The fellowship and mutual respect that have long served as cornerstones of democracy in Utah, and in America, are slowly but surely being destroyed by candidates and activists who are sowing mistrust among us.
Utahns are being officially encouraged to rat one another out through one or both of two online hotlines created by order of the Legislature. One to receive reports of people using the wrong public restroom and the other to accept whispers of any state or local public agency using forbidden words that begin with “D” “E” or “I.”
State and local education officials have been tasked by that same Legislature with compiling lists of books that are to be forbidden in schools statewide because they were ruled offensive by a handful of school boards.
And too many candidates for public office are not even waiting for the votes to be cast before they start making up reasons to mistrust the whole electoral system that has served us so well for more than two centuries.
As Abraham Lincoln warned us, a house divided against itself cannot stand. A democracy where people don’t trust their government, their civic institutions or each other cannot survive.
Last summer’s Gallup Survey showed another year of decline in public confidence in American institutions, especially the presidency, the courts and, at the bottom of the heap, Congress.
Those promoting faith-destroying messages may not have concocted a grand plot against American democracy. But the effect may be the same.
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