Blog Archives - Jay Evensen

When funding schools, don't limit choices

1/28/2015

Utahns are hearing some strange political noises these days. State lawmakers, mostly conservative to the core, are entering a legislative session with a booming economy — December’s unemployment rate was 3.5 percent — and a healthy state surplus — estimated at $638 million — and yet many voices are calling for tax increases.

A news conference on Tuesday typified this. Business leaders and the Salt Lake Chamber joined to say it’s time for lawmakers to “look at all the options on the table.” While they didn’t specifically endorse an increase in the state income tax or gas

What would it take to get Obama to visit Utah?

1/27/2015

A year and a half ago, I took the family on a vacation to Sweden, where my wife was born. Our itinerary had us skirting Stockholm on certain days because President Obama was coming to visit, and traffic was severely limited.

Swedes were atwitter. It was this president’s first visit.

Obama administration should emphasize religious liberty

1/21/2015

President Obama gave an obligatory sentence or two to religious freedom during his State of the Union address Tuesday. It wasn’t nearly enough.

He deplored the “anti-Semitism that has resurfaced in certain parts of the world.” He criticized the “offensive stereotypes of Muslims — the vast majority of whom share our commitment to peace.” And he quoted the Pope, although in a context that had less to do with religious freedom than with diplomacy.

Altogether, these took two paragraphs in a long speech, and they were capped by the first-ever condemnation of transgender discrimination in a State of the Union, which grabbed all the media attention.

Also, it was all wrapped in the unconvincing message that things are going well in foreign arenas.

In truth, religious intolerance and persecution is an

Why states, not Washington, should look at free tuition

1/20/2015

Deadlines force me to write this before the State of the Union address, but the expectation is that much of what President Obama says will have all the practical effect of a promise from a department store Santa Claus. Nothing actually will happen unless somebody else acts.

It may be a ridiculous stretch to equate Congress with levelheaded and wise parents, but thanks to the sheer force of political opposition, elected representatives, in this case, will be good enough to bar the door to more expensive programs.

But in the case of the president’s hope of providing “free” tuition for earnestly striving students at community colleges, it’s important to note that such initiatives are best left to states. Otherwise, all sorts of complications can arise.

Utah provides a couple of examples.

During a combined KSL-Deseret News editorial board meeting last week, I asked Utah Valley

Raising gas taxes is the wrong thing to do

1/14/2015

These are unusual times. Utah’s economy is booming, gas prices are low, and the conservatives on Capitol Hill are talking about raising taxes.

What sort of gas was in that last inversion, anyway?

People hate tax increases, of course, and for good reason. But the problem here isn’t so much timing or need; it’s old-fashioned thinking.

One House member, Rep. Jack Draxler, R-North Logan, told a pre-legislative conference he wants to

Despite support of Charlie Hebdo, we are hypocrites

1/13/2015

While we wave our Je suis Charlie banners in support of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, we might want to consider our own level of commitment to the bedrock principles of free press and expression. Even in Utah, there is much room for improvement.

A better banner might be Je suis un hypocrite.

It is entirely appropriate that much of the world has rallied around the newspaper and those principles in defiance of the attackers. Like many, I don’t

Utah lawmaker will push variable tolls, as I suggested

1/9/2015

Earlier this week I wrote about the best ways to tackle air pollution during Utah’s frequent winter temperature inversions. My suggestion was to charge variable tolls on all lanes of all Wasatch Front freeways, and to use this in place of traditional gas taxes, which I suggested should be repealed.

Now, Utah Rep. Jon Cox, R-Ephraim, has said he intends to sponsor a bill to begin to make this happen, at least during inversion days.

Is this how cable TV will come unbundled?

1/7/2015

Show of hands — among those of you who pay for a cable TV service, how many of you were lured there by the promise of hundreds of channels, most of which were presented as acronyms that meant as much to you as a list of federal agencies in Washington?

OK, now, how many of you signed up mainly because you wanted access to one or two specific channels, such as ESPN or HGTV, or perhaps you wanted to see BYU games or Jazz games or watch the History Channel?

If my guess is right, your house is a lot like

Cheap gas and temperature inversions don't mix

1/6/2015

People along the Wasatch Front are facing the classic good-news, bad-news situation.

The good news is you can fill up your car with pocket change. The luckiest among you have paid for yearly memberships in big-box retailers such as Costco or Sam’s Club. Some of those places were offering regular unleaded for $1.75 a gallon earlier this week. That’s the equivalent of about 25 cents in 1965 dollars, which evokes warm, fuzzy memories of tail fins and chrome do-dads among people my age.

Now for the bad news: It couldn’t come at a worse time.

Carl Sandburg described fog as coming in “on little cat feet.” But Utah’s haze comes in like a cat with no regard for a litter box, who soils your home and likes to sleep on your face, making it hard for you to breathe.

We ignore current events to our own peril

1/1/2015

Vladimir Putin appears to be up to tricks again. One of his leading political opponents was convicted of fraud this week, then released on a suspended sentence, and then re-arrested hours later at an unauthorized protest.

Putin’s government seems intent on squashing criticism and keeping people from hearing opposing views.

But he’s going about it all wrong. Just let people say whatever they want on any number of platforms, from endless cable TV channels to even more endless blogs and Twitter posts. Pretty soon, nobody would pay attention.

At least, that seems to be what’s happening in this country.

The dawn of this new year is not the first time pollsters and academics have struggled to find

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