Rod Miller: Wyoming Democrats & the Elusive “Different Result”

So, Democrats in the Wyoming Legislature were cold-shouldered when committee assignments were recently handed out.

As expected, they grumped and groused about being left out.

That’s really the only response available to them, because they simply don’t control enough seats to effect any other outcome.

A couple of years ago, I penned a column as an open letter to Wyoming Democrats.  

Nothing has changed in the intervening years, except the Democrats picked up one seat while the Freedom Caucus steamrolled to a majority in the Wyoming House.

I wouldn’t change a thing I said back then, and I won’t say “I told you so.”

There’s enough gloating from from the Freedom Caucus, and I won’t pile on. But I will emphasize, as a life-long Republican, that Wyoming does best with a strong Democratic Party as a counter-balancing force in our political life. 

In less than two years, Wyoming will elect its next governor. There’s already buzz aplenty around the ol’ campfire about which Republican will come out on top. And you already know the names... Gray, Hageman, Steinmetz, Lummis and maybe even Gordon again.

Can anyone name a Democrat with the stature, name recognition, experience and organization to run for governor? I didn’t think so. What’ll likely happen is the Democrats will shanghai someone to run, just so there isn’t a blank space on that part of the ballot.

There is no Mike Sullivan or Dave Freudenthal on the horizon so, if the Democrats nominate a gubernatorial candidate, he or she will be another sacrificial lamb. That is the sad state of the Wyoming Democratic Party these days.

The question is then begged, what are the Democrats gonna do about it?

Are they content to rely upon Republican pity and largess for committee assignments in the legislature, or are they gonna go out and win more seats, so they don’t have to beg for scraps at the table?

I, for one, hope that is precisely the conversation going on within the Democratic Party.

If they decide to dig in their spurs and win more seats, how will they get the job done?

The smart money says they won’t do it by repeating what they’ve done in the past. It was either Freud or Yogi Berra who famously said, “The definition of insanity is repeating past behavior and expecting a different result.”

The Wyoming Democratic Party must change to accommodate the will of the majority of Wyoming voters, because – and you can take this to the bank – Wyoming voters will not change to accommodate the will of the Wyoming Democratic Party.

Again, I hope this is a major part of their internal conversation.

The old coalitions that were the bedrock of the Democratic Party in Wyoming have crumbled, and they ain’t comin’ back.

That political strength cannot be replaced by a rainbow gathering of marginalized groups, because the numbers just aren’t there, except in two of Wyoming’s twenty-three counties. And numbers are the only thing that will lift the party to something resembling its prior prominence.

Don’t misunderstand, if the message of the Wyoming Democratic Party appealed enough to me, I wouldn’t be a Republican. But I do recognize the importance of alternative choices for those so inclined. And I appreciate political balance.

So, as I see it, Democrats can fundamentally change pretty much everything about how they do business in the Cowboy State, or they can persist in repeating their past behavior, expecting the miracle of a different result.

This is politics, and politics is all about raw power. It’s not about providing warm and fuzzy feelings. It’s about numbers, big numbers.

If, in the political arena, a party acquires big enough numbers, it can hand out warm and fuzzies or anything else it wants to do. 

Without those numbers, a political party is little more than a glorified debating society.

Rod Miller can be reached at: RodsMillerWyo@yahoo.com