Freedom Caucus will soon find that leading is harder than criticizing

By Amy Edmonds, WyoFile.com

In politics, it is much harder to lead than to be a bomb-throwing opposition. And we are about to learn that lesson in abundance at the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

On election night, the group appeared to have won a fairly clear victory across the state after months of Wyoming being in the midst of a campaign whirlwind in which it was inundated with campaign emails, texts, phone calls and door-to-door campaigning from other states. And all of it was pretty light on the facts. It's safe to say that Freedom Caucus leader John Bear imported polarizing, national politics to Wyoming with great success.

Winston Churchill once said, “In war, you can be killed only once, but in politics, you can be killed many times.” Many incumbents in Wyoming lost Tuesday after being “killed” over and over again in political mailers that spread outright lies to scare away voters. Young Americans for Liberty used this tactic to win in other states, and Wyoming is now one of their victories. In the past, they have boasted on their website, “The Hazlitt Coalition of YAL promotes freedom at the state level and now controls 4.5% of U.S. state seats.” That number has now increased. Their “control” has grown.

Last night, Wyoming became another victory for them. What they called for a similar victory in other states, they will surely see here. And while Bear and his people will no doubt call this a victory for “conservative values,” this conservative disagrees. Young Americans for Liberty is a Ron Paul-led libertarian group that has few political commonalities with conservatism. We disagree on important issues, such as the proper role of government, legalizing drugs, defunding police, and leaving our allies around the world out in the cold, to name a few.

But whatever excuses they used to win, the Freedom Caucus was largely successful. What a different world they will now enter when the legislature reconvenes in January. It will be difficult to reconcile their far-flung new champions in the Young Americans for Liberty while trying to lead from Wyoming.

Elections are about telling voters what you're going to do for the future. Wyoming voters heard things like completely abolishing property taxes, distributing all state savings to the people, and counting all ballots by hand. These are just some of the issues Bear and his ilk will have to deal with as new members are sworn in with a handful of bills and big ideas.

Getting messages across is something the Freedom Caucus has done well, and it's always easier as an opposition party to keep the troops happy through an internal echo chamber. Now, however, the unruly nature of the libertarian temperament must collide openly with a larger market of ideas, as they like to call it. We can expect the Freedom Caucus' internal grievances and ideological anarchy to become apparent to all. Frustrated by the inability to keep their lofty promises, many will fall out of line, especially if the masterminds who elected them demand and enforce loyalty to their grand plan.

It will become much more obvious how many of the ideas put forward by the Freedom Caucus members are not viable. In the past, as members of the opposition, they could bring in their flawed, half-baked ideas, watch them fail, and then blame the press for the RINOs preventing them from succeeding. And they used those defeats to lie to voters and win.

But that script no longer exists. Somehow.

They must take the lead now, and that means passing real solutions. That means pushing through their unworkable ideas or, more likely, creating a continuous barrage of bad bills that end up in our courts or are vetoed by the governor.

Both options, however, offer them the opportunity to bring out the old rules of the game again and turn to the nearest press microphone to complain about “lawfare,” “liberal rules of the game,” and “RINOs.”

But here lies the problem. Voters generally have little patience for whining politicians. And their whining is not taking place in a vacuum. A new kind of opposition has emerged, and it enjoys dropping bombs just like its predecessors.

Because whether we like it or not, Tuesday's election taught us that national-style dirty politics is here and there's no turning back. In future elections, true conservatives may be tempted to master the art of Bear-style dirty politics, but Wyoming voters deserve better and should resist.

That does not mean, however, that the Freedom Caucus's unworkable failed leadership policies cannot be highlighted. It must and will be done.

Those who lost were undoubtedly caught flat-footed. Wyoming's politeness made it difficult for many candidates to accept what was happening to them and quickly figure out how to fight back.

Many of them stood frozen during the attacks, and this immobility was their downfall. But such underhanded attacks only work once. In two years, the opposition will probably no longer know what is coming. And they will be much better prepared to deal with it, if they choose to do so.

Scottish author Catronia Silvey wrote in her novel Meet Me in Another Life: “People talk about hope as if it were this delicate, fleeting thing of whispers and cobwebs. It is not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the sand of the cobblestones in her hair and has just spit out a tooth as she gets up to try again.” That describes the day after an election perfectly.

For those who lost hope last night, today is a new day.

For those who were hopeful last night, leadership requires real character and strength, something not everyone is born with. I can be accused of being old-fashioned, but I want my leaders to have morals, and winning by lying is not something a moral leader does. So please don't lecture me about how “conservative” these people are – I'm not buying it.

One thing is certain: all of Wyoming's problems now rest squarely on the shoulders of the Freedom Caucus. And they will have to find the right solutions, otherwise they will pay the political price.

We will see how well they do this.

Amy Edmonds is a former state legislator from Cheyenne. She can be reached at [email protected].

WyoFile is an independent, nonprofit news organization focusing on the people, places and politics of Wyoming.