Brian Jenkins for Utah's 3rd Congressional District 801 636 0969

Hello Utah State Delegates, This is message number 1 in a series given between now and April 21st, when our Republican nominees will be selected at the Republican State Convention.

There are so many issues. Even well informed candidates and those who spend significant amounts of time every day keeping up on every issue cannot know everything. But we look for candidates who will look at issues appropriately through the lens of the U.S. Constitution. For that reason why a candidate takes a certain position on a certain issue can be more important than what position he took. Say a candidate is opposed to the notorious Patriot Act. But he does not think it goes far enough. He shares the same position as the constitutionally committed leaving us confused when he supports or votes for the deadly NDAA (as Orrin did) which eliminates even Habeus Corpus. Suppose that Jason Chaffetz endorses and campaigns for Mitt Romney (which he has). Suppose that Mitt Romney were to endorse Orrin Hatch (which he has). Then suppose Orrin Hatch were to sponsor the Patriot Act and vote for NDAA (which he did). Where does that put Jason in his allegiance to the Constitution? If he, as a charismatic representative, uses his political capital to support those who undermine the constitution, does he merely misunderstand or does he believe that the establishment is so unbeatable that when they support Mitt and Orrin, opposing them is political suicide? Do we want politicians who continually weigh their political capital lest they be sent back to civilian life? Or do we want Statesmen who will do the right thing no matter the cost? Mitt has not just endorsed Orrin, he has verbally supported the Patriot Act. So when Jason campaigns for Mitt, his support of improper principles becomes clear, even when he votes against the renewal of the Patriot Act as he did in May of last year. And his vote in favor of extending the Patriot Act 3 months earlier becomes a message that his commitment to correct principles is becoming compromised.

When a representative fights against the principles of the constitution, the harm can be greater if we believe he has truly committed himself to freedom. We think we must be missing something. We figure there must be a reason for his action we just have not seen yet. We are busy with our jobs etc. But a delegate is elected to spend more time finding out those details. He is our protection, our watchman on the wall. If the watchmen fail to discern and vote against candidates and incumbents who fail to support the constitution, the citizens are left unprotected. Under America's christian heritage watchmen were men of God.

Our mighty Declaration of Independence mentions God several times and the Constitution closes declaring the date to be "in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred eighty seven."

A delegate has every right to appeal to the source of our constitution to know what to do to support and protect our constitution.