As a registered Independent, I find it hard to grasp turning our highly representative, locally-centered system into one with the two-party system at its core. This leaves a majority of voters out of the loop, as we seem to be a community that has the more of its very diverse citizens not affiliating with any one party.
This change begs the question: Who does it serve and how, since it does not seems to benefit the majority of voters?
The two-party system is failing us on the national level as well as on state levels. Our recent redistricting efforts seem to be a good example of partisan politics failing us in Utah. I cannot imagine why we would want to go back to partisan politics, which would have to happen if we change our current form of government to any other structure.
I like living in a county with a very healthy, active democratic process, where you have to look at each candidate and what they stand for rather than having a party fit them into what it wants.
Let’s keep it democratic and not subject to the pressures of out of area interests and influences. There are ways to improve what we have, so let’s try that before we change to something from which we could never return to what we have now.
Vote “No” to study the change of county government.
—Bruce Keeler
Castle Valley