Election Time Anxiety is Coming to An End

If you are like me, you’ve been receiving all kinds of mailers, voicemails, and text messages designed to scare you into voting for one candidate or another. Just as I had many trick or treaters banging on my door Monday night, you have all kinds of campaign marketers trying to capture your attention and persuade you to vote for their client.

Here’s the reality: for every dollar spent to get you to vote a certain way in the federal election for the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, there are dozens of candidates down ballot or issues currently being debated on a state or local level that have a much greater impact on your life.

Cable news, social media, the latest podcast, and your mailbox are trying to convince you to pay attention to what’s happening to Nancy Pelosi’s husband, how another TV entertainer is doing in his election in Pennsylvania, or how the retired football star is running into trouble in Georgia.

But you need to remember: there’s always going to be another scandal tomorrow, candidates will be launching presidential campaigns come January, the Supreme Court will decide another case, and the same cast of characters will be bickering over something else.

So what’s going on in Utah? What’s happening locally to you?

Your ballot may list some kind of bond election happening right now. It might be for your local school district or perhaps your city is trying to build something new in your town. Educate yourself on the pros and cons and participate.

You may have people vying for the state house of representatives on your ballot. Learn about the candidates, find out which one represents you the best, and participate.

Utah has some enormous challenges ahead. Whether it’s combating a housing crisis, finding solutions for the lack of water in the Great Salt Lake, balancing government spending with tax cuts, or improving the ongoing mental health crisis.

Rather than trying to scare you into caring, let me highlight just a few things we are currently working on:

1. Education Choice for Every Child in Utah
2. Psychotherapeutic Drugs for Mental Health
3. Shifting to State Solutions for Gig Workers 
4. Libertas Privacy Scholar Network Launch
5. Our Latest Video about Local Government

So, rather than worrying so much about the “most important election of our lives,” take a look at what is happening around you in your neighborhood and your state. You might be surprised by the positive progress that is being made. You might be even more surprised when an opportunity is presented to you to participate in something meaningful in the world of civil discourse.