Please stay home - concerned wyoming resident

[lunghd]

I hope FreeWYO will post back again.

We have to differentiate ourselves from those moving from other areas who WANT to change Wyoming. I also know what it's like first hand to be in a local store (here) and hear more voices speaking Spanish than English... Our way of life is changing nationwide and let's face it - FreeWYO lives in one of the last refuges & is sweatin' bullets that we'll drag our trash there with us. Frankly, I'd be pissed too - until shown otherwise.

Regardless of how we 'take' the attitude used to express his words -  the post was a good one because it raises concerns expressed by current residents. (Concerns I heard voiced outside the FSW Jam this year.) People living the lifestyle we admire don't SEE themselves from the outside as we see them - and we don't see ourselves as they see us.

Our challenge is to do just what Boston suggests plus remember that what we say, and do, IS being watched and interpreted through the eyes of those defending their current lifestyle.
My WY challenge is to live in such a way that 5 years later they can't recall when I didn't live there...   

[Paul Bonneau]

Amen lunghd.

I suspect that part of the issue that irritated folks with the manner freewyo expressed himself, was due to not understanding basic forum etiquette (for example he made multiple versions of the same post, or not looking through the forum before posting). I'm guessing he read that CST article and decided to come here and make his very first post ever, on any forum. Yeah, maybe he should have known better, but I'll bet most of us have screwed up as internet newbies at one time or another. 

[John]

I hope FreeWYO will post back again.

Unfortunately, it was probably a hit-and-run.

We have to differentiate ourselves from those moving from other areas who WANT to change Wyoming.

We DO want to change Wyoming!  This "we just want to keep Wyoming the way it is" or "we want to make Wyoming even more like Wyoming" makes great rhetoric, but it is not the truth!  We want to change Wyoming, dramatically.  I want to change Wyoming, dramatically.  Actually, I would be happy just changing one county.  But I definitely want change.  Change is the main point of what we're doing.

We just want change in the opposite direction than what you are worried about, freewyo.  We want to scrap the sales tax, not add an income tax!  We certainly don't want taxpayers forced to pay to build and maintain a bunch of new roads -- rather, we'd like to stop forcing them to pay for even the roads that are already there.  We want the government to divest itself from its road monopoly and for roads to be paid for instead by voluntary means.  We want to eliminate 90-100% of government functions and 99-100% of the government budget. 

We don't like taxes.  We don't like oppressive government.  We like freedom.  We want more of it.

[MamaLiberty]

I agree, John.

I AM "home." I live in Wyoming. I want only more freedom, less (no) government, and no involuntary anything.

My neighbors here have welcomed me with open arms. The only negative reactions have been from people who never met me and made assumptions based on their own bias. (Sundance paper for one.)

One mistake a lot of these people seem to make is the assumption that everyone from out of state comes from a big city and has lots of money.

The nervous nellies here need to make the effort to get to know us before they make up their minds.

[lunghd]

Sorry John,  I still see it from FreeWyo's perspective. And when I say I want Wyoming to stay just like it is... I mean it. (I'm not talking about the usual political 'rah rah' chants here - I'm talking LIFESTYLE and VALUES.) Now if you were going there to reinforce their mindset and stand side by side with their values... then I'm with ya! (It's tough to get across what I'm trying to say - I think we're arguing two sides of the same coin & not that far apart...)

ML - I have a feeling you did what I'd do... Quietly move in, just be nice, get to know some people & not try to 'fix' the community. (Especially before the moving van is outta the driveway.) Activism and involvement is good and USUALLY welcome around here... so long as it's oriented toward the community's goals and not some imported goal. I also think wrasslin' that deer scored you instant celebrity status that would make you a local legend in ANY area!  (That was you, wasn't it? )

--------------------

I agree with a previous post in that FreeWyo's perspective of us is likely as skewed as some of us may have of his/her mindset. That's why this is such an important post - at least in my mind. Get it out! Talk about it! And LISTEN to local input.
Heck gang - I didn't mail my SofI until AFTER I'd personally met ya'll at the Jam this year. A lot of people talk the talk... but I had to be sure ya'll 'walked the walk' too. That's what FreeWyo needs to SEE from us - actions that support free and independent life in WY... not a bunch of 'out of staters' moving in & grabbing up cheap land and then demanding Wyoming change to accommodate them. Heck with that! If I want more of that crap I'll take FreeWyo's advice & just stay here.

Please don't make the mistake of thinking the locals are stupid & need our guidance. If we're seen as wanting to roll into town to "fix" what 'the locals are doing / not doing' then FSW'rs will have a lot of opposition and some of the locals will inadvertently side with those who will 'Raise taxes, etc just to keep the out of staters from comin' in here & ruin'in' things'.
I've seen it first hand here. And guess what - no one ends up happy and "what was" is then  lost to all, forever.
It's not that we don't have a lot to contribute (I also agree in thinking that we do!) - it's just that they don't see themselves as needing our help. And likely, they don't - else FSW would be FSH or FSI or some other state as the goal of independent and self-sufficient folk.

All I'm saying is to stand in FreeWyo's shoes for a moment. Look around where you live now (if still in the other 49...) and remember what it was like before "x", "y" or "z" moved into the area. Can ya remember where that corner store was that old man Johnson ran? Remember when you could go down to the river & fish off the bank... before all the no trespassing signs went up after the land was sold to people who don't even live there? Don't those Section 8 houses look lovely where the old hay field used to be? And look! The neighbors got busted by the narcotics squad... again! Who want's all of that? We don't. That's why Wyoming is so appealing. Guess what? THEY don't want it either! (And if we're not careful... we'll get the blame for a good portion of it which will in turn foster resentment and resistance. If the thought of 'I don't care if the neighbors are pissed off at me.' is part of your mindset - I'd just stay put with like minded people and leave WY alone.

Me? I'd never go into a man's/woman's house and tell them their furniture isn't arranged right regardless of having to climb in a window to get into the kitchen... it's not my house and there might just be a reason it's that way that's not obvious... from outside. I also might not go back... which might have been the point of their "furniture" arrangement to begin with.

[MamaLiberty]

I also think wrasslin' that deer scored you instant celebrity status that would make you a local legend in ANY area!  Grin (That was you, wasn't it? )

Well, I've got deer problems here, but I've not wrestled any yet. Can't think who you might be thinking of. No, I'm the one who carries a .357 mag. everywhere as an open carry ambassador/ Second Amendment Sister, and was in the newspapers. Other than that, I'm just an older lady, trying hard to be a good neighbor.   I'm not interested in politics or minding other folks business in any way.

I'm afraid I'm too old to wrestle deer or much of anything else.

[John]

Sorry John,  I still see it from FreeWyo's perspective. And when I say I want Wyoming to stay just like it is... I mean it. (I'm not talking about the usual political 'rah rah' chants here - I'm talking LIFESTYLE and VALUES.)

Oh, well then yeah, I'm fine with the values and lifestyle staying the same en perpetua.  It's only the political 'rah rah' chants that I want to change.

If in the distant mists of centuries to come Wyoming still wears boots and lives by the Cowboy Code and never ever would dream of yakking on the cell phone in the grocery line then that is fine with me. 

In the year 2525,
If cattle still are here to drive,
If coal mines still do thrive,
That's just fi-i-i-i-ine

In the year 3535,
The perfect day did finally arrive,
No more ranchettes, we all live in town,
We burned all those ugly little ranchettes down!

In the year 4545,
Ain't gonna build no fences ever, here's why:
Everywhere you hunt, fish, or just see,
Is preserved exactly for eternity,

In the year 5555,
To ensure our way of life survives,
Talking on the phone in the grocery line,
Is now a capital form of crime,

Wo, wo.

 

[sbeckman]

While visiting Reno with manfromnevada and his wife I saw a T-shirt that pretty much summed up my thinking on this.

It has the outline of the state of Nevada with the words "Don't much care how ya did it in California".

I personaly know how they "do it" in Kalifornia and this is the very reason I want out.

 I like the way they seem to "do it" in other places (Wyoming e.g.) much better and hope to learn more about how they do it there when I finally make my escape from the Peoples Republik.

I personally can't understand why people bitch about where they are, then move and try to make the new place like the old one they didn't like.

[lex]

?I also think wrasslin' that deer scored you instant celebrity status that would make you
a local legend in ANY area!  (That was you, wasn't it? )?

?Well, I've got deer problems here, but I've not wrestled any yet. Can't think who you
might be thinking of. I'm just an older lady, trying hard to be a good neighbor. I'm afraid
I'm too old to wrestle deer or much of anything else.?

Waaaayyyy too modest she is, lunghd.  ML?s telling the truth when she says she didn?t
wrestle any deer, yet.  It was a bison!!!   It was threatening her neighbor?s child, and
she darned-well wouldn?t let it run amuck.  She charged it and head-butted it!* The bison
was more dizzy than she, so she gathered her wit (it was seen running down her chin)
and grabbed the right front hoof of the furry giant from behind its left front leg, heaved
her shoulder into its ribs, and toppled the beast right over (it was still dazed and stunned
by ML?s audacity).  She whipped a couple of turns of tieline around its legs and threw her
hands into the air!  Wow!  What a show, girl!

The whole town was standing there wide-eyed and drop-jawed.  You?re spot-on that
she scored instant celebrity status!  ?Trying hard to be a good neighbor?  is just how
some legends get a start. This may well be one that we?ll have to tell her grandchildren -
she?s too modest to tell them herself.  This just happened, and you can bet it won?t be
long before she?s known as, ?Woman Who Butts With Bison?  !   



*Caveat Buttor: For experienced heroines and heroes only.  DO NOT try this at home nor
on the range.

[manfromnevada]

John,
Actually, I would love to keep things in WY exactly as they are now.
Or turn the clock back to April when I arrived . . .
Then freeze everything.
Not another tax (as is being proposed now).
Not another law (like the open container law).
Not another committee.
Not another smoking ban (as Sundance has just enacted).
No, stop it now.
The heck with trying to roll things back. I truly would be happy to see the constant enlargement of gov't and the constant erosion of our rights stopped dead in its tracks. No, it's not perfect by any means. Far from it, but I'd love to hedge my bet by taking what we have today and going with that than to try to roll things back and end up in a far worse condition.

That's my take. Your mileage may vary.
Mac

[John]

John,
Actually, I would love to keep things in WY exactly as they are now.
Or turn the clock back to April when I arrived . . .
Then freeze everything.

Are you saying you would be actually unhappy if government were to shrink?  You wouldn't be, would you?  When we get a bunch of people there and start proposing to repeal (or stop enforcing if the law is state or federal) all the victimless crimes (sodomy, other sexual laws, drug laws, gambling laws, other "vice" laws, labor laws, child support laws, etc.) you will support that effort and not oppose it, right? 

Not another tax (as is being proposed now).
Not another law (like the open container law).
Not another committee.
Not another smoking ban (as Sundance has just enacted).
No, stop it now.

Yes, break-even is better than losing ground, but gaining ground is best of all, wouldn't you agree?

The heck with trying to roll things back. ... That's my take.

Don't surrender before we've even begun the battle!  We can roll things back, with enough people helping.  That's my take.

[PatriotAR15]

The best defense is often a GREAT offense.

[lex]

Mama and friends and neighbors wherever you are,

Wondering whether my post, "... Butts With Bison" missed the mark.  It was
intended to follow along the lines of what Prairie Fire said: "Let's all chill. 
The original poster was provocative, but wrong in many ways.  We've risen
to the bait."   

Similar to legendary cowboy hero Pecos Bill (and girl friend Slue-Foot Sue!!),
"Woman Who Butts With Bison"  personifies the frontier virtues of courage,
strength, humor, ingenuity, audacity, modesty, and even superhuman
abilities; the embodiment of superlatives: strongest, toughest, greatest; is
also attributed with being the tidiest, cleanest, plain best dressed; is
immortalized in numerous, tall, [all-too-true] tales of the Old West during the
American westward expansion; you get the picture ? or so I hope ?.

Let?s all get a cool one (or whatever does it for you) and be the sort of
neighbor you?d want to have move in next door to you wherever you are
right now.

Lex 

[John]

...numerous tall tales of the Old West...

Wait, wait, Lex, now I'm confused.  Are you saying that this Bison incident did NOT happen?!?    And I was so impressed with the detail of your account, I was about to drive down to Wright and try it out. 

"Let's see, reaching behind left leg, grab right leg, check.  Now, what's next... ah, pull towards self, check."

Bring friend with gurney should definitely be in there somewhere, perhaps as step... 1?

[lex]

""...numerous tall tales of the Old West...""

"Are you saying that this Bison incident did NOT happen?!?"

Nope.  Note corrected text.  Better to not let the tale wag the butt ....

Lex 

P.S.:  Just bring cowboy tea to wash down the Rocky Mountain oysters.