The Conservative Front

As a Utah State delegate, I have spent many hours studying the issues raised by the three major candidates for Congress in my home district. It may come at the 11th hour, but I am now confident in one candidate: Jason Chaffetz. Please let me list some of the reasons I came to this decision.

Chris Cannon is the incumbent. He has been in office for about 15 years. He has done some good things in Congress, but he has also done some really unexplainable things.

His support of President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” Act left many of us in Utah wondering what he was thinking, especially after Utah moved to exempt itself from the regulations requirements. It was not a popular piece of legislation here.

Chris faced strong criticism, even from me personally, for his position favoring in-state tuition for children of illegal aliens in Utah’s colleges and Universities. Cannon’s position was that the children didn’t commit the crime of coming here illegally. Why should they be punished for their parents transgressions? Doug Wright, a local talk show host, was a loud voice in support of Cannon’s position.

My friend Chris Herrod, a Utah State lawmaker, explained that giving the children of illegal aliens the benefit of in-state tuition rates was wrong. Suppose a man embezzles a million dollars from the company he works for, and puts the money in a trust account for his children. Have the children done anything wrong? No, but lawfully they have no right to enjoy that money. The children of illegal aliens are not being punished. We need to stop feeling guilty for withholding privileges from those who do not have claim to them.

David Leavitt is the other candidate. He is the brother of former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt, now head of the EPA. David was appointed Juab County Prosecutor a few years ago. It can be argued that the recent events in Texas are a direct result of Leavitt’s successful prosecution of polygamist Tom Green for marrying underage girls.

Leavitt comes across as the collected statesman. Though he relies on examples of the statesmanship of the Founding Fathers, he doesn’t seem to have the same passion they obviously had. He is very earnest in his feelings for our country, but he says he wants to create consensus without compromise. He naively believes that the liberals in Congress and elsewhere can be brought in with expressions of compassion and logic. He doesn’t seem to understand that logic is foreign to liberals. In fact, some liberals will eschew logic outright as a creation of western (read “white”) civilization. You cannot convince someone of an absolute truth, when they don’t even believe that absolute truth exists.

We at the Conservative Front are proud to endorse Jason Chaffetz for Congress in Utah’s 3rd District. Jason has the foundation, the correct understanding of First Principles, the statesmanship and the passion to bring new life to the House of Representatives. He is not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, even of senior republican leaders like Senator Orrin Hatch or Utah Governor John Hunstman.

That kind of courage is what is sorely lacking in the Republican party in Washington D.C. right now. That lack may well lose the House, the Senate, and the Presidency for the Republicans for many years to come. They have proven that they were more interested in staying elected, so they began pandering to the welfare voters and the government dependents. They lost their focus, and they lost the trust of the American people.

Jason Chaffetz is a breath of fresh air. His passion and courage are desperately needed in Washington D.C. He will be a leader in the mold of Mitt Romney or Ronald Reagan. Please join us in supporting Jason Chaffetz for Congress.