You'd think a bunch of Republicans in a red state like Wyoming could get along.
After all, we're always either the best state or runner up in giving Donald Trump the highest percentage of votes in presidential elections – coming in at almost 70 percent. (Those rascals in Oklahoma sometimes edge us out, but it's neck-and-neck.)
For folks like us, there's no confusion about whether we're a Republican Hatfield or a Democrat McCoy when it comes to presidential elections.
But with our state politicians - almost all Republicans when it comes to the state legislature - we're like the Bickersons (an old radio show about a married couple that argued constantly), not agreeing on much of anything, and seldom missing an opportunity to jab a sharp elbow into the flank of some fellow Republican.
You'll recall that a state Republican party gathering in Gillette one year included a fistfight. And most delegates of the state's two most populous counties were dis-invited another year, over an ongoing dues dispute. This year it was about which Republicans should be censured. It's like Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots when Wyoming Republicans gather for their state convention.
The lack of love among conservatives has gotten so bad that earlier this year, prominent Republican Sen. Cale Case urged Democrats in Lander to switch over to the Republican camp in the August primary election, to help moderate Republicans defeat the despised Freedom Caucus Republicans.
He said this coming primary may be the most important ever for Wyoming.
The Freedom Caucus is currently in control, sort of, in the Wyoming House, but you didn't hear a peep out of them this year in the Wyoming Senate.
And while all the successful Senate bills got at least a hearing in the House, there were some House bills that died the usual quiet death in Senate committees as time ran out. That was the big difference this year.
(I have a grouchy old Republican friend up north who says any bill that passes handily in one house of the legislature, but dies in some drawer in the other house, should proceed automatically to the next election ballot for voters to decide. He's against the game playing.)
Cowboy State Daily reported last week that House Speaker Chip Neiman will run for the Wyoming Senate this year, and former Senate President Ogden Driskill is deferring retirement to oppose Neiman.
That story sparked comments that Neiman's Freedom Caucus views must not invade Driskill's old guard Senate. Numerous comments trashed the Freedom Caucus, claiming it's some kind of evil, out-of-state menace that must be stopped.
So I dug around on the internet, and was reminded that the House Freedom Caucus in D.C. was founded by actual conservatives Jim Jordan, Ron DeSantis and Mark Meadows back in 2015.
They favored conservatives who actually vote conservatively on important issues, like “fiscal and social conservatism,” lower federal spending, limited government, stricter immigration policies, and repealing the un-affordable Affordable Care Act.
Donald Trump called Jordan, DeSantis and Meadows “absolute warriors,” and they were steadfast defenders of the president in both impeachment lynch mobs.
They don't strike me as snake oil salesmen, and their conservative goals are in line with most Republicans I know. And they match up well with the goals of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus – cut wasteful spending, election security, parental rights, age appropriate access to sex-related books in libraries, and better access to court documents.
So why the tension here?
This rift is self-defeating. It's a matter of the old buffaloes who have been running the state for decades butting up against an impatient new group that wants to walk the conservative walk, not just talk the conservative talk.
It's said that “nature abhors a vacuum.” Maybe politics abhors a lack of dissent, and when the Republicans have run the joint for decades, expect factions.
In August, I'll be supporting the impatient upstarts of the Freedom Caucus – who made sure successful Senate bills got a hearing in the House - and not for the old buffaloes of the Senate, who let time run out on popular House bills, as their leaders chowed down on pizza.
Most important primary election ever in Wyoming?
Maybe so. Maybe so.
Dave Simpson can be contacted at DaveSimpson145@hotmail.com
