When the president may arbitrarily target companies or institutions with punitive actions and our elected officials remain silent, he creates an unpredictability environment that damages all companies.
(Eric Lee | The New York Times) President Donald Trump speaks while he meets President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador in the Oval Ovale Blanche office in Washington, Monday, April 14, 2025.
As the owner of a small business that spent the last decade building my business from scratch, I have always counted on the republican members of the Utah Congress to defend the free market principles on which they are pride. These principles – limited government intervention, fair competition and economic freedom – are not only conservative discussion points, they are the foundation on which companies like mine thrive.
This is why the deafening silence of the fully republican delegation of Utah concerning President Donald Trump Recent Exaggerated Executive is not only disappointing – it is an abandonment of the very principles that they claim to defend.
When the Supreme Court ruled That the Trump administration did not give up Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia and ordered his return to the United States, our representatives of the Congress remained mainly silent as a The president openly challenged a direct order of the highest courtyard in the country. The rule of law – A principle of foundation for the stable markets – has been undermined, and none of the federal representatives of UTAH, found it good to defend it. When finally representative Mike Kennedy acted, it was at Encourage the presidential and unconstitutional behavior of the president.
The most blatant is perhaps the hypocrisy displayed by my own member of the Congress, the representative Burgess Owens. During an American event for prosperity of April 16 in LehiOwens was positioned as a “preservative -free market curator”, arguing that Utahns know better than the federal government how to spend their money. However, this same member of the Congress called President Trump an “absolute genius” entrepreneur after the president The implementation of the price of the “Liberation Day” and Trump at reverse course.
How can Owens claim to support free markets while renting government interference that caused market volatility? How can he defend economic freedom while remaining silent when The president threatens to expel American citizens or interfere with the economic position and the operation of private companies as Susman Godfrey And Institutions like Harvard?
This inconsistency extends beyond Owens. Sense. Mike Lee and John Curtis, as well as the Blake Moore representatives, Celeste Maloy and Mike Kennedy, have all campaigned on limited government platforms and economic freedom. Yet when presented with Clear examples of government surpassing Who threaten these principles, they choose capitulation and sycophance on the conservative principles of the foundation.
As a business owner, I depend on the regulatory certainty and the rule of law. When the president may arbitrarily target companies or institutions with punitive actions and our elected officials remain silent, he creates an unpredictability environment that damages all companies. Today, it is perhaps a company that does not align with the administration policy; Tomorrow it could be mine.
The grant freezing of $ 2 billion on Harvard which The Owens representative called “an excellent idea” establishes a dangerous precedent. Whether or not we agree with Harvard policies, the use of federal funding as a political weapon against private institutions introduces government coercion in what should be market -oriented decisions.
Real conservatives should be alarmed by this expansion of executive power. Real free market defenders should condemn the use of government authority to choose the winners and losers in the private sector.
These representatives have promised to defend the principles of the free market and the constitutional constraints of government power. Instead, they chose the partisan loyalty to the economic philosophy they claim to guide them.
Utah deserves representatives who will defend real conservative principles even when it is politically difficult. Entrepreneurs and business owners of our state depend on the coherent application of free market ideals – and not on the rhetoric of beautiful times that changes the White House.
(Alex Thompson) Alex Thompson is a consultant in public and legal policy and founder of West Public Affairs.
Alex Thompson is a consultant in public and legal policy and founder of West Public Affairs.
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