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Welcome to the blog of Connor Boyack, a 20-something web designer, political economist, and budding philanthropist.
I'm changing the world, one byte at a time.


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Fundraiser for the Sannar family

Posted by Connor on August 30th, 2010

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Update: News stories have been posted below.

Yesterday, a husband, father of six young sons, and LDS Bishop was murdered inside the chapel in which he was serving. In response to this tragic event, I established a fundraiser to help raise money for the family.

My mother and I distributed the link to friends and family, with an initial goal of $2,000. That goal was met within four hours, and has steadily been increased since then as the response has now become overwhelming. I have spent the entire morning today talking to reporters and answering questions about this fundraising effort.

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The Conservative Immigration Schism

Posted by Connor on August 26th, 2010

Doug Gibson, opinion editor for the the Standard-Examiner, recently interviewed me for a column on the topic of immigration. His article, "Conservatives disagree sharply over immigration reform", highlights what he refers to as “one of the most underreported stories”.

The four questions I was asked, including my replies (far more lengthy, of course, than can be included in a column) follow below:

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Of Mosques, Mormons, and Mob Mentality

Posted by Connor on August 24th, 2010

photo credit: cschwa17

On September 11, a group of individuals united by their faith brutally killed a large number of innocent people. Years later, other members of the religion to which these murderers belonged attempted to build a religious center nearby. Politicians did not protest, the media did not hype the construction of the building to manufacture controversy, and the nation remained largely ignorant of the religious edifice. If this sounds at odds with what America has witnessed in the past few days, that’s because it is.

The aforementioned scenario refers not to the wrongly-named “Ground Zero Mosque”, but to a couple of chapels outside of Cedar City, Utah, belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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Eight Questions, Three Candidates, One Response

Posted by Connor on August 20th, 2010

Recently, I submitted several questions to the U.S. Senate candidates for the Republican, Democratic, and Constitution parties. The questions relate to important issues I’ve observed throughout this campaign cycle, having myself served for six months on Republican Mike Lee’s campaign, which either were tip-toed around or altogether ignored. Hoping to get a bit more depth on these issues, and to encourage public debate, I told each candidate that I would be posting their responses on my blog for others to see.

I received a reply from Democrat Sam Granato’s campaign manager, Marla Kennedy, which stated:

We are declining your invitation to participate in your blog posting for the U. S. Senate race.

Read into that what you will. However, lest you be quick to write Mr. Granato off as a political twinkie for declining to respond, Republican Mike Lee, through campaign staff, sent the following:

We are going to decline to participate in this questionnaire.

That leaves us with Constitution Party candidate Scott Bradley. What, you might ask, is so problematic with the questions that they resulted in two candidates for high office refusing to publicly answer? Here are the questions; you be the judge:

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A Century of Murder

Posted by Connor on August 17th, 2010

photo credit: agitprop

The 20th century will be remembered throughout history for many things, such as the creation of the automobile, the computer revolution, and the globalization of industry. But while many important advancements and circumstances may compete for a spot in the history books, one simple word leaves all other considerations in the dust: death.

Death, of course, is a part of life. However, while tens of millions of individuals were sent to an early grave as a result of the many wars throughout the twentieth century, far more were likewise extinguished as a result of democide—government-sanctioned murder.

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Principled, Even When Difficult

Posted by Connor on August 12th, 2010

photo credit: Jérémie A.

It’s hard to discuss the immorality, illegality, or illegitimacy of a program or policy with a person who is benefiting, or has in the past benefited, from that program or policy. He who has profited from your pocket reacts with defensive disgust when explained, even in the nicest of terms, that what he has done is theft.

What’s further difficult about this situation is the pervasiveness of the programs that create such a situation. 90% of mortgages are now owned by the federal government; 41 million Americans now use food stamps; over 20 million people receive unemployment benefits; 47 million are enrolled in Medicare, and 58 million in Medicaid; and for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans receive more government aid than they paid in taxes.

Try telling your average recipient of these federal funds (confiscated from other individuals through taxation, burdened upon all by debt, or stolen from all by inflation) that these programs should not exist, and you’re likely to elicit an emotional story about a dire need that this financial assistance satisfied. An unemployed and low-skilled father of four, a sick child of a low-income couple, or some other situation comes fraught with tears and desperation. If you then tell the person that you’d support removing this opportunity for support, you quickly and naturally become the enemy.

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Proposition 8: The Allegedly Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendment

Posted by Connor on August 5th, 2010

photo credit: sammyd0971

Yesterday’s decision by Judge Walker, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, in favor of homosexual marriage advocates is the conclusion of the latest battle in the war against “traditional” marriage. Walker’s decision comes after a 2.5 week trial in January where 16 witnesses were summoned by Proposition 8 opponents, and two were summoned by proponents.

As review, voters in California last November gave their support in favor of Proposition 8 by a 52.3% margin, thus overturning a California Supreme Court decision that effectively struck down Proposition 22, passed a decade earlier, declaring marriage in California as being between a man and a woman. Proposition 8 placed the same language (“Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”) into the state’s constitution itself, thus circumventing the Supreme Court’s declaration of unconstitutionality.

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An Inversion of Political Intimidation

Posted by Connor on August 2nd, 2010

photo credit: Joel

Americans fear their government.

It was not supposed to be that way.

Despite only 11% of Americans having confidence in Congress, the masses seem either unwilling or unable to hold their representatives accountable and remove from office those whose (relatively) absolute power has absolutely corrupted them.

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Mormon Pioneers and their Modern-day Counterparts

Posted by Connor on July 24th, 2010

photo credit: dustmopjaguar

Today, Mormons worldwide memorialize the unjust and oppressive expulsion of their forbears from their homes in Illinois, and their subsequent migration westward to what is now the Salt Lake Valley. Utah’s government has, since its existence, recognized July 24th as a holiday, and Utahns of all faith and backgrounds join together in celebration, along with Latter-day Saints in other states and countries.

The pioneer trek was a direct result of mobocracy, and the forceful aggression of the Saints’ former neighbors and fellow citizens. Tempers flared, rhetoric exploded, and violence resulted far too often—and the government was a culprit, either looking the other way and ignoring the Saints’ pleas for protection, or sanctioning and sometimes instigating the violence, as was the case with Missouri Governor Boggs’ extermination order a few years prior.

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Immigration, Individual Rights, and the Constitution

Posted by Connor on July 14th, 2010

photo credit: unknownkarmic

I, an advocate of liberty and staunch defender of the Constitution, support amnesty for illegal immigrants.

What I just said is tantamount to political blasphemy, if not treason, in the eyes of conservatives. Right now, some readers are quite perplexed, trying to reconcile their understanding of my general political ideals with this latest revelation. How can one who positions himself as an advocate of the Constitution, the rule of law, sovereignty, etc., support amnesty in any way, shape, or form?

The answer to that question will manifest itself as we walk through several important facets of the issue to better grasp why I could possibly be for amnesty—and why you should support it as well. To start, and before diving into specifics, I’d like to propose a high-level ideal which our immigration policy should work towards if we’re to maximize individual liberty and prosperity.

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Utah Nullification: Encouraging our State Legislators to Assert Our Sovereignty

Posted by Connor on July 6th, 2010

Last weekend I received my copy of Tom Woods’ new book Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century. As I began reading it, I was impressed with its persuasive arguments for using state nullification as a method of keeping the federal government in check. Woods’ book reviews the history of nullification, and explains how it has played out in recent years.

As I was reading, though, I had a thought: this information is great, but if it’s to be effective, it needs to be in the hands of those who can actually use it.

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Independence Day: Just Another Holiday

Posted by Connor on July 4th, 2010

photo credit: FrogMiller

One day each year, Americans celebrate Independence Day—or better put, the “Fourth of July”. Flags are erected, fireworks are purchased en masse, parades are organized, and millions of pounds of meat are consumed. The celebrations and fanfare end, and America reverts back to its 364 days of normalcy, in which anything close to independence is rarely recognizable, often derided, and continually portrayed as unreasonable extremism.

The open secret, of course, is that the standard Fourth of July holiday activities have little to do with the remembrance and celebration of independence. Instead, the holiday has become a pseudo-nationalistic, self-congratulatory event during which participants express their love for America. Generally absent, however, are the activities that recall and reaffirm the conditions in which America was founded, and the application of those experiences and principles in our own day.

Consider just one example: how many individuals will, in celebration of Independence Day, read the brief yet powerful document that declared our independence? When was the last time the average American even so much as bothered to read a portion of it? When was the last time you read it?

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