Don't let down your guard, Legislature isn't over

The Utah Legislature's general session is about half over — and so far Utahns are still safe.

But with most of the major decisions yet to be made, it's not time to let down your guard.

In fact, now is the time some of the really weird stuff comes up.

Like placing a state holiday for an Ogden gunmaker on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Or kicking the federal government out of Utah (but still taking billions of dollars in federal aid).

Sometimes it seems almost too easy to take potshots at Utah lawmakers. Polls show most Utahns have never met them, even if they voted for them. And while voters may believe they know their governor or U.S. senator or representative, when it comes to their state legislators, they can't name them.

With such anonymity comes distrust, even at times anger.

I actually do know most of the legislators (although not as well as I probably should). For the most part, they are good people trying to do the right thing. This year, however, that right thing tends to be the "right" thing — as in on the right of the political spectrum.

Partisan political philosophy is dominating this session.

Just before the vote on his bill that would loosen the current booster seat law, Rep. Christopher Herrod, R-Provo, said if there was any measure that spoke to citizen rights over government control, it was his HB113.

Personal freedom? Government control? Common sense? All over whether to let an adult decide whether or not to protect a young child by putting a booster seat under him before driving him in a car? Hardly.

Herrod's fellow House members voted his bill down. But don't be surprised if it comes back again before lawmakers adjourn March 11, with the argument of personal freedom remade.

One would think that legislators have enough work figuring out how to close a $700 million budget gap. It is a far-reaching problem.

What innovative programs can the state initiate to deal with public school overcrowding and the rising cost of college tuition? How do we house thousands of felons in state prisons and county jails with less money? How can we continue to help many of our fellow citizens who are disabled, hurt, hungry and poor? How can we better fight crime and disease?