A recent study by the University of Wyoming found that 4 out of 10 Wyomingites favor the Tea Party and its policies.
This should not be surprising. Wyoming has a long history of valuing self-restraint and responsibility, and superficially that’s what the Tea Party stands for. Our culture revolves around personal responsibility, stemming from our long history as a pioneer territory.
Before the advent of cell phones and widespread infrastructure, inhabitants of the territory could not rely upon government hand-outs and support. An inability to handle one’s affairs meant a sure and horrifying death.
That sort of culture and mentality means that people here have a view that the happenings of the lives of others is not of their concern. We truly are a live and let live state.
This cultural mentality is what results in the high level of Tea Party supporters in the state. Unfortunately, the Tea Party has been led astray.
The Tea Party was originally founded upon the values of individual responsibility and as a backlash against perceived oversteps by government, but the movement has been co-opted by fundamentalist Christian saboteurs, and conspiracy nut-jobs.
Because of this, the message in this state has transitioned from one of the liberty that embodies the freedom of the state, to one that wishes to act as the moral police for a nation, resulting in gay-bashing and active minority discrimination.
This insidious fundamentalism has permeated the minds involved in Wyoming’s Tea Party, resulting in discrimination which runs wholly against the spirit of our cowboy state. It shouldn’t matter what somebody engages in in the privacy of their own home if they are able to take care of their own finances and responsibility.
Wyoming is fundamentally a libertarian state and it’s our unique freedoms, both legal and social, that allow our university to recruit the best of the best from surrounding states. It is up to our younger generation to ensure that as we get both older and more politically active that those freedoms which make our state so great are not eroded by fundamentalists hiding in libertarian clothing.
