Dear editor:
A number of polemics have been published lately to explain the “sudden” uprising of the conservative electorate.
One column said conservatives were lucky, as in a card game. By chance they drew the right cards through no effort of their own and won a big pot.
A few days later the same columnist postulated that irrational anger caused both low voter turnout, and at the same time somehow more votes for conservative candidates.
Anyone who claims to follow Wyoming politics could have seen this coming decades ago. The Tea Party was formed in 2010, in response to an elite government in Washington DC, that was seen as out of touch with, and dismissive of, voters concerns.
The Republican party in particular had been seen as betraying their base with high taxes, increased government regulation and failures in border security and runaway government spending.
One peeved politician pronounced at Politics in the Park that Laramie County plebes and proles shouldn’t complain about their property taxes, because they’re actually paying “historically low levels”. As if voters they can’t read their property tax statements or checking account statements!
Providing policies to placate the voters is actually the job of a representative. And its no secret what GOP voters want.
At the last two Laramie County caucuses and conventions, delegates demanded not change, but adherence, to the party platform.
It's ironic to hear pundits complain about “populists” who are adhering to the platform principles, yet never participate themselves to debate or change the principles they disagree so vehemently with.
The Laramie County GOP platform has changed little in the last several years. It is almost identical to the Wyoming GOP platform.
It’s hard to see how it can be “extremist” when it was overwhelmingly approved by the entire body of delegates. Voters apparently agree.
And if they don’t, there is another party which may reflect their preferences.
If that party has made itself unelectable because of radical policies, that is for their members to determine. And the people are free to choose.
Sincerely,
Patrick Lucas
Cheyenne
