A new year is a natural time for reflection and looking ahead. This year promises to be another important one for Wyoming, with a major statewide election and big decisions to be made about our state’s future. Looking ahead to the coming year, what are some of the major political issues we are likely to see debated?
Opinion
One key issue that will be at the forefront of many debates is what we should expect of local and county governments. Last year, the Wyoming Legislature instituted significant cuts to funding for local and county governments. Just one year in, we have seen counties and municipalities dipping into reserves to make ends meet, programs shutting down and services ending. This will only continue as reserves run out and local elected officials must make decisions on where to spend fewer and fewer dollars.
We will see whether the people of Wyoming approve of this new style of government as roads deteriorate, infrastructure like sewer and water goes without necessary maintenance, and local services like parks, street plowing, libraries and senior centers are defunded.. Local government is often the most responsive and most impactful for our day-to-day lives, but current trends point to less local control and more power being concentrated in the state capital in Cheyenne. Expect this debate to continue.
Access to quality and affordable health care is also likely to be a major issue. Wyoming has unique challenges in this area, as our large state, low population and dispersed cities make it difficult to provide access to necessary health care across the state. We simply do not have the population base to support the full range of necessary services in all communities. Some hospitals in smaller population centers have already stopped providing vital services. For example, cities like Evanston, Rawlins, Wheatland and Kemmerer have seen their hospitals close or pause inpatient maternity services, leaving these communities without a place where expecting mothers can have their children. They must now drive to other communities, sometimes hours away, to receive necessary care. Determining how to provide health care, especially in rural communities, in a way that is economically viable for both the providers and patients, is a massive issue that we have not made much progress on yet. As our population ages, this issue is likely to become more and more urgent.
Education is also likely to be at the forefront of many debates. Our state constitution requires the Legislature to fund a top-quality education, although the question of how and what should be included is a matter of significant debate. The Wyoming Supreme Court is considering two cases that are likely to have major implications on the future of education in Wyoming, as it decides whether the state can issue direct payments to parents for non-public education and whether the state has adequately funded our public system. Regardless of the outcome of these cases, public schools in Wyoming still must provide education in an ever-changing environment. Education is the single largest expense of our state budget and will undoubtedly demand major attention.
Perhaps the greatest question for the long-term outlook of our state is how we stem the tide of outmigration of our young people. We are an attractive state for retirees or those who have already built a career or business, but we fall behind when it comes to those starting professional life. The answer is not just low taxes. If that were the case, we would be in great shape, as our tax burden is among the lowest in the nation. We must decide to do something more to build places where families are confident they can prosper. Quality careers, access to amenities beyond just our outdoors, the education, health care and community infrastructure that gives people confidence that they can meet their necessary needs at home. All of these are areas that require attention and are likely to be major issues of public debate in the coming year.
All these topics have a common thread. They all wrestle with the question of what our state looks like in the future and what type of lives our fellow citizens will lead. We must decide whether we want prosperity or whether we want to hold fast and watch the society around us wither away. Most voters do not spend their time following legislative debates or subscribing to political dogma. They want to live good lives, provide for their families and feel like they are making progress. Political decisions can make all the difference when it comes to how our families and communities operate. Let’s hope that all of us, citizens and officials alike, recognize the importance of finding the right solutions to the questions ahead.
It’s important to donate as much as we can to candidates who don’t support the freedom caucus. Volunteer for them, make calls, door knock, host fundraiser parties. The FC candidates have big money behind them, but working together, they can be defeated.
Glad I went to school(Cody)before they started cutting programs. Took metal, welding, automotive, and wood shop. Also got driver’s ed. To this day, I have never had to take the driving portion of a test thanks to that class. I have used those skills taught to me all my life. It’s a real shame when I work with kids from the same school that don’t even have basic working skills because those classes are now all gone. I shudder to think of all the money and time it would have required to take those classes after graduating high school. I went on to more training and became an ASE Certified technician, all because of my educational experience at the highschool level. I got a bumper sticker from a teacher once, hung on my bedroom door, it will stick with me forever: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
That is so true man! Ignorant people get rolled in our society. And, now with the proposed sales tax, instead of property tax, the ignorant are going to get rolled even harder. It turns out our schools are also passing through a bunch of functionally illiterate kids–and do not have any real help for kids with dyslexia.
It’s a pity that hot-button issues that are actually non-issues seem to work effectively to get votes for people whose primary goal seems to be starving our institutions to death. The Freedom Caucus is funded by out of state PACs, people who like to donate anonymously, in other words, greedy rich people who don’t want to contribute to society. Gender identity, really? When is the last time the existence of trans person had any effect on your life? Abortion? Have you been forced to have an abortion? How does the outcome of someone else’s pregnancy affect you? Immigration? Do you have MS-13 gang members on your block? Are immigrants taking your job, or are they collecting welfare? Both somehow? All the immigrants I have met are doing hard jobs and are family people like the rest of us. Maybe investing in more judges and clerical staff would help everyone get their paperwork in order. No jack booted thugs needed. Thoughtful candidates who talk about real issues that have tangible effects on life in Wyoming get drowned out by the right-wing noise machine.
Great points. When one looks at these cultural issues we need to understand why our leaders and those that have influence (political reps, party leaders, mainstream media, social media, PAC’s, etc.) have been successful in using them to divide us and provide themselves with power and money. Leaders on the right and left are using fear as motivator. The world has/continues to change and our leaders are using that as a way to sow fear and give themselves money and power.
It is my opinion that there is a real fear as the world changes quickly and people are struggling with the changes. Leaders are using that fear to their advantage – example: it’s not my fault that the factory is closing, it’s the fault of those people coming across the border. How? Who’s making the choice to close the factory?Remember in the Wizard of Oz when the Great Wizard said “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain…”
Too many of our reps in Cheyenne continue to look at the past with rose colored glasses instead of looking to where we are going. Money from severance taxes has been great for WY taxpayers for 50 years, it’s going down and is going to continue on that path. Our state leaders can’t just cut our way to tax financial security. Cutting taxes is great for the billionaire in Jackson as they can afford all the other stuff, but how is it great for the single mom of 2 in Rawlins working for minimum wage who has to pay for insurance, daycare, school supplies, etc.? She’s probably using additional services to provide for her and her family. I know I couldn’t raise a family on $7.25/hour. So what are our leaders going to do to provide needs and wants (like good roads, good drinking water, policing services, fire and EMT services, etc.) for all WY citizens? Today and in the future. Costs will continue to rise.
Too many of our state reps are focused on trying to implement their want of christian nationalism and trying to limit others. Instead of just complaining over and over that taxes are to too high, have our reps identified (real reasons not their personal bias) why have they risen? If the decision is made to cut taxes and municipal services who is going to benefit, and who is going to suffer? Are we really in a tax hole where so many services and needs have to be curtailed because we can’t pay for them? Or is a short term want by the freedom caucus leadership that will cause long term issues? Example: Failing to budget for mental health care because the leaders are of the mindset that they were raised with, that of a parent telling them to “suck it up…” instead of providing medical mental healthcare because that’s some namby pamby stuff.
When I graduated from high school in the early 1980’s if you didn’t want to go on to further education you could go get a job at the local factory. That company would train you and you could work there for your career life and retire to a good pension. The factory provided a decent wage, you could take yearly vacation, buy a home, get married, have a decent vehicle, and provide for your family. Most of those types of jobs are gone today. Most businesses today are now solely focused on “shareholder value” and greater profitability, nothing more and nothing less. The next quarterly statement drives leadership and business decisions. Workers have been replaced by automation, computers, larger more efficient equipment, etc. all in the name of making more money. Workers be damned, sorry it’s just a business decision. The income divide between so many business leaders/owners and those that work for them is massive. As you pointed out, how many of us have truly been affected by gender identity, woman’s reproductive health, undocumented people from another country, voter issues, bathroom choice, books in public libraries/schools, religious choice, etc. These are all cultural noise issues that affect a very small number of people.
The “Freedom” caucus truly seems to be “waging an ignorant war on health care and education” not to mention infrastructure and amenities. It is no wonder we have a lack of young people who choose to live here.
I’m an avowed leftie. However I have always been impressed with the rational vision Khale Lenhart provides us about politics in Wyoming. I would probably disagree with specific policy proposals he would champion were he ever elected governor. However, I would believe and respect he is actually representing the voices of most of Wyoming’s citizens and addressing real, on the ground need.
I would actually “trust” he is working to make Wyoming a better place to live. There just doesn’t seem to be other Republican voices that carry the same gravitas that Lenhart’s does. It feels like he is actually channeling Wyoming where most, if not all, current politicians seem to be channeling a weird agenda.
First and foremost I want to thank the previous generations of Wyomingites that funded the University and education in general. I came to Wyoming with many unanswered questions about religion, history, evolution that have all been put to rest thanks to the people and the institution known as the University of Wyoming. It is clear to me that what America and Wyoming is doing today goes against science and basic human nature . I am convinced John Bear and the Freedom Caucus can see they are treading down a false path; however, when the ignorant get fearful of the future they lash out in an attempt to destroy the people and sources of knowledge that are causing their discomfort.
Now that I have many years and a historical perspective it is pretty easy to cast John Bear as Pol Pot, with the Freedom Caucus playing the role of an elected Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot John Bear can see what path is best but double’s down on burning down the State backed by the ignorant zeal of his Khmer Rouge. Marco Rubio, another Christian zealot, claimed his actions, in helping put USAID in the “wood chipper,” did not result in deaths or any negative outcomes. John “Pol Pot” Bear and his Khmer Rouge will tell the same lie “little Marco” did about their ignorant war on Wyoming Education and Healthcare. The US elected a President that is waging war on its own people and John “Pol Pot” Bear and his Khmer Rouge are proposing doing the same thing to the State of Wyoming.
But heck, we can build a couple new dams that will supply water to a handful of Colorado hay farmers.