Dr. William Lansing Taylor
No campaign spending.
No party affiliation.
No human being has the right to impose their will on another.
June 11th, 2024 - I announce candidacy for Lieutenant Governor of the State of Utah on a platform of climate activism, criminal justice reform, and education reform.
Climate Activism
Utah has the pioneer spirit. I propose we found the Franklin Shoemaker Institute for Thermo-Atmospheric Engineering with a ten-year mission to evaluate and implement geo-technical mitigation of severe inversion in the Salt Lake valley before the 2034 Olympics. Just like we move mountains for mines and bend rivers to make arable land, so too we can manage the air to our advantage. Beyond cloud seeding for rain, no one has seriously tried to alter the temperature and humidity of large air masses or to steer the weather. Envisioned as a collaborative effort including the Utah Air Quality Board, the Atmospheric Science Departments from selected Utah universities, and other relevant public and private entities, the concept is to engineer a system that induces air circulation to be deployed on days of extreme pollution. The details of the solution are yet to be determined but might include fans, radiators and sprayers, possibly utilizing existing public street and sewer systems, and possibly based on volunteer engagement from the community. It might be as easy as having everyone spray warm water on their roof. If successful, at the winter games, Utah will be first to showcase atmospheric engineering for mitigation of pollution. A local model with global potential, atmospheric engineering may provide a path to mitigate the global climate crisis (1). It might be as easy as spraying warm water on sea ice across the arctic regions using the cold of winter to re-freeze the polar ice caps. We can reverse warming trends and provide an extended reprieve from global warming.
1. Desch et al., 2017
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016ef000410
Criminal Justice Reform
Our criminal justice system poses a significant threat to the well-being of ordinary citizens. Over-criminalization and imposition of inflated consequence are the modus operandi chosen to fuel the criminal justice economy. Collusion, racketeering, and extortion are endemic. The injustice is deep and complex, but is perpetuated most obviously by prosecutor bias. Prosecutors select evidence to construct a story of their own imagination that portrays the accused as criminal. Most juries don't really realize that the story is the imagination of the prosecutor not the evidence itself. The story plants ideas that violate our right to fair trial and to the assumption of innocence. To achieve a more equitable system, I want to see the Prosecutorial Anti-Projection Bill enacted, which forbids state prosecutors from speculating about the thoughts and feelings of people they have never met. Conviction must be based on evidence not speculation.
I will support any existing or new initiative that aims to make criminal justice more humane. I support limiting the power of prosecutors and judges, I support reducing sentences, I support decriminalizing acts related to mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness. Being a victim is not a crime. I support any initiative to reduce the size and expenditures of the criminal justice system.
Education Reform
I would like to see a Student Bill of Rights. Central to the bill will be the condition that school activities be limited to school hours and that school hours not exceed the standards for adult employment in the community. The goal is to reduce the pervasive traumatization of our children that comes from homework. Homework pollutes the sanctuary of home and damages the parent child-relationship by placing parents in collusion with the authority of school. To meet the terms of the bill, I suggest we consider extending school hours to match the adult working day but that allocation of student time within the school day will be divided equally between education (teaching and practice), guided hands-on humanities (art, music, theater, crafts, spirituality, and sport), and supervised unstructured time (recess). Individual schools may structure their time allocations as they wish. The bill would allow for voluntary participation in rehearsals, club meetings, sports held before or after normal school hours or on the weekend, but opt-outs are guaranteed equal opportunity for daytime programs. Curriculum is unaffected.
I will support any existing initiative that reduces the impact of school in the lives of children. I am against homework, against grading, against judgment and punishment. I am against any adult who dominates the time, action, thoughts, or feelings of children. It's time to leave kids alone.