LETTER
Editor,
My wife, who is a fairly astute political observer, made a comment a couple months ago that, at first take, I didn’t give much credence to, but on second thought I realized was a very profound statement and goes a long way in explaining the political dynamic in the Cowboy State. She looked at me with that fierce earnestness that describes her political demeanor and she said, “The problem with Wyoming is that it has too much money.”
You have to agree with me that her statement is not self-evident. Yes, the University of Wyoming has a beautiful campus full of new buildings and yes, public buildings across the state have been upgraded, and highways are generally good, but if you look deeper, the picture is not so rosy.
The problem is, all that wealth she is referring to has not “trickled down” to Wyoming’s citizens. Yes, the connected and the informed and their political allies have done quite well in the last five decades, but the rest of us, not so much. When I came to Wyoming as a young man in 1973, the economy was good and got better every year through the 1980’s. Anyone who wanted a good paying job could get one in the morning and if they didn’t like it, could have a new one the same afternoon.
Money was flowing throughout the economy. The coal severance tax was enacted at this time as a hedge against future downturns and quickly accumulated massive wealth. At the same time, the accounts that held the oil and gas and mineral royalties benefitted from record activity resulting from the Arab oil embargo. Suddenly, Wyoming was sitting on a ton of cash.
So, how was this a bad thing? Money, we are cautioned, is a root of all evil. It’s not evil in itself, but when there’s enough of it and the guardians are a little less than sophisticated, all that money garners a lot of attention from parties who may not have the best interests of Wyoming at heart: the corporations, the consultants, the lobbyists, and the scammers descended on Wyoming in full force and quickly took over the political process, and in so doing gained access to all that wealth. The guardians, some blindly, some with full knowledge, turned over the keys to the kingdom, and the looting began--green energy development, environmental cleanup, affordable housing, stormwater management, economic development, and health care. All of those are commendable goals, but they’re all designed to provide the least benefit to the people and the greatest gain to the proponents AND their allies.
As the politicians, through a tangle of boards and commissions (slush funds) distributed the people’s wealth, the people themselves got poorer and poorer. By most economic metrics, the Wyoming economy ranks at or near the bottom even while the mineral wealth stream keeps flowing. Why? Throughout its history, Wyoming has been governed by and for the well-connected.
For most of that history, it didn’t matter much to regular folks because their livelihoods were, for the most part, unaffected. But as more and more of the retail economy was highjacked by national chains, much of the remaining economy; mining, timber, refining, coal-fired generation and even the livestock industry came under relentless attack from outside interests. Efforts to replace those components rather than defend them have failed and have brought us the economic malaise we are now experiencing.
What’s next? The fast-approaching election to decide who will lead Wyoming, at this perilous time in its history, provides the electorate a very consequential choice. A vote for the front-runner is a vote for eight more years of no change with a reminder that doing the same thing while expecting a different outcome is a telltale sign of insanity.
The alternative, this go-round, is to take a long-shot chance on a political neophyte who undoubtedly has the will and the courage to shake things up, to disrupt, to break the chain of corporate strangulation. Make no mistake, her task will be beyond difficult as the interests who benefit from the current system form a solid wall of resistance to block every move.
The bright spot, the glimmer of hope, the payoff is that the system the good ol’ boys set up to hide their actions from the public is very much based on appointments to all the slush fund boards--boards whose members are appointed by the Governor! So, despite the monumental task of re-orienting the government to truly serve the people, it’s undeniable that effective progress can be made in a single election cycle as those boards are populated with everyday citizens who will steer UW back to its land-grant mission, who will end corporate giveaways, who will promote and defend Wyoming’s core industries, and who will provide inspiration to other politicians to take up the fight.
So, like Joan of Arc, Ms. Bextel appears on the scene not as an experienced warrior but as an inspiration to the warriors among us. She is a reminder, a symbol of effective resistance, and how easily the bully surrenders when challenged. Its time for the people of Wyoming, for themselves and for their progeny, to take up the fight, and this time it’s as simple as showing up at the polling place and betting on the long shot. As is the case with all long shots, the ante is small and the payoffs are huge. Good luck.
Bill Hensley – Albany County