April 22, 2023 – Orem, Utah

I arrived at Convention 2 ½ hours early to get credentialed and help distribute flyers providing information and promoting certain desired outcomes to the arriving delegates. I was shocked when I was told, after allowing my drivers license to be scanned, I wasn’t in the database as a delegate, so I was sent to the HELP DESK. After rounding the corner, I stood in a line for 20 minutes before I made the desk. Once there, I waited for another 10 minutes and was told there was no one from my county to help me. Eventually I was led away from the HELP DESK to a dark corner where my county secretary was waiting to help. I was eventually found on the database (thank you Weber Party Secretary) and issued my credentials (unfortunately, because of the delay, I was unable to fulfill my earlier volunteer commitments). There are ~5,000 delegates in the whole state, a relatively small database to manage. When I made this observation, I was told by a nice woman, sorry, I am a volunteer. I understood her frustration and reminded her, as a delegate, I was a volunteer as well.

Once in the Convention Hall, I found a seat in my county’s designated section. I was not surprised to find my county’s section as far from the stage as possible (see photo at top). As long as I have been involved with the Party, my county’s designated section has always been as far from the stage (and microphones) as possible. I have reasons to believe why this is true but will save that discussion for another time.

Upon arriving, I immediately tried to locate the microphones. My repeated questions to the convention authorities, regarding where the delegates can speak, were received with blank stares. Eventually I was told there would be 4 microphones, two in the middle of the Convention Hall and two in the back (near our county section). I was ecstatic as I planned on getting to that microphone on a couple of occasions.

​UTGOP State Convention April 22, 2023

The TRUTH BEHIND the proposed amendment "Constitution Article XII, Sec. 1: Precinct State Delegate Allocation Methods."
 
A rather large county has challenges allocating delegates based on the current criteria in our state Constitution. That current criteria uses a definition of “Republican strength” based on the actual voting record for registered Republicans in past elections to determine apportionment. For this large county to address its allocation challenges, they desire to change the definition of “Republican strength” in our Party Constitution. This will have an adverse effect on our Party as a whole.
 
The challenge our Party has right now, and the reason why there is so much divisiveness, is our Republican Party lacks real strength! The kind of strength that comes from a cohesive embrace of our shared values and principles. Without a clearer understanding of what makes us Republicans, many joining our Party get the R behind their name but lack a credible understanding of our policies, principles, and platform. In this respect, we have lost our way.
 
Should this constitutional amendment pass, the allocation of delegates based on a watered-down definition of “Republican strength” will only make matters worse by requiring party registration as the only criteria, rather than a proven allegiance to our Party by embracing our platform and voting consistently for our candidates.
 
This means if the Democrats register Republican (as they often do) the allocation of delegates could be determined by Trans-Republicans rather than those committed to the Party and its platform.
 
This amendment cannot pass. The large county in question must find a solution within its jurisdiction and governing documents to address their issue.
 
Leave the rest of us out of it.

​Vote NO on this amendment at State Convention.

​“In most societies it is understood that members are required to be of honorable charter and reputation…an organization or assembly has the ultimate right to make and enforce its own rules, and to require that its members refrain from conduct injurious to the organization or its purposes.” (RRofO p. 643 line 6 – 10)
 
Any member found guilty of “tending to injure the good name of the organization, disturb its well-being, or hamper it in its work, is properly subject to disciplinary action, whether By-laws make mention of it or not.”
 
On a rare occasion you will run into a presiding officer who, for whatever reason, ignores a member making a motion or moving an Appeal. There are a couple of things that might be done in that situation, but the first one is to get the motion processed.

In this unprecedented period of continual falsehoods against America, the full armor is the defense of faithful everyday Americans who are besieged and attacked by this lunacy.  

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

So, when Ron DeSantis, Florida’s conservative Republican governor and likely presidential candidate, said recently we need to put on the “full armor of God,” the media looked at him like he was crazy—or from another planet. But his supporters gave him a standing ovation. 
 
As secular liberals, most of the press have no familiarity with the phrase, its origins, theology, or importance. They are bigots against religion and unschooled in what used to be the norms of American life, churches, and culture. 

The press and nearly our entire elite ruling class, in academia, sports, politics, media, business, and culture are biblically illiterate and have no idea what the Jar of Nar (John 12:3) refers to; where the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35) led or who travelled on it; or even what happened in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26: 36-46).
 
Let me brief them on the context, content, and significance of the “full armor of God,” which are, of course, the words of St. Paul, found in Ephesians 6: 10-18. Yes, that is a book in the New Testament.