Almost two-thirds of Wyoming residents fit into a stereotype that I call “common sense Republicans.” These are folks who seem to be getting hammered for just wanting things to be more normal.
“Common sense Republicans” is a nickname for folks who are anti-abortion, anti-gender-bending, anti-boys competing against girls, anti-pornographic books in our schools, anti-global warming hysteria, and who are upset about this new emphasis on how bad America is rather than how good it is.
Issues like the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and even Liz Cheney’s ill-fated campaign last August also come under this description. Let’s discuss them:
Transgender Folks A Tiny Minority
Progressive WyoFile columnist Kerry Drake wrote about transgenderism issues in his column recently.
He quoted a UCLA study that estimated there are 200 transgender students, aged 14-17, and 2,100 total transgender people in the state. This compares to 94,000 total school students and a state population of 585,000.
These common sense Republicans wonder why are so many people even spending time talking about this? This seems like way too much attention for a tiny minority.
Common sense Republicans recoil at the thought of experimental transgender drugs and procedures being used on young people. Common sense tells you that this is crazy.
Most common sense Republicans do not believe it is their mission to convince transgenders to change their life style or beliefs. Common sense Republicans just don’t want it flagrantly displayed just like they don’t want to see overt displays of affection by heterosexual teens and adults.
Abortion Is A Hot Button Issue
Today, you can legally kill a baby as long as it is safely in the womb. If you wait until after it is born and then you kill it, you go to prison. This is crazy logic.
Women should have rights over their bodies, of course, but does not that child with its active little brain and its beating heart have any rights? Look at that child with your eyes. A common sense Republican sees that baby as a real human, not some kind of medical procedure that can be sloughed off and tossed into a medical dumpster.
Is it really time to ban books? I never thought I would ever write this. As a journalist we defend printing and publishing everything, right? Wrong.
Yes, there are times to limit exposure to certain books. Our children deserve to keep their innocence.
Common sense Republicans wonder who in their right mind would want little kids to be exposed to explicit sex acts portrayed in these pornographic books being promoted as health books in some of our libraries?
And, Then There Is Liz Cheney
Common sense Republicans delivered one of the biggest defeats of an incumbent in American history last August because our U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney did something that did not make sense during a non-scandal campaign.
Despite that she came from a famous Wyoming political family, and had served for three terms, she found out what happens when you defy common sense. When she turned her entire Congressional effort seemingly to punish former President Donald Trump, she was, in turn, punished by common sense Republicans back here in Wyoming where Trump’s policies had been well received.
Just about all of Wyoming’s voters did not support Liz when she said she went after Trump on principle. They wondered why 230 of her Republican House colleagues did not share her view and neither did 45 Republican senators.
She defied common sense and was slaughtered at the Wyoming polls. Had not 30,000 Democrats and Independents crossed over, she might have gotten less than 19,000 votes by real Republicans in that election. Common sense Republicans could not be swayed by the record-$5 million she spent on her reelection campaign.
The Jan. 6 Capitol Riot
Common sense Republicans were appalled at the riot at the nation’s capitol Jan. 6. But they also realized that out of more than a million peaceful protestors, just a tenth of one percent of them crashed the capitol building.
Common sense folks wonder why a few under-trained and out-manned tour guides/capital police were asked to hold back that crowd? Most folks can use common sense to believe that this was intentional by some people wanting to create what looked like an insurrection.
No common sense Republicans are cheering for what happened that day. It was a very dark day in American history. I have friends who even equate it to 9-11. Common sense says it was horrible, but not that close to a 9-11 event.
Shortly after that event, new president Joe Biden had 25,000 national guardsmen stationed there to protect him during his inauguration. Common sense would tell you the Jan. 6 riot sure looked like a “set up.” That is what Common Sense Republicans think.
And, Climate Change?
Common sense Republicans are baffled by how climate change international politics are being negotiated.
Woke government officials under President Biden want to close all Wyoming’s coal-fired power plants while ignoring facts that countries like China and India are building new coal-fired plants as fast as they can.
India has 179 coal-fired plants with no plans to retire any of them until 2030. China consumes six times as much coal as the USA and plans on increasing that total. It defies logic to assume that there must be a different sky over those countries than what is over ours.
Common sense folks are appalled when they see young couples choosing to not have children because of their belief the world is going to end because of climate change.
This world disaster scenario has been taught with religious zeal to our school children for generations and these fearful actions are the result. Common sense folks scratch their heads because they look for evidence of an impending Armageddon and it is hard to find.
These are just a few of the reasons why a majority of Wyoming people can be called common sense Republicans.
