Debate

Unelected Politicians Rig the Game in Utah

One in five young people no longer believe democracy and capitalism are working. Is it time to try something new? Problems with unreported corruption are having an impact on society.

|


It turns out there are a group of elites who certainly hope we agree to something new, which is a global currency; a global government, and a Great Reset, handing over all power to them.

The elites who meet in Davos Switzerland might actually be able to sell this idea without mass uprisings because most people subscribe to the belief that “security” and “benefits” are attained not so much through freedom but by the promise of a steady paycheck at a big corporation and/or government benefits. 

Populism is certainly the name of the political game today. Who is offering the most stuff? Let’s vote for that guy. However, subscribing to this belief that handouts equal happiness or freedom misses the larger picture — we are getting duped by the elites in both corporations and the government.

Likely, more than half of the men in the Utah State Legislature believe that wealth gained in a somewhat nefarious manner, by using the levers offered to them by having their positions of power, provides themselves and their constituency the promise of a better future. They justify their somewhat corrupt actions because they believe it’s not really harming anyone when they say they earn an extra $10 million on an “affordable housing” project using taxpayer money. “It’s for the greater good,” they tell each other while they pat themselves on the back.

But when these lures of power run amok, and an entire class of elite government NGO leaders need not worry about their accountability to taxpayers or residents, we find what we have today: people in power who are in the “business of helping people”, and while supposedly doing so, are becoming filthy rich. 

While they might go into government offices poor, they come out rich. But certainly they do so with the best of intentions. They find that by serving themselves, their constituents and their elite donors, they can become wealthy and maintain their standing. How does this happen?

If the donor class can control the media and the politicians, there is almost nothing they can’t get away with. Some of the politicians we profile are in cushy government or NGO offices and earn well over six-figure salaries. They are not accountable to anybody; they do little to actually solve any problems, but they are helping those who helped them keep their positions of power by making them rich. 

These men and women receive nothing but accolades from their colleagues and fellow political leaders. This is because they all know that if they keep the circle jerk in motion, everyone ends up happy in the end. How are these elites able to have so much power?

The main problem we face today, compared to the environment twenty years or so ago, is that the media isn’t questioning the salaries and the corruption of these appointed leaders. And newspapers today are beholden to the same elites who help these individuals maintain their positions of power.

Our society today has ubiquitous eyes, but also almost unlimited amusing distractions via smartphones. But what is missing is unbiased scrutiny by reporters. This results in what we have today: a growing concentration of power among the elites and a growing stratification and gap between the rich and the poor. The game is getting rigged ever more in the favor of the elites.

The poor are left without a voice. The poor are left without the money to fight the system. The poor are simply told to remain quiet and you will get everything you need. The poor are disenfranchised. And all the elites who want to take our sovereignty from us want to remove our free speech. 

As I will show, they do not want to be held accountable. They refuse to answer our questions because they don’t have to; we aren’t The Salt Lake Tribune. So instead, we allow them to get rich, and in return, they will give us everything we want and “we will be happy.” 

Is this the future we want?

Feature Image: Photo by Simon Ray on Unsplash

,


Join our newsletter.
Stay informed.


  • The Stratos Project and Corporate Power: Who Controls Utah’s Future?

    If we were all just consumers, Governor Cox, Mike Lee, Speaker Schultz, and Kevin O’Leary would have it easy. If we were just more concerned about money, jobs, and tech, and less concerned about raising our kids in communities (not in front of screens), culture, the environment, and water, those smart dudes would get exactly what they want — Stratos: a city of the future, buzzing with processors and transistors, making all of our AI dreams come true! 

    The world we could live in would be a dazzling, Mr. Wonderful kind of place. We would beat those pesky Chinese in the AI war; our AI robots could do all of our farming and ostensibly harvest the water we need for the Great Salt Lake out of thin air. But apparently, we just don’t get it. We haven’t yet reached the point predicted by Aldous Huxley’s vision in Brave New World, where we are completely distracted, dopamine-driven consumers who only need sex, drugs, and stuff to remain happy.

    Maybe Stratos will be an amazing marvel, and somehow, as Governor Cox claims, “. . . add more water to the Great Salt Lake.” But we aren’t sold. While this Stratos project has received considerable attention, it’s worth taking a step back to attempt to understand how corporate power appears to have usurped civic power.

    Civics is the practice of shaping our society through our collective voices and community involvement. Ask the residents in Tremonton, Utah how well that is working out for them. Can we still shape our world through our elected leaders? Does it matter who we vote for at the ballot box if organizations like UDOT, UTA, and MIDA can supersede our local government authority and citizen backlash? 

    The corporatization of our communities and the interests that impact our political leaders’ decision making processes are seen as far more of a concern than the average Utah resident’s concerns. Special interests and corporate power are shaping Utah’s future more than ever. 

    It’s worth asking: ‘How can we regain control over shaping Utah’s future in light of the growing power and billions that the technocrats now wield in shaping our world today?’ Amazon’s market cap exceeds the GDP of Canada. The “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks now have a greater market cap than the entire GDP of Europe ($23.6 trillion. EU countries have $19.3 trillion GDP). Will tech companies become their own nation-states and dominate their own chunks of various states? Will we become their subjects?

    There are two sides to this coin: We love Utah not just because we have the most outdoor wilderness playgrounds, but also because of Utah’s prosperity and job market. This is because Utah has become a tech hub. Our tech leadership has minted several billionaires and billion-dollar businesses. Utah offers a market and an educated workforce that more businesses and giant corporations want to be a part of. This is a benefit for even non-tech Utahns.

    The problem with this success is that as we dole out more money to attract more tech businesses, data centers, fulfillment centers, and big corporate retailers, it becomes more difficult to carve out our “sense of community.” As corporate sovereignty replaces local business sovereignty, we see that our voices and our votes matter less.

    Ask who our politicians work for, and nearly every Utahn believes they work far more for their corporate donors than they work for the average Utah citizen. So how do we best regain control over our communities?

    Continue reading and support independent Utah journalism with a purchase of Utah Stories (Digital + Print) or 3 month free trial (Digital).


  • KUER Goes After The Other Side Academy

    A recent KUER article critically examines The Other Side Academy (TOSA), focusing primarily on former participants who describe the program negatively and questioning the philosophy behind therapeutic communities. Every institution should be subject to scrutiny, and TOSA is no exception. But after reading the article, I was left asking a different question: Why is this level of scrutiny almost never applied to the homelessness industry itself?