The first telegram sent from Utah over the newly completed transcontinental wire was written and dispatched by President Brigham Young in 1861, during the early stages of the American Civil War : “Utah,” he said, “is firm for the constitution and laws of our once happy country.”
It would be difficult for me to be more proud of my adopted state than I am right now. Overwhelmingly, the people of Utah again stood firm for the Constitution, as well as for decency and civility.
I would need to check in order to be certain, but I believe that last night’s Utah caucus results constitute — by a considerable margin — the worst defeat that Mr. Donald Trump has sustained during the current presidential campaign. This is something that we can take satisfaction in for years, whatever the ultimate outcome of this political race, and a glory and an honor for the state and its people.
I’m also very pleased that Senator Jeff Flake [R-AZ] and Representative Matt Salmon [R-AZ], the Latter-day Saint members of Arizona’s congressional delegation, have endorsed candidates other than the current Republican frontrunner.
“Will the Constitution be destroyed?” asked Brigham Young. “No: it will be held inviolate by this people; and, as Joseph Smith said, ‘The time will come when the destiny of the nation will hang upon a single thread. At that critical juncture, this people will step forth and save it from the threatened destruction.’ It will be so.” (Journal of Discourses 7:15)
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