Many years ago, I went to a local carnival with a friend. While getting on the Rock-O-Plane ride, I said sarcastically to the carny operating the ride, “Don’t rip us off with another one-minute ride this time!”
The Rock-O-Plane is a ride, developed by Lee Eyerly in 1948, consisting of eight cages placed around a 40-foot Ferris wheel. The wheel rotates, and the cages spin freely on their anchor point while the Ferris wheel spins, leaving two independent sets of motion. Occupants can pull on a handle to lock the cage from spinning upside down during the Ferris wheel rotations.
As I got on the ride, I didn’t understand something. The carny I’d just insulted was the guy in charge of letting people off the ride.
We climbed into our little cage. After 10 minutes of spinning or so, we begged to get off. Our cries fell on deaf ears. After about a half an hour or so, we stopped begging and focused on not throwing up.
One-and-a-half hours later, we were released from our cages. Dizzy and a little sick from spinning for an hour and a half, we stumbled off the ride. “You get enough?” the carny snickered.
I had. I have never ridden a Rock-O-Plane since that day.
I have learned, over the years, to trust the collective wisdom of the Wyoming voters. They are the carny operating the ride. I may not understand why the voters made their choices, but I have learned there is a level of wisdom behind the voter’s choice, and to search for what that wisdom is.
At this stage in the game, it is important to give the new leadership the benefit of the doubt in their plans and abilities. Firsthand, I know and understand the difficulty the leadership faces in putting together policy and making the changes they have promised the Wyoming voters.
Soon, the new leadership will be faced with choices between bad alternatives. No matter what they do, they will be subject to scrutiny – sometimes scrutiny lasting for generations. The burden of those choices will weigh on them.
They have promised to cut government spending. In Wyoming, cutting government spending equates to cutting jobs. Who gets put out of work is going to be one of those tough choices.
Now is not the time for criticism. Now is the time to watch and see.
Smart aleck remarks and constant criticism may force the leaders to make choices which give us a long carnival ride that makes us sick. The leaders may make the same choices anyway – but the choices will be theirs.
But they also may lead with measured discernment. We should give the newly elected officials the leeway to make choices without undue criticism. The task is extremely difficult in the best of circumstances. The complexity of these leadership jobs is hard to imagine.
Let’s give our new leaders the opportunity to succeed.
To mix metaphors, allow me to share another story. When I was in Law School in the 1980s,Gerry Spence spoke to the law school. He told us an old parable.
Once there was a man and a boy. The boy wanted to prove he was smarter than the old man.
The boy captured a bird held covered in his hands.
The boy said, “What do I have in my hands?”
The man replied, “You have a bird.”
“Is it alive or is it dead?”
The man looked at the boy. He said, “If I say the bird is alive, you will crush it dead in your hands. If I say it is dead, you will open your hands and the bird will fly away.”
“What we do know,” the man continued, “Is that the bird is in your hands.”
The bird is in their hands. If they open their hands and let the bird fly free, they should be praised. If they kill the bird, then they should reap the criticism they are justly due.
There should be no misunderstanding. The Freedom Caucus is in control of the carnival. Undue criticism prior to any action is wasted words. By giving them the benefit of the doubt, we can see where they are leading us.
If they are leading us to throw up, then we should let them hear our concerns. If they are leading us to a good place, they should know that, too.
The bird is in their hands – and ours.
Tom Lubnau served in the Wyoming Legislature from 2004 - 2015 and is a former Speaker of the House.
He can be reached at: YourInputAppreciated@gmail.com
