When I was a child and I got too rambunctious, my mother used to say, “Listen here, mister. You are getting too big for your britches.”
If I continued my misbehavior, my mother would say, “Just keep it up, mister, I’m going to lower the boom!”
If I kept it up, she followed through. She lowered the boom.
This election, the voters of Wyoming lowered the boom on the Freedom Caucus.
You hear lots of talk from the losers about this election being the end of the conservative movement in Wyoming, and how the liberals are taking over.
That statement shows a complete lack of introspection.
Wyoming was a conservative state long before the Freedom Caucus was a glimmer in John Bear’s eye, and it will be a conservative state long after the Freedom Caucus is gone.
When candidates first run for office, they are free to make all kinds of promises and make ridiculous claims about how they are going to change the world.
After they are elected, they have to run on their records.
What happened to the Freedom Caucus is they made all kinds of promises about how they were going to reform Wyoming government.
When they stormed into power, they did not take time to figure out why things are the way they are.
Governments evolve and grow. They are living organisms crafted over the years by the will of the people.
If you do not know why the system evolved into what it is today, it is easy to stumble into a series of horrible unintended consequences.
Property tax reform is a good example.
Property values in Wyoming have skyrocketed.
As a result, property tax increases became a real problem for Wyoming homeowners.
So, the Legislature cut property taxes without thinking about the consequences of those tax cuts.
Wyoming’s tax system had evolved so that property taxes were the vehicle that funded local government — and small communities in particular.
When the cuts landed, services had to be cut with them. Libraries were closed, fire departments went short-handed, new patrol cars were shelved and training terminated.
Voters in many communities said, “Keep it up, mister.”
Cutting taxes without accounting for the consequences of the cut was a train wreck in the making.
So, the Freedom Caucus coined the term “backfill.”
To fix the consequences of their policy choices, they put forward a plan to shift the taxes onto other taxpayers.
The money had to come from somewhere. So they floated a new sales tax — shifting the tax from property owners to average consumers.
That was a no-go.
They proposed spending Wyoming’s savings, which was akin to spending the retirement funds to pay off gambling debts.
Another no-go.
So, as communities’ anger grew, no backfill arrived. Just keep it up, mister.
The tax cuts were one of a myriad of policy disasters the caucus passed.
They repeatedly passed unconstitutional abortion bills they were told, at the time of passage, were unconstitutional, resulting in abortion being fully legal in Wyoming.
They tried to remake the court system in their own image, including proposals that would have made judges campaign for office.
Imagine going into court and the judge has a button on his lapel that said, “Bought by Jackson billionaire.”
For two years, the Freedom Caucus promised things, and for two years, they delivered chaos and diddly.
So, the voters lowered the boom.
The boom did not fall on the Freedom Caucus alone.
Nine of 10 legislators tied to “Checkgate” were excused from office.
The Wyoming Republican Party Central Committee endorsed a slate of candidates for state office.
For state-level officials, they batted zero, demonstrating the committee is hopelessly out of touch with the voters.
Donald Trump endorsed Megan Degenfelder, and the Wyoming voters sent the message that we will choose the candidate we want, not the one someone from D.C. tells us to vote for.
Some introspection would be in order for everyone the boom landed on.
Don’t count on it.
The day after the election, in a social media post, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus declared, “THE WYFC IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE … We exist for the people of Wyoming, not any particular legislator or candidate. We will never stop fighting for Wyoming, America’s last hope.”
This election, the voters of Wyoming fought back and lowered the boom on the Freedom Caucus.
Wyoming is truly America’s last hope.
Good job, Wyoming.
Tom Lubnau served in the Wyoming Legislature from 2004 to 2015 and is a former speaker of the House. He can be reached at YourInputAppreciated@gmail.com.
