Description

From publisher's site:

From the tempestuous fight for statehood to the evolution of Utah voters from Democrats to Republicans, Rod Decker analyzes the intersection of politics and faith in the complex political culture of modern Utah. Beginning with the state’s roots as a communal theocracy, Utah Politics deftly examines how Mormon morality influenced and continues to shape conflicts on both the local and federal levels.

Whether determining the role nuclear fallout played in causing cancer epidemics throughout the state or the influence of Mormon lobbyists, Decker demonstrates how the rose that blossomed in the desert was sometimes fertilized by conspiracy, debate, and political machination.

Some themes reoccur: governors become popular by fighting federal oversight—signaling a lingering distrust that Washington could alter the Mormon way of life—and liberals use the court system to circumvent conservative legislatures who see public morality as a defining feature of government.

Through this lens, issues both deceptively innocuous and deeply complex underscore Utah’s dance with religious freedom and civil liberty.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Second Separation

1. The Founding
2. The Republican Ascendancy
3. Public Morality
4. Demography: Families and Children
5. Economy
6. The Time of Disorder

Issues of Land and Climate

7. The Downwinders' Tale
8. Downwinder Politics
9. Water
10. Federal Land

The Republican Ascendancy

11. The Utah State Legislature
12. Utah's Governors
13. Governing
14. Courts and Public Law
15. Budgeting, Spending, Taxing, Revolting
16. Utah Schools
17. Recapitulation

Bibliography
Index