Dear Editor,
It is with bitter disappointment that I read Uinta and Lincoln Counties have reverted to “traditional” GOP Leadership. One suspects that the Romney Republicans are having a negative impact on western WY. It appears that in using the word “traditional” they have torn a page from the Democrat’s handbook on redefining words and recreating history. Nonetheless, there is nothing traditional about this brand of moderate, progressive GOP leadership.
In my earlier days this ilk of Republicanism was known as Rockefeller Republicans. They were as liberal as democrats on social issues, were financially prudent with their own money, but spent like drunken sailors the taxpayer’s monies. They created the Big Tent Republicanism that eventually became a declining three-ring circus of clown candidates that politely ran for office and politely lost. Until Reagan and Trump, they never reversed any Democratic gains and politely let society and the Nation slip ever leftward and downward.
As socialists want to be called liberals, progressive, or Democrat, it appears that lukewarm Democrat wannabes want to be called “traditional” instead of Rockefeller or RINO. As long as we understand that “traditional” = RINO, then potato-patahto.
In fact, when the Republican Party began it was described by the MSM of its day as radical, not traditional (that was the Democrats). It believed that all men (regardless of color) were created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And that government was instituted among (not over) men, deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed (those same men and women). And that the federal Constitution must be preserved, not amended by compromises, judicial fiat, and/or executive orders.
Todays “traditional”, moderate GOP doesn’t believe all men are equal. It has acquiesced to the idea that based solely upon skin color some people are more bigoted and others are more entitled. And they have moved from a literal Constitution to a “living” one that can change like a chameleon meaning the opposite of what was written (twisting the words of the second amendment, restricting religion, free speech, freedom of assembly, and right to habeas corpus, and assuming guilt until proven innocent).
Today’s “traditional”, moderate GOP doesn’t defend all inalienable rights. They are willing to negotiate and dialogue on the sanctity of human life (unborn and elderly). In 1860, Republicans considered it heresy to carry slavery into the new States. But the “traditional” GOP in Wyoming publicly state they’re for the sanctity of life, then water down pro-life legislation, promote liberal judges, and support lawsuits to prevent pro-life legislation from moving forward.
The “traditional” GOP say that they are for family values,but can’t quite understand why it’s wrong for biological men who identify as women to compete in women’s sports; in Wyoming they say that it’s draconian and discriminatory to protect women’s sports; never explaining why it’s either. Additionally, the “traditional” WY GOP in the State Legislature refused to pass reasonable limits to K-3rd grade “sex talks,” teenage transgender surgeries, and mandatory vaccines.
As evidenced by the COVID “Dempanic” the “traditional” GOP selectively defends personal liberty. Your body is yours to govern unless it’s needed to enrich Big Pharma, appease a Teacher’s Union, or possibly help rig an election. They have even less respect for personal property rights. If you are one of the nearly 25% of local businesses that folded during the lockdown, you personally know the compassion and respect “traditional” WY Republicans have for private business. And if you tried to get Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine in Wyoming, you were prevented or hindered from doing so by laws put in place by “traditional” Republicans.
In the 1860 Republican Platform, real Republicans viewed “with alarm the reckless extravagance which pervades every department of the Federal Government.” They actually advocated for a return to rigid economy and accountability. No “traditional” GOP member ever said that. In fact, traditional Republicans have crossed political lines to increase the debt limits and pass unbalanced budgets.
And heaven forbid the government be limited to the consent of the governed. The “traditional”, moderate GOP locked step with the Democrats to suspend J6 defendant habeas corpus, legal warrants, and Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights in show trials to ensure that the rest of us get the message that they will never consent to governance by the electorate.
Wyoming’s own Republican Representative became the lapdog of the Democrats and helped censor information, withheld exculpatory evidence, perpetrate a show trial, and pillory anyone who disagreed with her courtesy of the “traditional”, moderate, progressive GOP.
At the federal level the “traditional” GOP has colluded with Democrats to erode our First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eight Amendment rights. Thanks to them our Ninth and Tenth Amendments rights are almost non-existent and certainly undefended. In Wyoming, governed by the “traditional” GOP we have seen our State economy diminished, our schools teach “1619 and CRT” curricula, and our school libraries filled with “grooming materials”.
This wasn’t the fault of WY Democrats (though they gleefully assisted), or real Lincoln/Reagan/Trump Republicans, but rather the “traditional” GOP who had control of the Wyoming Legislative and Executive branches.
If this “traditional” GOP had been in power in Lincoln’s day, it is highly probably he would not have been the Republican candidate, there would have been no Civil War, and African-Americans would still be in chain due to a compromise forged by “traditional” Republicans.
Fred Ray, Cheyenne
