This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A well-regarded personality profiling tool I have taken and studied in my business career contains a section that explains how, when taken to extremes, our strengths can become weaknesses (blindspots).

For most of my adult life, I have identified myself as a political conservative. But over the years, I have observed the long march of growing strength by the Republican Party in our state and wondered: Have conservative strengths been taken to extremes that now weaken us?

Have we developed our conservative strengths into a blind spot? Is a veto-proof supermajority in both houses of the Legislature the best way to make sound public policy? Should the conservative march continue until everyone at the policymaking table is a Republican?

Surely, we cannot believe it is wise to eliminate every last divergent viewpoint from the democratic republican process that is our government. Balance and moderation are virtues that should be practiced in all areas of our lives — including government.

To the end of restoring some much-needed balance, of restoring vision to a blind spot, I propose we seek out and vote for the many thoughtful, experienced, able, moderate, candidates to be found among Utah's Democratic Party.

William F. Anderson

South Salt Lake