Polls show that the majority of Utahns are willing to pay higher taxes to support better education, yet the Utah Legislature, controlled by the Republican Party, has for two decades consistently voted to reduce funding for K-12. Vicki Rasely asks, “Who keeps voting for these people?” (“Funding dearth,” Forum, July 7) Who indeed? That is the elephant in the schoolroom.
That elephant is Mormon voters. Over the past 30 years, Mormon culture seems to have changed such that it has become socially unacceptable to vote for a Democrat, no matter how conservative. This has guaranteed Republicans’ re-election, regardless of how they vote. Against voters’ wishes, they have consistently voted to defund education, and voters have repeatedly re-elected them anyway.