As a former state representative who publicly took on Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox, I know what it’s like to challenge the establishment. Smoke filled rooms of “elite decision makers” deciding what us lowly citizens should think and do, and what we should spend money on. 

There is supposed to be tension between the legislature and the governor, and there often is, except on two things: spending more money and making more laws. When you get a body of 435 people together in Congress — or in my case, 75 in the Utah House — everyone wants their piece for their pet project. The one question no one seems to ask is, what is the prope role of government?

Ezra Taft Benson, the Secretary of Agriculture under Eisenhower and a renowned constitutionalist, once said “It stands to reason that the government itself has no innate power or privilege to do anything. Its only source of authority and power is from the people who have created it."

Yet each day, laws are created that impact everyone, and no one speaks a word about it. Unfortunately it's not you and I influencing those laws but rather, whoever writes the biggest checks. 

As a firm believer that capitalism is the great equalizer that puts us all on a level playing field. It’s cronyism that picks winners and losers.

Here in Utah, our state government approved a project that would spend over $1 billion (and in some studies much much higher) in taxpayer funds to build a gondola to transport wealthy skiers to two resorts. That price tag costs every single household in the state of Utah over $1,000. All to help wealthy skiers be transported to wealthier ski resorts. 

In what stretch of the imagination would spending $1 billion+ to transport skiers to resorts be a justifiable use of taxpayer dollars? The sad truth is it’s not, but thanks to favors and deals the taxpayers are on the hook. 

How do we possibly stop things like this in the future? Accountability. I am a firm believer that primaries create accountability, and when given truth, voters choose truth. This last year I did the unthinkable and challenged an incumbent governor in the primary.

Through the process of running for governor we learned that Utahns are tired of being lied to. We swept the convention, outperformed all expectations in the primary and the received the highest number of write-in votes in U.S. history. I assure you this: With more money and without a lieutenant governor tipping the scales to their benefit we would have won. 

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We didn’t have millions of dollars for TV ads, we had moms and dads eagerly knocking doors. We didn't have the Republican Governors Association, we had farmers volunteering their time after long days of work. We didn’t have legacy media, we had concerned citizens speaking out on social media. 

Why did we have so much success? My campaign focused on the need for transparency and on taking away our government's ability to pick winners and losers. I had seen the backroom deals that happen in government and I was taking a stand against it. Hundreds of thousands joined me. I was honored to have the support of so many, but it wasn’t me, it was what I represented: transparency. We need transparency in government. Voters deserve to know who’s writing and influencing the laws they are required to live by and why their tax dollars go to fund things like resorts while their own roads need work or while sheriffs don’t have the funds to fight illegal immigration! 

The only way to combat conspiracy is through transparency and we owe it to our voters to give them that. We owe it to our voters to give them the ability to make an informed decision and we owe it to them to tell them the TRUTH.

Phillip Kay Lyman is an American politician from Utah. He formerly served as a member of the Utah House of Representatives.