If I added up all the years that I spent outside the borders of Wyoming, the total would be about a dozen out of my 75. That includes traipsing around Italy and Mexico for years, college in Colorado, working in Texas and New Mexico, and generally seeing what was around me.
I was born and raised in the Big Empty, indulged my case of wanderlust and kept coming back home. My dad told me more than once that my roots are as deep in Wyoming as anyone’s, they’re just a good bit stretchier.
Let’s talk about deep Wyoming roots.
What do deep roots mean in a modern age of transience, when Americans behave like nomads constantly moving from place to place to find a home? States lose population, and states gain population as people uproot themselves seeking a better place.
That’s a fact of life and not necessarily a bad one. After all, this is America and the freedom to move around is one of the blessings of our shared liberty. All of us in Wyoming came from somewhere else, whether we arrived last year or 10,000 years ago. We came from the Big Elsewhere to put down roots here.
Now let’s talk about politics.
Newcomers are welcome in Wyoming right up to the point that they try to rearrange the political life of the Cowboy State. That’s where we draw a line in the dust and plant our boot heels. We do that because we are a conservative state — conservative in the truest sense of the word.
We like to conserve the good stuff that works and has served us well for generations. We don’t embrace change for the sake of change. Conservative is who we are as people, and only a fraction of that is political.
Newcomers to Wyoming who want to jump right in and change our political culture would be wise to remember that. The Freedom Caucus falls into that category.
Just because someone was on a chamber of commerce in Missouri or hosted a podcast in California doesn’t mean that they qualify to govern in Wyoming. Reading about Wyoming on the internet is very different from learning about Wyoming from grandparents who spent their lives here. Very different!
Understanding the soul of Wyoming does not come quickly. Wyomingites who have experienced our booms and busts, droughts and bitter winters have acquired that understanding honestly. Wyoming teaches us her cyclical nature and resilience in the face of it. That takes time, and that’s why deep roots matter.
It takes time to watch the everyday antagonisms and animosities among neighbors — over fences, water or the vagaries of life — dissolve when an imminent disaster requires everyone to work together. Only then will someone realize that in Wyoming, “neighbor” is a verb.
Learn how to wear that Stetson before you toss it into the political ring.
Exploiting our difference is not Wyoming; neighboring is. Anyone who doesn’t understand that will get steamrolled when we come together.
It takes time among Wyomingites to realize that our small towns and counties are the bone structure of our state, not tax burdens that hold us back. That same lesson is learned at the feet of grandparents with deep Wyoming roots. And nobody who has learned that lesson is willing to sacrifice that part of Wyoming on the altar of the political dogma du jour.
It also takes time to absorb how deeply the “live and let live” ethos is ingrained in Wyoming citizens.
The lesson about how we detest being shoved around by outsiders can only be learned by harsh experience. The Johnson County War is a case in point. I’d advise newcomers to study up on it.
Wyoming cannot be understood on the surface. She can only be understood from the roots up.
Anyone moving to Wyoming and telling us to forget our heritage and its lessons, that it’s time to tear down what our forebears built to make way for something new, is speaking blasphemy with an out-of-state accent. Make sure your bullshit detectors pick up on it.
I am heartened to see many good, deeply rooted Wyoming citizens announce for important political offices this election cycle. They offer that generational wisdom that we need today. The mess that Freedom Caucus political newcomers made of things will take steady hands and a lot of neighboring to clean up. But I like our chances if we listen to our roots.
I’ll close by saying to newcomers to the Big Empty, welcome! But before you run for political office, take the time to get to know this place. Don’t try to tell us that how things are done in Michigan or Tennessee is how they should be done here. Grow some Wyoming roots first. Learn how to wear that Stetson before you toss it into the political ring.