Does Mike Kohler get it? Our esteemed state representative doesn’t seem to. I listened to an interview he gave to KPCW the other day regarding the Legislature’s hastily conceived special session. The reasons he gave for voting to overturn Prop 4 were so mixed up that I don’t even know if he knows what he is doing. On one hand he said legislative districts should be drawn to protect communities of interest, but in the next breath he said Salt Lake City should be broken up into parts and attached to more rural areas, just like how House District 59 was gerrymandered just for him. The mental gymnastics it takes to believe both of those things is truly remarkable, so let me be clear to Rep. Kohler: The people of Utah have spoken. Prop 4 passed with majority support and represents the will of Utahns across the board. The people of Utah are smart. They realize that fair districts means better representation for all and not just an elite few. Representation in the Legislature is the cornerstone of American democracy — the entire American Revolution was fought over the principle that the colonists, as subjects of the empire, were entitled to representation in Parliament. Without that representation, the colonists argued, taxes like the Stamp Act were null and void because they lacked the moral authority of the consent of the governed. What Kohler and his compatriots seek to do in Utah is no different: They seek to rob us of our God-given right to self governance. Across the country we are seeing malevolent forces apply pressure on states to to wipe out representation of groups disfavored by the current government. Just this past week the state of Indiana bravely stood up against these forces and refused to be extorted and cowed into redistricting. The president even attempted to blackmail the state by threatening to withhold federal funding if Indiana’s did not comply with his wishes. Apparently, Hoosier legislators have a stronger moral compass than their brethren here in Utah and did not back down in the face of these threats. Could the same be said of the undistinguished Mike Kohler? Would he have had the backbone to stand up against threats of blackmail if they were similarly made against Utah, or would he have meekly submitted and said, “Yes sir, may I have another?” I think we all know the answer to that. Change is coming to Utah. Donald Trump’s approval rating is at 36% and dropping like a stone. Utah has long resisted Trumpian politics, Gov. Cox’s about-face notwithstanding. Trumpism was soundly rejected at the ballot box this year with locations as disparate as New Jersey, Virginia, East Tennessee and Miami all voting against those who have aligned themselves with anti-democratic values. This is why the Utah Legislature is running scared and attempting to rewrite the rules midgame to keep themselves in power. During his interview, Kohler dropped the oft-repeated, but little understood phrase “we are a republic, not a democracy,” which is best understood as dog whistle to anti-democratic forces. Well, I have some news for Mr. Kohler: a republic is a type of democracy, just as a square is a type of rectangle, so we cannot have a republic if it is undemocratic in nature. Either Kohler understands this and is lying to you, or he doesn’t understand it at all, and frankly I’m not sure which is worse. For too long Mike Kohler and his ilk have skated by, robbing the people of this state their fair representation, and 2026 will be the time when Utahns rise up with one voice and tell Mike Kohler and his buddies in the Legislature how they really feel and where political power really resides — with the people. Micah Kagan Park City Candidate for Utah House District 59 The post Representative democracy appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less