What I have learned thus far...

I recently contacted Bryan Thompson of the Utah County Clerk's office. I decided to call the county clerks office because they are the individuals in charge of processing applications for marriage licenses in Utah county. When I talked to Mr. Thompson, he informed me that Utah county does not have an official premarital counseling program, but they do offer a Utah Marriage Handbook. This handbook is supposed to be given to each couple that receives a marriage license (personal note: Having applied for a marriage license in the recent past, I know that this is not the case). Mr. Thompson was kind enough to send me a booklet in the mail. Although Mr. Thompson told me what he knew, it seems that our own Utah Healthy Marriage Initiatives are all but forgotten.

To be able to form more lasting change, I believe the answer is in providing engaged couples resources to ensure success. If this is simply putting Utah Marriage Handbooks on the county clerk's desk so couples can pick them up if they like, this would be enough! The problem is that programs are in place but they are not being utilized by our own government, which condemns them to failure before they have even begun.

Utah Healthy Marriage Initiative

Throughout my study of marriage and families at BYU, I have become passionate helping individuals create stronger marriages. I have learned that each state has something called a Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI) which sounds fancy but it simply means what each state is doing to help its citizens have better, stronger marriages. There are a few states that are doing quite well with their HMI, but sadly Utah is not doing so hot. The resource (yes, resource. Singular as in just one) they provide is a website entitled strongermarriages.org. It offers many different resources on things such as finances, preparation for parenthood, general tips for improving your marriage and a listing of couple relationship education retreats in your area. I was quite impressed with all that this website is doing. But unfortunately, if I wasn't currently studying Family Life I would be unaware that such a website existed. In an attempt to remedy this, I emailed the coordinator over the Stronger Marriages website. I suggested to the coordinator, Melanie Reese, that small brochures or business cards be placed in strategic location so that engaged couples can be made aware of these resources. Strongermarriages.org isn't doing a bad job at publicizing their website, in fact they have recently come out with four TV spots that tell people about their website. But in this situation, I believe more is better. The more publicized their services become, the more likely that couples will turn to Utah's own HMI for help with their marriage.

P.S. If you think I've abandoned the political route, think again. I have also emailed a Utah County Commissioner and the County Clerk to see how Utah is implementing the HMI. I hope that by working with both strongermarriages.org and our own government officials we will be able to combine forces and create a stronger coalition to support healthy marriages.

Dear Legislator,

If you think I've abandoned my cause you are very mistaken. Over the past few days, I've been researching the Utah Code. I've found some interesting laws that are on the books, but to my knowledge, have not been enforced. Having recently been married myself, my husband and I were not informed of any premarital counseling services available nor were we given a handbook on creating a healthy marital relationship. Yet, we were supposed to be made aware of both these services upon obtaining our marriage license. Throughout my study of family life, I have come to believe that preventative education is much more helpful than therapy later (Isn't it better to build a fence at the top of a cliff, as opposed to placing an ambulance at the bottom?). It is for this reason that I find the lack of enforcing public policy most appalling. The laws are in place, why are we not enforcing them?

In search for the answer to my question, I've researching a variety of Utah laws, legislators and county clerks to find the reason why such information is not being given out. I am currently drafting a letter to my legislators to make them aware of my concerns. Hopefully this yields more fruitful results than prior attempts at understanding family public policy.

And the verdict is...

Throughout my search for the perfect political candidate that champions all the family programs that I hold near and dear to my heart, I have found that such a candidate does not exist. I have come to believe that the vehicle for such change does not lie within the vague platforms of presidential candidates, but within those that have the power to change state laws--our very own Utah state legislators. Now, without further adieu we will proceed to Utah.

Gary Johnson--The People's President

Thus far, all the positions that have been posted have been largely from Republican candidates (as they are those seeking for nomination), with the exception of the standpoint of our current president, Barack Obama. I decided that I needed to be a little more fair and throw in yet another political party's standpoint.

Gary Johnson is a member of the Libertarian party and as such believes that the government should have a very small role in the lives of individuals. In fact, the Libertarian party's slogan is "Maximum Freedom, Minimum Government". Seems like an interesting approach. Now what does Mr. Johnson have to say about families?

It's none of the government's business. Yet, upon further inspection of his official position (as shown by the picture above) the rainbow flag subtly supports gay marriage. But this is none of the government's business. Interesting, very interesting.

Barack Obama--Running for Reelection

President Barack Obama has bigger fish to fry. Or so it appears from the issues he has listed on his website, little things like jobs, the economy, and healthcare. While the current issues Mr. President is tackling may not contain any family public policy, let's look at what Obama has done during his presidency for the family.

In 1996, President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act which defines marriage as between one man and one woman. While President Obama has been in office, he has said that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional and would no longer defend DOMA in court. While this act was a great victory for the LGBT community, it undermined the traditional family. Yet, as we have discussed previously, only a fragment of the population identifies as homosexuals and therefore, this legislation will impact only few.

Ron Paul--Restore America Now

After delving into the Ron Paul campaign website, I was disappointed to see no information whatsoever on his stance on the family. I requested correspondence with Mr. Ron Paul himself, but alas, will probably never receive any. In the mean time, the nearest thing to a position on family life is Ron Paul's stance on the sanctity of life itself. Mr. Paul has a very strong pro-life standpoint, deeming himself the "A Pro-Life Champion". Although this is an important topic, I believe there is so much more that needs to be done to help families, not just those that are debating between abortion or life. The search for a politician that will support family life policies continues on.

Rick Santorum--Fighting to Make America America again

As the self-proclaimed "Champion of Faith & Families", Rick Santorum uses appeals to our emotions by mentioning his active role as a husband, father of 7 children, and Little League coach (funny how one candidate asks us to forget his family life entirely while another wants us to be aware of every detail of his family life). Little League coaching aside, Santorum states that he is pro-life and supported many bills to preserve the sanctity of human life. Additionally, Santorum supported the Federal Marriage Amendment that would maintain the traditional definition of marriage between one man and one woman. Here again, I support Santorum's position as an upholder of traditional marriage, yet his policies still seem to be lacking components that would impact the average American. But if you're looking for a candidate who supports traditional marriage, Santorum is bound to do so (and Romney too for that matter...)

Newt Gingrich--Unleash the American People, Rebuild the America We Love

And now I give you Mr. Newt Gingrich. Upon perusal of his website, I found that instead of focusing on his family values supported by his less than fantastic track record in his personal life he simply asks us to forgive and forget his past familial misdeeds. Understandably so, Newt Gingrich doesn't delve too deeply into family issues. His official position simply states that he is pro-life and will continue to be so throughout his presidency. There again is a swing and a miss at the issue of marriage and family life. I'm becoming more and more convinced that the answer to change that is needed to strengthen families will be found far from Washington D.C.

Mitt Romney--Believe in America

After glancing through Mitt Romney's campaign website, it was obvious that Mitt wanted to promote his image as a family man. From his video on the Mitt and Ann romance (A Love Story and A Love Story Continues) it is easy to see his family values (with perhaps a touch of hidden agenda...but hey, he's a politician. Can you blame him?).

Upon further inspection, I found his views on Marriage and the Family. Mitt strongly believes in the preservation of the traditional family and will show this through his support for the creation of a Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution that will define marriage in the traditional sense--between one man and one woman. While I appreciate Romney taking a firm stand on defending traditional marriage and preserving the sanctity of marriage as a social institution, I think more needs to be done to strengthen already existing heterosexual marriages. In fact, only 3.5% of Americans currently identify themselves as homosexual, which leaves 96.5% of heterosexual Americans with no federal laws to support their own marriages. More needs to be done on both the federal and state levels to support marriage.

In an effort to gain more information on Mitt's views about families, I emailed "Mitt" (a.k.a. an automatically generated email response system) to see what his policies on families are. The response is as follows:

Jenni,

Thank you for contacting me to learn more about my views on family. I appreciate your interest in my campaign for president.

The family unit serves an important purpose in society. We must preserve its central role in shaping the character of future generations and fight to promote a culture of life in America. I hope you’ll take the time to read about my views on marriage and life at www.MittRomney.com/issues/values.

I am running for president because I believe in America and know that our best days are still ahead. I believe that the principles that made America the leader of the world today – freedom, opportunity, and free enterprise to name just a few – are the very principles that will keep America the leader of the world tomorrow. These last few years have not been the best of times. But, while we’ve lost a few years, we have not lost our way.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I encourage you to visit my website at www.MittRomney.com for updated information on this and other issues that may be of interest to you. I look forward to hearing from you in the future and earning your support.

Sincerely,

Mitt Romney

While I appreciated hearing back from Mitt almost instantly, this email leaves something to be desired about his views on family legislation. Alas, the key to change in family politics may lie within state legislation. But, I will continue to profile different presidential candidates so we can all make informed decisions on which candidate will support the family in general. The quest continues...

The quest for knowledge begins with google

As someone who knows absolutely nothing about politics, I really didn't know where to start. So I got on the good old google search engine and started looking around. After finding a few interesting sites, I finally found one that would list all the candidates running (that actually had a shot at getting enough delegates to be elected) for the Republican party. If you're wondering why I'm forgetting about the Democrats, it's because the Democratic party will most likely nominate President Obama for reelection (if the tradition to do so remains). As such, I am going to focus on the prominent Republican candidates and also profile President Obama's views on family politics. Look here to see where I found my information on the current presidential candidates. Happy reading!

Breaking the Silence

As a general rule, I try to stay out of politics as much as possible. No matter what I say, I end up looking like an uneducated fool or offending some family member or passerby. And although a nagging voice in the back of my head tells me to be a responsible citizen, to become educated about the issues, and to encourage others to do the same..I typically just vote how my parents tell me to.

And thus the vicious cycle of lack of political education continues and so does my rule of silence on all things political. Although something happened this semester that may have changed my perspective. While in a Family & Public Policy class, I've learned all the good (and bad) that legislation can do for families. And while I like to stay as politically neutral as possible...legislation that supports the well-being of families is something worth breaking the silence for.

And so I decided to do my duty as an upstanding citizen and become educated about the issues--particularly how political candidates and our current leaders view family legislation and what they are doing to make things better. This blog is not meant to endorse any political campaign, but is merely a way to make people educated about what is currently happening in family legislation (on both the state and federal levels) and how to support public policy that will positively impact the family. And so ends the silence...