David Rodeback's Blog

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• Legislation Without Representation Is Tyranny  (11/19/09)
  We have a larger, more momentous ongoing task than defeating the health care takeover or blocking a devastating climate treaty: to recognize our tyrants and depose them through the electoral process, and to find and put in their place better American leaders, who are capable of recognizing tyranny in our institutions and in themselves, who are philosophically equipped to hate it when they see it, and who will oppose it persistently, intelligently, and effectively wherever they detect it, irrespective of party. [more]
• Epilogue: Marching Band, Victory, and Justifying the Costs  (11/17/09)
  Some hard questions are reasonable to ask, even if they seem harsh, as long as they are asked for the purpose of finding an answer. And humanity doth not live by bread alone (to borrow a phrase). [more]
• A Veteran's Day Tribute to Demo Red: "So Many Good Men and Women"  (11/11/09)
  The motto of the 30th Infantry Regiment, "San Francisco's Own," seems apt: "Our Country, not Ourselves." Here, with undue brevity, for Veterans Day, is an account of a soldier I know who embodies that motto. [more]
• Freedom Is Not a System. It's Freedom!  (10/28/09)
  Small wonder that capitalism is taking a beating in the United States, when one of its chief exponents doesn't really understand it! [more]
• Things To Do If You're Just Now Catching the Bug  (10/27/09)
  No, no, not the porcine pathogen. The I-feel-like-I-should-get-involved-in-local-politics bug. [more]
• If You Want My Vote (Part V)  (10/23/09)
  Two final principles: Don't make it about good and evil, if it isn't already. And shun the October surprise. [more]
• If You Want My Vote (Part IV)  (10/20/09)
  Principles seven and eight for candidates who want my vote. [more]
• Thoughts on Passing Milepost 49  (10/17/09)
  It was mere coincidence that I took a trip to Idaho this weekend to visit family. [more]
• Pride and Grace and Courage and Some Tears  (10/13/09)
  If it was the angels, one of them was named Heather. [more]
• A Bus, a Band, a Community  (10/11/09)
  Late-night thoughts on this evening's events and tragedy, and larger things. [more]
• If You Want My Vote (Part III)  (10/6/09)
  Principles five and six for local candidates who want me to take them seriously. [more]
• If You Want My Vote (Part II)  (10/2/09)
  Two more essential principles for local candidates who want me to take them seriously. [more]
• If You Want My Vote (Part I)  (09/28/09)
  Two essential principles for local candidates who want me to take them seriously. [more]
• happy punctuation day  (09/24/09)
  in honor of national punctuation day i have written this post without using a single punctuation mark im sorry if that seems sadistic but you dont have to read it if you dont want to so maybe its not so much that im a sadist as that youre a masochist enjoy [more]
• The Federal Government Can Have One-Sixth of Utah -- on One Condition  (09/18/09)
  There's nothing a multi-term Congressman or Senator understands better than quid pro quo. So if they choose the quid, we get to choose the quo. See what you think. [more]
• On Remembering and Forgetting  (09/11/09)
  Reflections on September 11, 2001. Some things to forget. Some things to remember. [more]
• Cheese, Sunroof, Freedom  (09/10/09)
  On loving others' freedoms, not just my own, and loving freedom enough not to spend it on other things, and not assuming that everyone feels the same, and the case we have to make. [more]
• Memo to Fellow Conservatives: Grow Up Already!  (09/7/09)
  On virtue and innocence, and why I prefer that my children watch President Obama's speech. [more]
• I Am a Tocqueville Conservative  (08/27/09)
  Alexis de Tocqueville, the pioneer sociologist and brilliant student of American society, especially American political society, explained how free Americans supplied the wants and needs of society without relying on government to take care of them. He saw in his discovery the key to American freedom's survival. That was in the 1830s. He also foresaw the unique perils that lay in wait. [more]
• The Gulf Which Divides Us  (08/25/09)
  With some unwitting help from Time's Joe Klein, whom I enjoy reading, I attempt to describe the more fundamental battle which underlies the health care debate -- a battle which American conservatives don't yet seem to be fighting, because we've never had to fight it before. Some things are supposed to be self-evident, and maybe they used to be, but they're not universally self-evident now. [more]
• Forgive Me. It's a Limerick.  (08/21/09)
  A true limerick is a single stanza, but occasionally some literary derelict tries multiple stanzas. I have done so here, with apologies to whatever literary gods there be. [more]
• Yankee Doodle, Keep It Up! (a thank-you note)  (08/12/09)
  You'd rather stay home and mind your own business, like you used to, and not be called the foulest names they know. Instead, you crowd into town meetings and make your point with as much civility as circumstances will permit. When they sling mud at you for your trouble, you happily make mud pies. I salute you. [more]
• Sauce for the Goose, Part I  (08/10/09)
  A plan to retire inefficient elected officials, modeled after the Cash for Clunkers program. [more]
• Ruminations on the Rush Limbaugh Quilt  (07/19/09)
  Where do girly men, cigars, and air-conditioned politics meet? At the quilt show, of course. I was there. I was tricked into being there. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.) [more]
• On Parade (or at Least AT the Parade)  (07/18/09)
  Results of this year's Steel Days Parade Political Straw Poll. My own Parade Awards, featuring everything from a world-class high school marching band (you know which one) to fake eyeballs. [more]
• A Primer for Aspiring Tyrants: Techniques Used by Experts  (06/19/09)
  Tyranny is a growth industry now, you see. If you don't aspire to it, read this as opposition research. [more]
• Federal Takeovers: The Road Leads Where It Leads  (05/14/09)
  If we keep going down the road we're on, we will inevitably arrive at the place to which the road leads. [more]
• The Mormons Baptized Whom?  (05/13/09)
  Barack Obama's mother, that's whom. Posthumously. Here's an explanation of why we do that sort of thing generally (though it should not have been done in this specific case). [more]
• More from the Convention: I Sided with Satan -- Again!  (04/26/09)
  At least some of my fellow Utah County Republicans seem to think so. [Updated several times with more links, a made-up quotation about Satan Scanners (!), and a link to other blogs and some KSL audio. See the comments.] [more]
• Bureaucracies Don't Laugh. People Do.  (04/11/09)
  . . . A good laugh is a terrible thing to waste. [more]
• Of Freedom and Sacrifice  (02/24/09)
  I read today that two friends' son has been killed in Iraq, where he served in the US Army. . . . [more]
• My Son, the Italian Communist Ten Year Old  (02/18/09)
  It's not as if I planned to spend 15 minutes this morning teaching my ten year old how to be a communist revolutionary. [more]
• Poison in the Water Debate  (12/30/08)
  Discussion of the current skirmish over future water rates in American Fork begins with, among other things, a snake, a rowboat, and a gun; seven habits for civil, opinionated, self-governing people; a dinner table; some links to recent news articles; and a felicitous, partially self-inflicted phrase, "sanctimonious claptrap." [more]
• A Tale of Two Liberals, or Is It Bad to Be a Socialist?  (10/30/08)
  One of those two liberals is now called a conservative. [more]
• Obama: Communist? Marxist? Socialist?  (10/29/08)
  In his political and social views, Barack Obama appears to be not a communist, a Marxist, or a democratic socialist, as political theorists usually categorize such things, but a social democrat . Make no mistake: A social democrat is a kind of socialist. [more]
• Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech  (10/28/08)
  "If we do not believe in freedom of speech for those we despise we do not believe in it at all." [more]
• It Hasn't Been Tried  (10/25/08)
  It wasn't free-market capitalism that failed, but it's certainly the popular scapegoat. [more]
• Shouldn't I Be a Democrat?  (10/24/08)
  My biography says so. My education says so. My long residency in the Northeast says so. My dissatisfaction with state and national Republicans says so. But I'm not. Here's what the Utah Democrats would have to do to entice me. [more]
• July 4, Give or Take a Day  (07/5/08)
  Obviously, Independence Day has a lot to do with freedom. But what does it have to do with bungee jumping? [more]
• Real Men Don't Smell Like Strawberries  (06/7/08)
  A case study in the free market's shampoo aisles. [more]
• Playing Politics with Economics -- as in Food Prices  (05/30/08)
  This happens, and food gets more expensive. That happens, and food gets more expensive. The other things happens, and everything gets more expensive. It's all quite predictable, if you understand the difference between politics and economics. [more]
• Last Week an Angry Liberal, This Week a Right-wing Nut Job  (04/11/08)
  This didn't turn out exactly as I planned. My original strategy proved to be too much like carpet-bombing some of my neighbors and relatives, so I shelved it. Something more surgical is indicated. [more]
• This Morning I Tried to Be a Liberal  (04/4/08)
  . . . Not just any liberal, you understand, and not a thinking liberal like some of my friends, but a liberal like Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and, yes, Barack Obama. [more]
• What's in a Word?  (03/19/08)
  When things continue at approximately the same speed, we're told that things "basically ground to a halt" -- if those things are economic. And the words "qualified, certified, and competent" can be used to resist improvement and reform, when the subject is education. [more]
• Obama and the Flag: What's Not in a Symbol  (02/26/08)
  If you want to convince me that Barack Obama isn't sufficiently loyal to his country, you'll have to do better than to tell me he doesn't wear an American flag on his lapel. [more]
• American Fork City's Next Two Years  (02/25/08)
  There's a particular sort of progress we need to see in our City government. [more]
• Almost a Dozen Reasons Honest and Intelligent People May Have for Voting Against Vouchers  (11/5/07)
  On the day before Election Day I, who already voted for vouchers, do my best to find some reasons why good, honorable, intelligent people might want to vote against them -- as opposed to the false or deceptive reasons filling the mailboxes and airwaves of Utah. [more]
• Vouchers and the Public Schools  (10/4/07)
  Here is the best explanation I can give of what may seem a contradictory fact: It is my commitment to and my belief in public schools which moves me to advocate school vouchers. [more]
• Buying a Used Car: A School Voucher Parable  (10/3/07)
  It's a bird. It's a plane. Good grief, it's positively Orwellian. [more]
• Guarantees?  (08/17/07)
  Did Governor Huntsman mean it? Has he thought this through? Or did exhaustion and emotion just get ahead of his reason for a minute? Admittedly, the duress was considerable. [more]
• The Battle of 9600 West  (08/15/07)
  Somehow I manage to incorporate chemical warfare, invasion, trade sanctions, and passive resistance into a discussion about widening a street in Highland. (I'm having fun. Are you?) [more]
• Voldemort and Global Warming  (08/9/07)
  On the uncanny resemblance of He-Who-Must-not-Be-Named and That-Which-Must-not-Be-Questioned. [more]
• Moscow: July 4, 1987  (07/4/07)
  Twenty years ago, rather by surprise, I celebrated American independence with a bunch of -- gasp! -- Soviet Communists. [more]
• Random Smokin' Thoughts  (05/12/07)
  First, I have to say positive things about the Utah Jazz, because 'tis the season. Then I present my two-part plan for a kinder, gentler, less littered society. Preview: It's a pair of truces. [more]
• A Little, Concrete Test of American Fork's Commitment to the Rule of Law  (05/10/07)
  The concrete is actual concrete. The law is an ordinance passed by the American Fork City Council. And in a small city that has been committed only selectively to the rule of law over the years, the rule of law seems now to have a fighting chance. [more]
• We Can't Prevent Another Virginia Tech Massacre by Passing a Law  (04/24/07)
  32 dead -- 33, if you count the shooter. 29 wounded. Labels and accusations and proposed legislation are swirling everywhere in response. There is nothing in that maelstrom that will bring back the dead. There is nothing in it that will prevent this from ever happening again, either. [more]
• I Ran Away to Chicago -- in February!  (02/27/07)
  I'd do it again, too. Art, pizza, Russian bookstores, a Chicago hot dog . . . And a flight delay led to an excellent lunch in Houston. (Note: This is not about politics. Not everything is, you know.) [more]
• Infinite Shades of Grey  (02/13/07)
  Some of our horror at the bad things which happen in "good" places, such as Salt Lake City, is rooted in our preference for black-and-white categories, instead of infinite shades of gray. That preference is actually dangerous. [more]
• David's Plan for Utah's $1.6 Billion Surplus  (02/6/07)
  There's something for everyone. One-fourth goes back to the taxpayer, and half goes to education, but not precisely how you might think. [more]
• Traffic School  (01/24/07)
  Will Traffic School Guy be coming soon to a comedy club near you? He almost could. Here is the latest chapter in the continuing saga of my life as an alleged scofflaw. [more]
• Some Sample Limericks  (01/19/07)
  I couldn't resist -- I didn't really try -- and I am quite unapologetic. [more]
• Two or Three Recent Encounters with Local Government  (01/17/07)
  Water, water . . . well, not exactly everywhere. Hot chocolate is also mentioned. And then there's my recent life on the other side of the law in the People's Republic of Rockyland. [more]
• The Other Wise Man  (12/21/06)
  Contemporary American chamber opera, professional wrestling, beauty, and power meet in my review of The Other Wise Man. (The production itself has all but one of these. Guess which.) [more]
• Re(nick)naming the Delta Center  (11/22/06)
  I decided to be a slave to fashion and tell you what I think about what we used to know as the Delta Center. In the process, I identify the best nickname I've heard from someone else and offer my own suggestion for a nickname, too. [more]
• Signs of the Times  (10/16/06)
  Here are photos of some signs I saw in southern Utah this weekend. I'm still laughing. You should, too. [more]
• Twinkies, Anyone?  (10/13/06)
  I never buy Twinkies. I don't like them. But I did today -- as a political statement. [more]
• Last Night's City Council Meeting as Civic Education  (10/11/06)
  A school teacher berated the Mayor and City Council of American Fork last night for teaching his students bad things. Here's my view of what his students might have learned at the City Council's meeting, including some lessons that very teacher should not have been teaching. [more]
• It's That Time of the Century  (09/21/06)
  In today's offering you see parts of my personality you might have hoped never to see together: the math geek and the literary scholar, in a bizarre dance with the more familiar political blogger. I prefer to call this erudition, but I'll understand if you consider it some sort of bothersome multiple personality disorder. In any case, read on, and good luck . . . [more]
• I Joined the Math Wars  (09/18/06)
  Here's the text of a letter I sent last week to the principal and teachers at my children's elementary school. [more]
• Is It Fair that All Taxpayers Pay for Everything?  (08/4/06)
  Sometimes a good test of a principle is to attempt to follow it where it leads. [more]
• Happy Blogiversary to Me  (07/27/06)
  No one else asked to, so I interview myself in honor of the occasion. [more]
• Israel and Its Enemies: The View from My Own 'Religion of Peace'  (07/14/06)
  How many attacks must Israel absorb before fighting back? Here's my scriptural view. [more]
• About that Closed Republican Primary  (06/27/06)
  Is it good or bad that you have to be a Republican to vote in a Republican primary in Utah? [more]
• How Many David Rodebacks Are Too Many?  (05/30/06)
  Meet David Rodeback the Older, David Rodeback the Deadbeat, and David Rodeback the Halfwit Moral Cripple. None of them is me, I think. [more]
• How Illegal Are They, Anyway?  (05/17/06)
  I see legal immigration as a national blessing, perhaps even a moral obligation. I'm not isolationist or xenophobic at all, as far as I can tell. And now that we've established that, let's talk about illegal immigration, because I'm not entirely sure there still is such a thing. [more]
• Broadband's Impact on American Fork's Economy and Quality of Life  (05/2/06)
  Here is a list of activities which broadband Internet access enhances or enables. All have economic implications; most also affect the quality of life. [more]
• Broadband's Economic Impact: Public vs. Private  (04/28/06)
  In comparisons between municipal broadband systems and private industry's broadband offerings, measuring their respective economic impacts, it turns out there is a clear winner and a sound economic reason why. [more]
• Exceeding the Bounds of Authority  (04/14/06)
  The Sutherland Institute wants the Utah Legislature to assert authority that no government rightfully has. The Mayor of Kanab and a senior local church leader in American Fork seem oblivious to the bounds of their authority. [more]
• My Precinct's Caucus and My Party's Platform  (03/22/06)
  I wasn't particularly pleased with either. The caucus was poorly attended and the platform is poorly written, whatever one may think of its political content. Do I expect too much? [more]
• Do Little Things Matter? And Avionic Flu . . .  (03/15/06)
  In professional settings, how much does spelling count? How about typeface? How about good writing generally? And you'll want to read up on "avionic" flu. [more]
• Early Help for Next Valentine's Day  (02/15/06)
  I sent my wife several e-mails yesterday with good and/or fun quotes about love. Here are most of them, in case you need them next year. My favorite, at least for yesterday's purposes? This one: Nunc scio quit sit amor. (If your Latin's rusty, google it.) [more]
• What Are You Doing to Celebrate Groundhog Day?  (02/1/06)
  Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. I'm going to party. It's just a small affair, immediate family only, and not even they are required to come. If they do come, they can watch the movie Groundhog Day with me . . . and I will feed them "mystery meat." If they don't come, I'll watch and eat alone, which isn't as sad as it sounds. This may inspire some questions in your mind . . . [more]
• How Can Part of the Constitution Be Unconstitutional?  (01/24/06)
  Some propose the repeal of the 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides for the direct election of US Senators by the people of their states. At least a few of them call the amendment "unconstitutional." This doesn't seem to make sense . . . but we'll follow it where it leads. [more]
• Systems So Rigid We Don't Have to Use Our Brains  (01/17/06)
  Long ago and in a hemisphere far, far away, I lived for a few months under a government that was even more rule-bound than our own. Almost every good thing I saw happen there happened in defiance of some rule, regulation, or law. A few years after that, the system collapsed under its own weight. The same thing may happen here, eventually. [more]
• The Rule of Law, or 'Living' Is Libspeak for 'Dead'  (01/10/06)
  Our question today is, "Is the US Constitution a living document or not?" [more]
• Grandpa and Veterans Day  (11/11/05)
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• Campaign Ads and Slogans That Didn't Make the Cut  (11/5/05)
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• A Spectrum of Political Courage  (10/15/05)
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• Rocky Anderson Has His Own Brand of Intolerance  (10/6/05)
  Let's hear it for Mayor Rocky, whose campaign to become a major national political (cartoon) figure is going just fine, thank you, if his goal is to become the next Al Sharpton. . . . [more]
• Responsibility Starts at the Bottom, not the Top  (09/7/05)
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• Price Controls Are a Stupid Idea. Don't Fall for Them.  (09/1/05)
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• Yes, I Would Vote for a Druid  (08/18/05)
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• About Bullies: Look Out for That Passive Voice  (08/16/05)
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• 54th with an Asterisk  (07/19/05)
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• Barack Obama's Great Speech  (06/20/05)
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• Goodbye, Joan, You Were My Favorite  (06/16/05)
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• Gambling vs. Investment  (04/5/05)
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• A Christian Hero, a Modern Giant Has Left Us  (04/2/05)
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• Mormons, Abortion Policy, Harry Reid  (11/17/04)
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• It's Too Good to Be True If . . .  (08/19/04)
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