The Platte County Democrats will be holding a meeting on Tuesday, March 22nd at 7 p.m. for the purpose of electing officers for the upcoming term. The meeting will be held at the Platte County Public Library Meeting Room. Linda Shelton is our current chairperson, taking up the chairmanship after the recent resignation of Charlie McDonald. See you there!
Rachel Maddow recently aired a segment on what small government conservatism can do, using the recent defeat of HB74 in the Wyoming Legislature as an example. Featured in the video are Cale Case and Phil Nicholas, both Republican members of our State Senate, and Chris Rothfuss, one of our four Wyoming Senate Democrats. This bill could not possibly have been defeated without the support of a number of Republicans, who chose to follow the Constitution over the opposing members desire to mingle their personal religious beliefs with the law of the land. Members of Fremont and Albany counties should be damn proud.
Here in good ol' Platte County, we had a wonderful quote from one of our representatives, Frank Peasley: "Listen, I feel like you're destroying everything else that I have. You've gotten involved in the raising of my children, the way I discipline them, the way I feed them, whether or not I can smoke in the car, whether or not I have them properly equipped; you've just gotten into my life so much, let's just let me define the relationship I'm in, OK?”
I'm fairly certain allowing gays to marry would in no way nullify Mr. Peasley's marriage. It wouldn't have anything to do with his marriage. What Peasley is really saying is that he doesn't want other Americans, two consenting adults who love each other, to have the same rights that he enjoys. Why not?
We elect people to make our lives a little better, to uphold our laws, and to create laws that make this state a better place to live. Let's keep that in mind during the next election cycle. Let's vote for fairness and equality.
From the second piece: "WyWatch State Director Becky Vandeberge was disappointed with the vote, but says she will keep working to keep same-sex unions from being recognized in the state. "The goal here was to get a voting record on a clean bill that defines marriage as between one man and one woman," she said. "And now we have that for the next election."
I couldn't agree more Becky. In Platte County, all of our representatives attempted to pass law that simply pushes for inequality. Senators Curt Meier and Jim Anderson, Representatives Matt Teeters and Frank Peasley all voted Yea on SJ005, the defense of marriage constitutional amendment. It was placed in the general file and was not considered in the committee of the whole. Then our all Republican "representatives" got behind HB74, which was defeated in the Senate yesterday. Our elected leaders disguise their motivations as being sound, rational attempts at "creating consistent verbiage" across the board to guide our court systems. But I truly feel this is all religiously motivated, an attempt by followers of the christian bible to influence politics, and deny other Wyomingites the freedoms that they themselves enjoy. There is a reason why we have separation of church and state. These Platte County senators and representatives don't understand it. You have the right to practice religion, but you do not have the right to push your agenda on others through the government. By the way, the e-mails I sent to Frank Peasley and Matt Teeters went unanswered. Thanks for the representation and response to a constituent, gentleman. Outstanding work. This issue was only one of several bills this legislative session considered to interfere and control the rights of Wyomingites. They wanted government prescriptions for abortions. They tried to force children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Is if this is the Republicans idea of smaller government, I'm afraid they have their wires crossed. Next election cycle, we certainly will remember this.
Aren't we lucky here in the state of Wyoming? Not only do we have two senators who are joined at the hip when voting, but now Thing 2 has the dubious honor of being rated one of the top 10 conservatives in the Senate. Isn't that special? I wonder if he gets a little golden oil well statue with that.
If you are a Facebook user, I suggest checking out the WyWatch Watchers group, which is doing a fine job of keeping tabs on the legislation and proposals that affect our personal freedoms.
There is just one week to go until the 2011 legislature session. The Republican Party candidates have clearly shown what kind of power trip they go on when they have control of the house, senate, and governorship of our state. It hasn't been pretty to watch, but hopefully this will get our party riled up and start planning for the 2012 election cycle. We need to toss out our district representatives. They have helped push through legislation that denies equality to all Wyoming citizens, and have successfully pushed their so-called morality issues while blindly ignoring our U.S. constitution.
Our county caucus is fast approaching in March. I'd like to see some serious discussion concerning our need to fight back and put some people in power that want to prevent this state from continuing down the path of prejudice and hate mongering.
In the news... Senator Enzi has got this all figured out. Our state government is finding new ways to interfere with our civil rights, such as the right to marry the person you love, and interfering with your personal choice to have an abortion. These are merely small fry state issues. Enzi, meanwhile, is taking care of the really important issues: Giving the people a choice of the type of light bulb they can buy, an energy saving one or a old style inefficient incandescent one. http://bit.ly/dYL4eQ
This will be an interesting two years for the nation with a Republican majority in congress, while the Senate narrowly belongs to the Democrats. The presumed Speaker of the House talks of listening to the people. Let's hope this happens. Fiscal responsibility is something we can all agree on, a consensus on how to do it will be the rub. My fingers are crossed that our government can continue making progress, improve our economy, and help us be one nation, indivisible.
Welcome to the Platte County Democratic Party blog! Check here for news on the politics that affect the people of Platte County, Wyoming. Contact information, meeting schedules and notices from the Platte County Democratic Party are updated to help other members stay informed and involved. You may contact wyomingdems(@)gmail (dot)com for questions and comments. Please add to the conversation by joining our Facebook group (search for Platte County Democrats).
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