Our Platform

Announcing the new platform of the Utah Reagan Caucus.

The Utah Reagan Caucus exists to organize in favor of ensuring the Utah Republican Party is the conservative party in Utah politics. We have named ourselves the Utah Reagan Caucus because the administration of Ronald Reagan and the era in which he rose to national leadership best exemplifies the values, principles, and rhetoric of successful conservatism in the minds of our fellow Utahns.

To best lay out those values, principles, and our belief in the dignity of conservatism, we declare these following statements as the platform of the Utah Reagan Caucus:

1. A conservative is a happy warrior who demonstrates the stoic persona appropriate to the commitments of deep conviction. Anger, fear, hostility, anxiety: these are not the marks of deep conviction, but the panicked emotions of those who are insecure in the truth and durability of what they claim to believe. The absence of panic is not a sign of apathy but a testament of grit.

2. A conservative is humble and grateful for the gifts of history. The fabric of a nation is not formed by chance and was not formed in a day. It involves effort and sacrifice. It develops and grows over time. For this reason, the foundational principle of conservatism is gratitude for the heritage passed on from those who came before. It is our duty to safeguard this heritage from being lost under our stewardship and to pass it on to our posterity.

3. A conservative believes in honesty, integrity, and accountability. There can never be a worthwhile tradeoff for any conservative victory if the end result is the elevation of dishonorable people to positions of power. Character is destiny.

4. A conservative believes in ordered liberty. Liberty is the ultimate end of organized government, and the greatest duty of government is to protect the self-evident rights of mankind. But the ultimate end of society is virtue, not vice. The duty of the people and of both public and private institutions, most pointedly educational and religious institutions, must be to exercise the liberty safeguarded by the government to develop virtue in the hearts of the people.

5. A conservative believes in the rule of law. A sovereign people have the right to be governed by laws established by their representatives, through a legislative process that balances the will of the majority with the rights of all the people. The phrase “We the People” is not a majoritarian declaration nor a promise of unbridled direct democracy. It is not a populist phrase. “We the People” is a promise to establish and preserve a form of government that governs by consent of the majority but administers the laws in the interest of the freedom and security of every American.

6. A conservative believes in individual freedom. Each person in a free society has the right to live their life as they see fit and to exercise their God-given rights to whatever extent and in whichever direction they choose so long as the rights of others are not imposed upon.

7. A conservative believes in law and order. While it is the chief mandate of government in a free society to preserve the liberty of the people, it is its secondary mandate to ensure that people can live their lives while feeling secure in their persons and their property. Chaos and disorder are as much a threat to liberty as tyranny and oppression.

8. A conservative believes in limited government. The United States of America is a constitutional republic and not a direct democracy. The Bill of Rights establishes the limits of government action, no matter the extent of popular mandate claimed by a given executive or iteration of legislative authority.

9. A conservative believes all forms of government power should be checked and balanced. Congress alone has the authority to create the law. The President alone has the authority to execute the law. The Courts alone have the authority to render judgement under the law. These three branches of government are granted their respective power and authority from the people through the creation and perpetuation of the U.S. Constitution. No branch of government has the power or authority to delegate the powers entrusted to them by the people to another entity or branch of government. This reality establishes the nature of our government as a republic. And the Constitution guarantees this republican form of government in each of the states.

10. A conservative believes in federalism and localism. The closer the decisions of government are to the people, the more representative, responsive, and effective government is. The founders established a Union of States and affirmed and safeguarded that Union by establishing a system of dual sovereignty. The federal government has limited jurisdiction, with only the power to establish the general laws that govern society. All other governing power belongs to the states, most notably the police power. Just as the federal government should limit itself to its sphere of power and allow the states to govern themselves under the general law, state governments should practice this same approach in their dealings with local forms of government.

11. A conservative believes in freedom of conscience. It is the natural right of every individual to worship God according to the dictates of conscience, or to choose not to engage in any form of worship at all. The coercion or constraint inherent to any form of government action should be fully separated from religious worship and the self-governance of religious fellowship.

12. A conservative believes in the duty of civic engagement. Free citizens should exercise their right to participate in political processes at every possible opportunity. The right to vote in the general election is paramount, but such a civic exercise should be the culmination of civic engagement. Free citizens should engage in party processes, should involve themselves in every step of choosing political representation, should attend civic meetings, and be active in redressing the government for grievances.

13. A conservative believes in civic celebration. A free citizen has the duty to honor and appreciate the civic culture of a free nation. Civic virtue should be celebrated and shared. Everyone shares in the responsibility to educate one another on the benefits of free society and there is special duty to raise up the children of America as responsible citizens prepared to enter adulthood with an appreciation for the heritage of a free society and with the knowledge requisite to participate in society as responsible, free citizens.

14. A conservative believes in free markets, free trade, and free association. Freedom unleashes prosperity. There has never been an attempt at centralized control of the economy that has come near the unprecedented success of the American nation’s experiment in free market economics. And no contemporary attempt to recreate the policies of mercantilism under the false cloak of conservatism will fare any better.

15. A conservative believes in fiscal responsibility. The successful fiscal practices of the kitchen table are no different than the successful fiscal practices of governing policy. Live within your means. Balance the budget. Save for a rainy day.

16. A conservative believes in taxation for and only for the proper functions of government. It is the duty of all citizens in a free society to allow the government to collect the necessary monetary support to function as it safeguards our liberty and security. But taxation should always be the minimal necessary level to support such functions. Taxation should never be punitive, discriminatory, or wielded as a means to accomplish policy outcomes. Taxation should not be used as a cudgel for the government to manage and control the market, nor should it be used to redistribute wealth from one group to another.

17. A conservative believes in the sanctity of life. It is the duty and responsibility of government in a free society to jealously guard the safety and security of every individual under its protection. It is not only inherently immoral but damaging to the soul of a nation to justify the slaughter of those who cannot defend themselves in the false name of choice. Everyone has a choice to be responsible with the powers of life and creation given to them by nature and nature’s God.

18. A conservative believes in the right of self-defense. If ever an individual is faced by the threats of an armed criminal without the requisite means of equal self-defense, they are at the mercy of that criminal and the only reliance they have for the preservation of their life and their property is the response of armed agents from the state. In such a moment, such a person cannot in any way be defined as free. The right to bear arms is a fundamental and inalienable right that must be preserved and cannot be infringed upon if a society wishes to call itself a free society.

19. A conservative believes in national sovereignty. A free people should only ever answer to the laws established by their own legislative process and treaties freely entered into by the government to which the people have given consent. Global governance, international organizations, presidential agreements, and non-treaty accords have no binding authority nor legitimacy in the eyes of a sovereign people. Additionally, while freedom of movement is a natural right, a sovereign nation and the demands of the rule of law dictate that the crossing of international borders must be a regulated process, and the immigration of people from one country to another must be subject to the demands of security and stability.

20. A conservative believes in peace through strength. America should be the best of friends and the worst of enemies. The perpetuation of peace is not only best secured when free nations and free peoples bind themselves together willingly as friends and allies and keep full faith with one another; doing so is a reflection of national honor and character. It is a self-evident value that “to be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” While America should not go abroad “in search of monsters to destroy” and should avoid foreign entanglements that might involve us in conflicts of ambition and conquest, the best security for peace is the consistent and unquestioned policy of deterrence which, from time to time, requires the unflinching exercise of American military might against the enemies of peace and prosperity.

21. A conservative is color blind. While cultural traditions and unique beliefs and practices should be celebrated in a free nation populated by the descendants of immigrants from all over the world, neither race, creed, nor ethnicity should ever dictate different treatment under the rule of law. Justice is blind to any argument that seeks to discriminate against anyone for any reason. Every individual is of equal value under the eyes of God, and every citizen in a free society should have equal rights and consideration under the rule of law.

22. A conservative believes in secular government. Government should never involve itself in the establishment of religion. Government should never exercise its power to force the exercise of religion. While virtue is the highest end of society, it is not something that can be forced or coerced. The reason a conservative affirms liberty as the highest end of government, is because the practices of true religion and the only path to actual virtue must be freely chosen.

23. A conservative believes in the importance of morals and values in society, and that religion is the surest bedrock upon which to establish a moral people. While there should be a wall of separation between the exercise of governing power and the establishment of religion, this does not mean that religious speech is a lesser form of civic engagement, nor that the morals and values of religion should be forced to stay only in homes and houses of worship. Government should not be hostile to religion. Deeply held religious beliefs and morals should be allowed to inform the process of creating laws and governing society.

24. A conservative believes in the right of parents to raise their children. Until the age of majority, established as 18 years old in our society, the freedom that naturally belongs to every individual is safeguarded and held in trust by a child’s parents or legal guardians. This means no one in society can claim more of a right to make choices for the growth and development of a child than a parent. While government can and should safeguard children against abuse and make reasonable requirements regarding the education of children, parents should always be the penultimate voice in the destiny of their children.

25. A conservative believes in the importance of education for the maintenance of a free society. Every child has the right to a quality education. Government has a responsibility to ensure a K-12 education is provided to every child and to offer higher education opportunities to those who seek them. Parents have a responsibility to ensure their children attend school and should be personally involved in helping their children learn and grow. The government should both provide quality public education while also offering and supporting parents in the opportunity to choose other forms of quality education. While education is an endeavor of the government, free market principles should still inform the effort to provide the highest quality of education possible.

26. A conservative believes in freedom of association but also the right to work. Unions can be a healthy form of civic engagement, and a healthy exercise of the freedom of association. But so is a contract of employment. Union membership should never be a requirement to gain employment. Unions should voluntarily restrict themselves to efforts of collective bargaining and avoid involvement in partisan politics. If mandatory membership is allowed, unions should be legally barred from engaging in politics. Workers should not be forced to offer monetary support to political efforts they disagree with to maintain their livelihoods. Public unions are a distortion of representative government. The threat of withholding critical services to the community should never be used to hold elected officials hostage to union demands.