Two hundred and fifty years into the American experiment, we're being asked to tend the fire.
Anniversaries invite reflection. This one demands responsibility.
Wyoming has never been a place where democracy ran on autopilot. It has always depended on people who showed up and stayed engaged long enough to matter. As we head into 2026, that expectation is no longer optional. It is urgent.
This year begins with a constitutional test. In February, the Wyoming Legislature will convene for the Budget Session. Four weeks. One outcome elevated above all others: a balanced budget for the next two years.
That requirement is so fundamental that any other legislation must clear a high bar: a two-thirds vote of each chamber just to be introduced. Budget first. Everything else second.
And yet, just this week, the Wyoming Republican Party released its list of top priorities. Notably absent: the budget.
That omission matters.
Because tending the fire starts with knowing what keeps it burning. A government that cannot or will not focus on its most basic responsibility is not exercising leadership. It is playing politics with the heat on high and no one watching the pot.
Wyoming isn't a melting pot. It's a campfire stew. People bring different ingredients: skills, experience, tradition, hard-earned wisdom. They add them to something already simmering.
No ingredient disappears. Each keeps its character while contributing to the whole. But the stew only works if people tend the fire with care.
Kick the pot over, and everyone goes hungry.
What we bring to the pot in 2026 matters more than it has in years.
This is not just another election cycle. It is a full midterm election year with consequences at every level of government. All five of Wyoming's top statewide offices will be on the ballot: Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor, and Superintendent of Public Instruction. All eight county offices in every county. Every seat in the Wyoming House of Representatives and nearly half of the State Senate; Mayors and council members across the state.
These are not symbolic roles. These offices decide how budgets are built, how elections are run, how schools function, how land is managed, how communities respond to crisis.
The choices made in the Republican primary in August will set the direction of the state and almost every county for years to come.
And yet, the last time Wyoming Republicans were asked to show up for a primary, 40% of registered Republicans stayed home.
Forty percent.
That fact cannot be separated from the frustration many people now feel about the direction of state government. Low participation does not produce better leadership. It produces narrower choices, louder extremes, and fewer hands tending the fire.
Voting is not a symbolic act in a year like this. It is maintenance. It is stewardship. It is the most basic way citizens keep the stew from burning.
Or going thin.
Civic responsibility does not end at having an opinion. It requires learning who is running, what offices do, and what leadership is needed when budgets are tight and trust is fragile.
Leadership matters. Especially now.
Real leaders know when to stir and when to step back. They understand that restraint is not weakness and governing is different from performing. They focus on outcomes, not outrage. They tell the truth about tradeoffs. They build trust instead of exploiting suspicion.
There are real risks in 2026. Ignoring the budget. Undermining local competence. Treating participation as a threat rather than a strength. Allowing anger to substitute for engagement.
These choices do not just affect policy: they weaken the shared confidence that makes self-government possible.
But this year is also an opportunity. America at 250 is not about freezing the past. It is about deciding what we carry forward and what we strengthen. Wyoming's future will be built by investing in people: education that holds classrooms together, mental health systems that meet real needs, energy policy that treats the state as a workshop rather than a loading dock.
We do not need to reinvent the stew. We need to build on what is already in the pot.
A campfire stew does not take care of itself. Someone gathers the wood. Someone keeps the heat steady. People take turns stirring and adjusting so the whole thing doesn't burn or go thin. That is the work of citizenship in 2026.
Show up in February. Pay attention to the budget. Show up in August and vote like direction matters because it does. Demand leadership worthy of the moment. And stay engaged long enough to make it better.
That is how Wyoming has always moved forward. And it is how this place will meet what comes next.
Gail Symons can be reached at: GailSymons@mac.com
