I am a story teller and journalist. I have a passion for farmers, local craftspeople, and folks who aspire to create, build and grow their business in the local marketplace. Why local? By supporting locally-owned businesses we create more opportunity for entrepreneurs, and we claim our sovereignty to shape our communities how we want to see them. I aspire to build Utah Stories Magazine into a household Utah name, and assist Utah businesses and makers with marketing. On the journalism side of things my passion is investigative journalism that offers true insight into issues. I believe strongly in the forth estate: strong, meaningful, insightful journalism is essential to a free market Democracy.

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