Cassie Craven: “Team ‘No’” Doesn’t Like Stagflation in Wyoming

Wyoming’s governor has nicknamed conservative lawmakers “Team ‘No.’”

The “moderates” and their liberal friends say conservative fiscal spending means you aren’t riding for the brand.

This isn’t an episode of Yellowstone. Nobody owes you blind loyalty. And not asking questions makes you a sheep, not a cowboy.

“Team ‘No” is actually against stagflation. This administration has been expert in spending tax dollars with no actual return to the citizen. Increasing the cost of government spending, while we fail to see the same in the private sector, is a failed model.
President Donald Trump gave a keynote address this week at the World Economic Forum. He talked about stagflation.

“Under the Biden administration, America was plagued by the nightmare of stagflation, meaning low growth and high inflation. A recipe for misery, failure, and decline.”

We want no inflation; we want high economic growth.

While the minions deliver the talking points to protect themselves and the establishment that’s kept them comfortable at our expense, some inconvenient facts lay silent.

A look at publicly available data will show you that Wyoming’s government revenue under Gov. Mark Gordon has increased 64%. His $9.1 billion surplus doesn’t make much sense when you see Wyoming’s GDP is 10.3% below the United States average. Wyoming’s median household income is 8% below the average for the country, while inflation is 7% above the national average. Wyoming’s GDP grew at a 10.3% slower rate than the country.

But of course, we should fund the government on an upward trajectory forever. No questions asked. That’s our job after all. Ride for the brand and stuff.

I think riding for the brand ought to mean caring more about the blue-collar man trying to fuel up his tank and counting his cash at the pump to make sure he still has enough to buy a sandwich.

But the Wyoming Education Association in their matching t-shirts, the righteous indignation of pundits who think they know better, and the ones who call conservatives uneducated and unprepared are working overtime to convince you that they have all the answers.

But remember, these were the same people in power for years. Do you feel like you’re in a better place because of their policies?

And to the local governments, starving prosecutor’s offices and local services creating public outcry, we see you. You have millions of dollars in cash reserves and savings. The common man doesn’t get to keep back their tax bill so they can put it in savings, why do you?

Taxes are to fund essential functions of government, not to make a handful of people rich or sit in a multi-million-dollar savings account.

We aren’t stupid. And yes, “Club ‘No’” is right to question your every move and challenge it. Your economic policies make no sense to anyone other than the private sector endeavors that you are hand-selecting. It’s gross. It’s everything we hate about politics. You’re doing a great job embodying why the system is broken and how you think parroted propaganda will fool us into not believing our eyes.

After a week of appropriation committee meetings and selective media coverage by some outlets, the litany of washed-up former politicians and political activist wannabes would have you believe that the reason kids don’t want to stay in Wyoming is because we aren’t paying the government enough. I’d bet my bottom dollar that Wyoming’s alleged “brain drain” is not the result of the University of Wyoming’s cut funding for ecofeminism classes.

Yes, that’s a real thing. I wish I was kidding, but I’m not.

Trump also said in Davos that, “ineffective, money-losing windmills” are being taken down, not built. “Instead of empowering bureaucrats we’re firing them”. “Windmills all over the place, destroy your land.”

Seems quite the opposite of what we’ve experienced in Wyoming under a good ole boy doesn’t it?   

Trump has cut, on average, 129 regulations for every one approved since taking office. What has Gordon done to help the common man and small business?

Wyoming’s government is not underfunded. Her people are. Yes, some of the agencies need help. But that is not because there is not enough money. It is because the money we already have is not being used in the right ways. That’s why the conservatives have provided earmarked raises for essential roles (state trooper salary increases, more for snowplow drivers, etc).

The economics are simple – Wyoming’s government saw a 64% increase in its revenue, while the people funding that very government did not. 

Some bureaucrats claim to “need” more than we have. That is an unsustainable model that makes it impossible to live here for many people. How can any young person start out here, raise a family and stay unless they have a very high paying job or get the family ranch on a silver platter? They can’t.

All the ecofeminism courses at UW won’t change that. Only a new way of thinking will. 

Cassie Craven is a University of Wyoming College of Law graduate who practices law and lives in Wyoming. She can be reached at: longhornwritingllc@gmail.com