Character

David’s character, including his principles of respect, nonbias, teamwork, and opposition to both bribery and secrecy.

The golden rule.

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

– George Washington

“Laws control the lesser man. Right conduct controls the greater one.”

– Chinese Proverb

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

– Abraham Lincoln

Vote for Conscience

I treasure both keeping my conscience clean and allowing it to guide my decisions. My conscience is why I’m both a devout Christian and a devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who strives to conform to righteous ideals that include humility, honesty, mercy, chastity, and charity, plus the following five principles.

  • Respect. I believe in the Golden Rule, and I believe that it includes respect for others’ free will (or moral agency). I will never violate my neighbors’ equal God-given (or natural) rights, but I will always help my neighbors to defend their rights from others’ aggression so that they may remain free people.
  • Nonbias. I will champion everyone’s rights impartially, without respect for sex or age or education or ability or class or religion or race or party or any other characteristic that sometimes divides our society. I always side with victims over perpetrators, and with the general welfare over special interests.
  • Teamwork. I will serve as a lone voice of conscience to my fellow councilors as needed, but never with contention; when others might cast figurative stones, I prefer to toss figurative life-preservers, and I enjoy humbly building upon common ground toward unity around what’s true-and-right.
  • No Bribes. I will never attempt to bribe voters with items like free lunches or free tote-bags or free hot-air balloon rides, as candidates sometimes do, but I will always strive to earn voters through both personal virtue and political wisdom. If I can’t win on such criteria, then I’d rather lose.
  • No Secrets. I will keep Orem’s operations perfectly open to public scrutiny. I believe that a free society must remain well-informed to govern itself well, and that political secrecy is never justified except to conceal wartime secrets from enemy nations—and I never seek to conquer my constituents.

Along with conscientiously championing these principles, some people have described me as principled, pure-hearted, empathetic, charitable, generous, respectful, honest, smart, imaginative, creative, industrious, persistent, optimistic, patient, peaceful, and/or organized. I love to learn, I love to serve, and I love to strive for excellence.

On Openness

In 2014, Orem’s city manager presented a secret notice to Orem’s city council that they would need to raise additional revenue for Utah’s UTOPIA fiber-optic network. Such secrecy was entirely unjustified; Orem’s finances should remain open for all to scrutinize, and I will persistently strive to keep it so.