Columnist Joan Barron writes, “It may be a time to give disillusioned Republicans and moderate voters more options, or to promote the ones we have, like the Democratic and Libertarian Parties.”
CHEYENNE — Recent years in Wyoming politics have been a time of dizzying change, with the fracture of the Republican Party and the near demise of the Freedom Caucus gang.
The Republicans now have two separate parties.
One is the old guard group, the traditionalists — the Reagan crowd that has been in control in Wyoming for years.
The second group is the ever-present extremist element, the Freedom Caucus members who want to cut taxes, cut spending and cut government.
Similar hard-right-wing groups have been at work for years, but it was only recently that they were able to wrest control of the GOP.
The fallout has not been favorable.
It may be a time to give disillusioned Republicans and moderate voters more options, or to promote the ones we have, like the Democratic and Libertarian Parties.
Both also have a conservative streak; Wyoming Democrats are totally different than Colorado Democrats, for example.
Wyoming’s Democratic governors have been conservative budget managers, but more generous on social and cultural issues. That is the big difference with the Republican Party.
When I moved here from Iowa years ago and covered the Legislature, I could not tell the Democrats from the Republicans.
They voted together most of the time. One exception was the hated Right to Work Law; the Democrats always voted as a bloc for repeal, but always failed and finally gave up.
People eyeing a move to Wyoming should be warned that the Democratic Party it as close to a liberal party that they will find here.
If it isn’t what they want, they should look elsewhere, like Colorado.
Anyway, this is where we are now with a broken major party, a weak second place major party, and two minor parties.
The two minor parties are the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party.
As of October, Wyoming had 279,421 registered voters, according to the Secretary of State’s election website.
The Republican Party had 218,431; the Democrat Party, 30,926; the Libertarian Party,1,764, and the Constitution Party, 553.
The non-affiliated or independents totaled 25,501. This is an increase over the 15,435 registered in the last gubernatorial election four years ago, and is getting close to the Democratic Party total.
Over the years Wyoming has had an array of organizations that achieved ballot status briefly, then disappeared.
Remember “No Labels,” the “Country Party,” “Natural Law,” “Wyoming Reform,” “New Alliance,” and “America Elect?” They came and went with the wind.
Some were wacky like the “America Elect,” which had a goal of establishing an online presidential election system; while “No Labels” pushed for elections with no political party identification, and “New Alliance” was a hard-left-wing outfit.
But the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party have been with us for awhile.
One of their members, Rebecca Bextel, a Teton County conservative activist, has made headlines lately in her new role as a candidate for governor
Bextel left the Republican Party and joined the Constitution Party in her quest to block the election of the GOP nominee, Eric Barlow.
She was the centerpiece of that episode called “Checkgate,” where she handed out campaign checks on the floor of the Wyoming House of Representatives to Freedom Caucus legislators on behalf of a Teton County donor.
Although the action was not illegal, it caused a storm because it was deemed a sign of the Freedom Caucus’s disrespect of Wyoming institutions like the Legislature.
The incident also was blamed later for the Freedom
Caucus losses in the GOP primary election.
Bextel more recently made news as the result of an interview on the “Tucker Carlson Show,” where she claimed Barlow, a Campbell County rancher, veterinarian and long-term legislator, is really a Democrat.
She also claimed that the United State’s moon landing was bogus.
Both claims are nonsense.
It’s unfortunate that she is representing a minor party, which is an option for disillusioned Republicans and maybe some independents.
Instead of being a good representative of the conservative Constitution Party, she came across as uninformed and silly, like what we used to call a ding-a-ling.
She is not a good poster ad for minor parties.
The state needs them to attract all those independent voters who are looking for something more than the major parties can offer. Their numbers have been growing.
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Clarification:
A couple weeks ago, I wrote that Sen. John Barrasso had
declined an invitation to debate four years ago, before the elections that year.
He did skip the primary debate.
But, he participated in the general election debate against his challenger, Democrat Scott Morrow.
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Contact Joan
Barron at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net
