Aboslute despotism. That's the best way I can describe what we escaped. And we did escape, really; it was the most horriffic ignorance and apathy I've ever experienced.
Wisconsin wasn't a bad place to grow up until one realizes what politics are. First they changed the drinking age from 18 to 21, then they started pulling over everyone who wasn't wearing seatbelts. Then the "No Child Left Behind" act starting leaving children behind. Then the smoking and gay marriage bans started. Then some kid accidently swallowed some hand sanitizer last year, so a bunch of bored housewives decided to have it banned in schools. The city council started placing cameras on lamp posts along the sidewalks, and I started feeling like I was living in an Orwell novel.?
Last July 4th, I'm sitting at my family's house, drinking a beer, watching my brother- in- law BBQ, and I'm still thinking of the fireworks from the night before; the town I hail from won't display fireworks on the 4th of July because it might offend "non- native citizens" (If that's not a total crock).
I'm always very moved by the day, usually to tears- not just because of that day specifically, but the historical events leading up to our country's independence from outright tyranny. I always wonder how different things would be today had even one of those events not happened exactly the way they did.
Shortly before we began to eat I wished my family a happy 4th, as I did every year. My mother informed me it was no big deal, that this was, "just another day, a day off from work". It took a few minutes before I realized my children had just heard that; these were sentiments uttered time and again by my family over the years, but my children were beginning to form their own opinions about life and the world; their own grandmother who they admired and respected just admitted she had so little respect for what this country was built for; therefore nothing she said could be considered credible. But there was little I could do at the time; I was a divorcee raising two little boys on my own and going to school fulltime, so we didn't have much money.
But then I remembered Casper. I came through here on a college field trip to Yellowstone a few years prior and had never been so moved before. I never had to open a door myself, never before had a man tip his hat to me and say, "morning, ma'am". Never before had I witnessed a large group of people living in such a friendly and homey environment. Never before had I seen any group of people embrace and respect their past. I truly felt a calling.
And of course, there were the mountains. I'd never seen those before, either.
Mid- May of this year I had my decisions made. Caspar schools seemed far better than the ones that taught my children then, and wages were much higher here. We sold everything we couldn't fit into my little Ford Focus at a rummage sale, packed the car like a sardine can and left Wisconsin on June 14.
I felt like a refugee. I almost felt like I was doing something wrong; who was I to take my kids away from their grandparents, aunts and counsins?
But once we hit the South Dakota border I had no more doubts; the further east I traveled, the friendlier and more helpful people were. Hell, if my family wasn't going to respect this nation's history, I would go someplace where that respect and insatiable need for freedom and space seemed to reside: Wyoming.
After three days on the road, my poor children's legs cramped and their road- weary faces sunburned, we arrived in town with $38 to my name. I had already leased an apartment on the west side, and it was small, but it was freedom. Freedom from tyranny, in a way. My children were free from control of thought by my family, who obviously didn't appreciate anything those before them had to endure.
Don't get me wrong, here; I'm disgusted at where our country is today (I could go on for days about "Executive Priviledge"), but I'm much more moved by the actions and words of movers and shakers of the 1700s who got us the freedoms we have.
I noticed immediately how open- minded and tolerant everyone seemed to be. People regardless of lifestyle all seemed to be considered regular, equal members of society. My neighbor doesn't blare his music at night, and the young man down the hall always stands against the wall and says, "after you, ma'am," when I'm carrying my laundry downstairs.
My children are astounded by our surroundings; upon leaving Walmart our first day here, my oldest son said, "Oh my God, mom, the mountains are still there!"
For the record, my concerns regarding our move here revolved around finding a great school for my children and good job; I had no idea there was a freedom movement here. Moving here was my freedom movement.
Needless to say, I'm tickled to pieces to have found this group and forum. I hope my enthusiam isn't a turn- off to any of you, and I pray to make friends of you all soon.
