Wyoming Is Not Backwards, Just Smarter

I've written several responses to out-of-state writers who just do not get states like Wyoming. They write critically of it, even though they have never been here. Glenrock Wyoming VS NYC was one of my favorite responses to those big city snobs.

I was just sent an article in The Salt Lake City Tribune written by By Bruce Palmer, of Wyoming. Mr. Palmer originally wrote the story for Author at WyoFile. and Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org

In his article, Mr. Palmer rambles a bit about how Wyomingites are the least vaccinated against COVID. Wyoming stubbornly fights to keep its coal gas and oil industries going.  We don't latch on to government healthcare "solutions" like many other states.

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He correctly points out that most young people leave the state yet older people come here to retire because of the low cost of living and lower taxes. The state's population is growing but at a laughably slow rate. Many small Wyoming towns are vanishing into the countryside.

Mr. Palmer has a long list of complaints.

Mr. Palmer writes: "Still, a no-tax, no-vax Wyoming vacation may be just the adventure you need. Come to Wyoming and live dangerously! We’ll be waiting for you, pardner."

Well, Mr. Palmer, I've lived and worked in populated states and major cities. There is a reason that people are leaving them in record number.

At least here in Wyoming, I don't have to deal with... tell you what, just click here and read what I wrote in Glenrock VS NYC. There are some damn good reasons we here in Wyoming refuse to do it as they do it everywhere else.

By the way, Mr. Palmer, you might want to look into how Medicaid expansion has been a disaster for every state that has done it.

Bruce Palmer is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, a nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He has long advocated for Medicaid expansion in Wyoming.