Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes says he’s leaving office. He made for a dream that even after about eight months, hasn’t gone away, even when dreams usually do.
Except for one where I was in Trump’s quarters.
And at first, there was the usual talk: Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon.
But then he veered off. He started going deep into why capitalism, even unbridled, was truth. He started making a case for why money was more than neutral and that the account of Jesus throwing money-changers out of the temple was among those parts of the New Testament gospels that were added after other parts.
Then he did the same for Machiavellian behavior. He said that taking advantage of others was part of the way to prepare for godhood, as that will happen as part of eternal progression.
(One thing I can’t remember from the Sunday School portion is exact quotes, though I do remember there were occasions in which he made particular sayings.)
My ex was with me and we decided that we would not subject our toddlers to this (why they were in Sunday School and not primary, I’m not sure). So then we started walking to our apartment complex.
But then Hughes came around the corner at the complex, asking why we left. We were startled he was there. But then we gave as brief an answer as we could. The high-profile elected official in a state nearly two-thirds Mormon replied by saying that he needed the Sunday School teacher position to be able to endear himself to constituents, starting with his ward as the epicenter. And having a visible position within that epicenter, he viewed advantageous.
Then he asked about our toddlers and I said that I would not tell him a thing about them, concerned that he would use it for a political purpose somehow….. and the dream ended.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that folks are having dreams about this guy when Utah Gov. Gary Herbert seems to have nightmares about Hughes – it’s been said that Herbert wanted Trump to hire him, as Trump considered, since Hughes would no longer be a thorn in the side of Herbert, more moderate in policy and tone.
Perhaps I’ll no longer have dreams of Hughes since he won’t be running again. Until he campaigns for governor. After all, “he might be the most powerful man in Utah politics (if he could just stay out of trouble).”
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