Tuesday evening, political parties in Utah will hold mass meetings for the purpose of selecting delegates to party conventions.

Perhaps you weren't aware of that. You should be.

Like many Americans, Utahns tend to be a bit complacent about politics. Some of them harbor a degree of cynicism, believing average people have little influence in a state where lawmakers pal around with wealthy lobbyists with few, if any, restraints. But politics here is still, at its heart, a grass-roots exercise. And that heart will be beating in many neighborhoods come Tuesday.

Mass meetings are seed-planting gatherings. If you show up, you have a say in who represents your area at the convention during which party platforms are decided and candidates are considered. The forest of delegates at those meetings gets first crack at selecting candidates. Only when they can't reach a reasonable consensus do inter-party races proceed to primary elections.

That system is a thing of beauty. Every mass meeting, regardless of which party it represents, is a shining example of the type of government Americans are sacrificing blood in an effort to teach to Iraqis and Afghanis. To stay home is to show disrespect to that effort and ingratitude toward sacrifices that made your own liberty possible.

The risks of inactivity are great. When average people stay away, mass meetings tend to be dominated by political ideologues obsessed with extremist causes and views. That translates into candidates and office-holders who skew from the mainstream of Utah residents. The result is a government that isn't truly representative of the voters, even if it is representative of those who involve themselves in mass meetings.

That, in turn, results in apathy. Utahns should not be proud of the fact that several state races will go unopposed this year, the same as in election years past. When voters lack choices, they end up, by default, with an Election Day similar to what people have in the most repressed dictatorships. They have no choice at all.

And that's the simplest way to understand what is at stake Tuesday evening. Just as people who choose not to read are no different than people who are illiterate, people who choose not to involve themselves in the political process are no different than those who have no political rights at all.