by Charles Katebi Supporters of Medicaid Expansion, including Governor Matt Mead, express an unwavering belief that the federal government will actually fund this entitlement as promised. Yet Washington's promises often become unfunded mandates. Even before the end of this year it is likely that Congress will cut federal funding for Medicaid Expans...

by Charles Katebi Obamacare's supporters seem to believe that if you give patients insurance, doctors will treat them. But greater access to health insurance doesn't mean greater access to healthcare. As patients scour Obamacare's insurance exchange for coverage, they're finding fewer doctors accepting Obamacare's insurance as payment. And those th...

During Governor Mead's Business Forum in Cheyenne in November 2015, Dr. Robert Behn from Harvard University presented his theory on the budget cut challenge in the lead up to a discussion by a panel of legislators. Wyoming legislators must decide how to deal with a 25 percent reduction in revenue, a $155 million deficit in the education account for...

by Charles Katebi Medicaid's allies are gearing up their expansion drive for the 2016 budget session. As usual, they're trying to convince Wyomingites that they will save big if government spends more of their money. We've heard this story before. Governor Mead, Wyoming's Hospital Association and the Department of Health all claim that Wyoming's un...

by Wyoming Liberty Staff James Madison warned us in Federalist #10 of the violence "a number citizens who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens" can do to liberty. 3,368 voters in Casper just illustrated his point by neglecting to perform their civic duty to stand up for ...

by Charles Katebi Since Obamacare took effect in 2013, the cost of health insurance has exploded. Turns out it's very costly for the insurers themselves and some are paying the ultimate price. In early October, one of those insurers, WINhealth, announced it faced severe financial challenges and was leaving the Obamacare exchange. Just 11 days later...

by Wyoming Liberty Staff Great American men of letters like Russell Kirk and M.E. Bradford have written much about the contrast between those who favor human realities and those who wish to impose utopias on human society. While we are tempted to consign these considerations to the dusty shelves of aging libraries, we do so at our peril. Government...

The state of Wyoming earmarks tobacco settlement funds to certain programs — and guess what. The programs cost more than the revenue they receive. As you might expect, the knee jerk reaction to this is to raise tobacco taxes to cover the shortfall. But let's take a closer look. The Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund was set up after a 1998 settlement be...

In December 2011, Wyoming Governor Matt Mead called on state agencies to cut their budgets by between five and eight percent. An eight percent budget cut would have amounted to $75 million, and this news created quite a bit of stir in some quarters, and quite a bit of confusion in others. While some asked: how will people survive such draconian cut...

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal talks to Doug Randall on KGAB about the need to shrink the size of government to grow the private economy and put the state's fiscal house in order. November 9, 2015

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal talk to Chuck Gray on KVOC about how he shrank the size of government in his state to set the stage for growth in the private sector, more jobs and a higher standard of living for the people of Louisiana. November 7, 2015 

by Stephen Klein On Wednesday the Joint Judiciary Committee of the Wyoming Legislature voted to adopt a committee bill to reform civil asset forfeiture under the Wyoming Controlled Substances Act ("WCSA"). The law as it exists today allows Wyoming police to seize and the state to keep ("forfeit") property that they suspect is related to the drug tr...

by Wyoming Liberty Staff On November 10th in a Special Election Cheyenne's voters will decide whether to transfer executive power from their elected mayor to an administrator working for the City Council. Beyond the details of the proposal, Cheyenne voters must answer a bigger question: Do voters believe that elections work? This question is about ...

A cabal of special interest groups seems to have convinced Wyoming's governor and more than a few legislators that families need to pay more in gasoline taxes. But with the possibility of a Taxmageddon hitting already overburdened families in January, the last thing the legislature should be doing is hiking fuel taxes.  

The government is crying in its cups about a lack of money. However, according to the Heritage Foundation, Taxmageddon means Wyoming taxpayers would face an $836.5 million tax increase. This includes: $288 million in Bush-era tax rates: $216 million because of expiring payroll tax cuts: and $332.5 million in new Obamacare taxes. Imagine if the gove...

A Wyoming grassroots group, made up of three regular guys, asked the Federal Election Commission (FEC) if the ads they created would be considered 'advocacy.' If the ads were, it would mean the group would have to register with the government just to speak about issues like gun rights, land rights and health care they consider important. The paperw...

For reasons only known to the FEC, it continues to ignore Supreme Court rulings. It's time for that to stop because ironically, campaign finance laws do more than big money ever could to shut people up and confine participation in politics to the wealthy and connected. It's time to overturn vague and overbroad laws, and let Free Speech live up to i...

It's been a busy budget session and our cartoon this time tells it like it is. Not only do our citizen legislators have to wade through a behemoth budget bill, they have another 250 that they have to vote on, whether they know what they're about or not. This makes it all the more important for citizens to keep an eye on what's happening and let leg...

Does it seem like you have less and less of your own money to spend and jobs are harder to come by? That might be because you are battling a government that is every day more like an octopus; while you confront an ever increasing burden of government head on, its tentacles reach around and pick your pocket with hidden taxes. 

Governor Mead announced he will cut approximately $200 million from the current fiscal year's spending. This apparent burst of fiscal conservatism came as a result of a clause in the 2014 budget bill directing the governor to review agency budgets and reduce them if it looks like the fall in tax revenue will result in a deficit. Revenue has been on...