When New York City was facing a daunting fiscal crisis in 1975, and asking for federal help, then-President Ford ignored the city’s plight. The headline in the next day’s newspaper was, “Ford to City: Drop Dead”.
Ford lost the next election.
Rep. John Bear, fair-haired boy of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, put his foot in his mouth in a similar manner during floor debate on HB70, a bill dealing with financial support to struggling small towns in the Cowboy State.
He suggested that Wyoming’s small towns should die rather than receive money from the state. He likened them to “welfare states." It was all captured on video.
Bear’s political career should come to a close every bit as ignominious and abrupt as Gerald Ford’s.
Speaker of the House Albert Sommers and Senate President Ogden Driskill, in a joint column, took Bear to task for his bone-headed remarks, and rightly so. They make a compelling case, and the entire state is now aware of Bear’s foolishness.
But, I would submit, that is the good folks in Wyoming House District 31 who should be paying attention, because they’re the only people who can do anything about it.
Bear, a transplant from Missouri, is in his second term, and the citizens of the small towns in HD31 would be well-advised to make it his last.
As a legislator, Bear simply does not have the interests of Wyoming’s small communities at heart.
Bear seems to suggest his own brand of Agenda 21 by emptying the Big Empty, and the voters in HD31 should remind Bear what Jason Aldean sang:
“Well, try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won't take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don't
Try that in a small town”
Perhaps it was a slip of the lip on Bear’s part, but I doubt that. As the Gospel of Matthew 12:34 instructs us, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.”
I think Bear said exactly what is on his heart. And he proves, once again, how the Wyoming Freedom Caucus can test the bounds of logic.
I hope the good Wyoming citizens in those small, tight-knit communities east of Gillette are as pissed off as I am. To tolerate Bear as their representative in the legislature is just like tolerating Dr. Kevorkian as the family doctor.
Further, I hope that there is a good Republican who still exhibits Wyoming Values who is considering a challenge to Bear in the primary. I know a lot of good cowgirls and cowboys from that country, and it's time to saddle up!!
If you are living in HD31, and you or someone you know, is as irate as me and you’re feeling the political bug, please let me know. I want to be among the first to send a campaign contribution to Bear’s primary opponent.
And I have a great place in Cheyenne for a campaign yard sign. Yours will feel right at home alongside those of Ogden Driskill and Albert Sommers.
While I neither live nor vote in your district, John Bear is an embarrassment to the entire State of Wyoming. And I’d love to stand shoulder to shoulder with you and get rid of a Freedom Caucus numskull who tells small Wyoming towns to drop dead.
Rod Miller can be reached at: rodsmillerwyo@yahoo.com
