In this year of surplus, the Board of Regents requested $44 million for higher education from the Utah State Legislature. Now it looks as if they will have to make do with $5 million.
This decision will likely lead to tuition increases and budget cuts in “non-vital” college programs in order for the Legislature to fund other projects, like road construction.
So don’t start crying about the fact that tuition’s going to rise-at least transportation will get funded. God knows we’ve got to get rid of all those potholes full of flesh-eating bacteria.
This decision flies in the face of logic. It discourages bright students from attaining higher education in Utah and contributing to the state’s economy in the future.
This is not the only idiotic thing our fine legislators have done this session. No, they have also wasted taxpayer money by removing the age limit for hunting permits-since the rights of 9-year-olds to bear arms are obviously so important.
A disturbing trend has been developing up on Capitol Hill-namely, that government is becoming less and less democratic. Legislators are unwilling to explain their real reasons behind the decisions they make, leading people to assume that our legislators have either lost their minds or that they’re just dumb as rocks.
But this is an incorrect assumption. It’s not that they’re stupid; it’s just that they’ve lost the necessary willingness to keep the public’s business in the public domain.
Legislators have begun limiting their contact information to their constituents and making more and more vital decisions in caucus meetings-which they can close to the public.
If democracy is to continue to reign supreme in the state of Utah, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. needs to use his power of veto quite liberally in the coming weeks. Legislators cannot continue to operate in this cloak-and-dagger manner, and the first way to stop them is to give the axe to various bills and pet projects.
Of course, some of our more megalomaniacal representatives have gotten the bright idea that maybe the governor shouldn’t have the power to do silly things such as act as a check on legislative power any longer. That’s right-some legislators have attempted to remove the power of veto.
Perhaps legislators should start concerning themselves less with what children are learning in science classes and more with U.S. government-because they have obviously missed a rather large point.
But for now, the rule of the tyranny of the majority is staved off for a little longer, because Gov. Huntsman still retains the right to veto completely insane legislation. And this year, there’s quite a lot for him to send back to our friends in the Legislature.