Gov. Spencer Cox enters the House Chamber of the Utah Capitol to deliver his 2022 State of the State address, Jan. 20, 2022 (Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune).
SALT LAKE CITY – In a State of the State speech that was often more like a pep talk than a status report, Gov. Spencer Cox urged lawmakers assembled in the state Capitol on Thursday and their constituents to not “give up on the idea of America.”
Given the no-holds-barred culture war being fought in Washington, D.C. and over America’s airwaves, Cox said he no longer believes the old adage that “all politics is local.”
“Today, all politics is national,” he countered. “And that is bad. Very bad.”
Cox’s remarks came just one day after a bitter battle in the halls of Congress over Democratic attempts to eliminate the filibuster in the U.S. Senate. The goal of that effort was to allow the Biden administration to use its razor-thin majority in the Senate to pass a so-called voting rights reform bill that would allow the federal government to usurp control of elections nationwide.
That attempt was defeated thanks to Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), who voted with their Republican colleagues to uphold the Senate’s traditional procedures.
Cox argued that too much of America’s current national rhetoric is driven by dubious cable news reports that are “terribly destructive.” Instead, he suggested a more moderate approach for both Republicans and Democrats.
“To my Republican friends, who feel like the world is moving too quickly and the other side is trying to change our very way of life,” the governor counseled, “I agree with George W. Bush who said: ‘Too often we judge other groups by their worst examples, while judging ourselves by our best intentions.’
“Please don’t give up on America.”
“And to my Democratic friends, who worry that our country is broken beyond repair because we are failing to take care of each other,” Cox added, “I agree with Bill Clinton, (who said) ‘There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.’
“Please don’t give up on the idea of America.”
Cox observed that Americans dreamed big in the past, but now seem to be too often looking down into the gutter.
“But not in Utah,” he argued. “Not yet, anyway. In Utah, we still look up … I firmly believe in my heart that if America is the last great hope of the world, then Utah is the last great hope of America.”
Cox added that Utahns now have the choice of becoming like every other state in the union or continuing to be “… that quirky state out West that still believes in working together.”
The benefits of working together, regardless of political affiliation, should be obvious to everyone, the governor suggested.
“Because of critical decisions that we made during the pandemic and the incredible resilience of Utahns,” he said, “our state is in the strongest fiscal condition ever with the largest rainy day fund, the lowest unemployment rate and the largest budget surplus in our state’s history.”