THE WYOMING TYRANNY INDEX

The inspiration for our Tyranny Index was the “Wyoming Liberty Index” created several years ago by well-meaning and hard-working Wyoming patriots to rate our legislators on their voting history.  With all due respect to the hard work and effort behind the Liberty Index, while we were initially excited to find this resource a few years ago, upon closer examination we found that the Liberty Index was unintentionally flawed because emphasis is placed on legislators when they live up to their Oath of Office, rather than when they do not.

The logic of the Wyoming Tyranny Index (opposite of the Liberty Index) is that evaluation of legislator's vote records should be based on the trust that voters grant to the elected.  The day that the elected swear to their Oath of Office begins the first day that they must consistently demonstrate their fidelity to that public trust.  Rating a legislator for being 'liberty-friendly', when they live up to their Oath, strikes us as extremely contrary to what our Founders intended; elected officials should continually prove they are deserving of the trust of the electorate, as opposed to emphasizing the occasions when they live up to it.  Thus, to create any type of accurate index that voters can use as a quick reference guide to assess how their elected representatives are performing and to determine if they are worthy of their vote for future elections, we believe that the Oath of Office is the only base line to work from for this purpose.  We do however believe that credit should be given where credit is due, and so our Tyranny Index will also gladly take into account those legislators who sponsor and support any pro-constitutional bills. 

It is our hope that this system will encourage Wyoming legislators to consistently live up to their sworn Oath of Office; to support, obey and defend a Pro-constitutional Republic in the state of Wyoming, to amend or repeal past Unconstitutional statutory laws, and to encourage their fellow congressman to do the same as well.  After all, we did elect our representatives to be our voice  - and this is the main message being shouted from the mountaintops in this great state.

Our first index will be based on the vote records from Wyoming's 61st Legislature from select bills during the 2011 General Session.  We hope to have the results of our first Wyoming Tyranny Index posted by the end of October - and we are certain you will find it riveting.  Please check back in just a few weeks to see where your Wyoming Senators and House Representatives fall on the Wyoming Tyranny Index; it will provide all of our subscribers the simplest of cheat sheets to refer to for 2012 elections.

NOTE:  Because this is our first time out of the chute with this index, please know that this is, initially, a work in progress as we work out the logistics; it may require some changes or modifications from the details below as we work at sifting through, and consolidating, such a large volume of complex data.

How the Wyoming Tyranny Index Works

After each Wyoming legislative session, Wyoming Watchdogs will tag all Unconstitutional and Pro-Constitutional bills from that session.  The content of Unconstitutional bills are compared against our chart, The Expanded Political Spectrum.  The intent of Pro-Constitutional bills must go 'above the call of duty' from the Oath of Office.  From that stack of "select bills" all representatives will be graded in three primary areas;

Sponsorship of Select Bills

Vote Record from Select Bills

Beyond Printed Record (BPR)    This category of actions by our legislators cannot be found in the printed record, rather it is found by listening to audios from floor debates, and by tracking the whereabouts of Pro-Constitutional bills that were repressed.  (Obtaining data for this category is very time consuming and may take much longer to be posted.)

Using the point system, each legislator will be docked or credited a certain number of points based on the following criteria;

Oath of Office is base line = ø points

Legislative Actions that Subtract Points

-2        Sponsor of an Unconstitutional bill.  (Committee Chairman and Vice       Chair are held responsible for Unconstitutional bills that are Committee sponsored.)

-1        Supporting vote for an Unconstitutional bill

BPR Actions that Subtract Points

-1       Vocal support for Unconstitutional bill during floor debate

-1       Vocal opposition against Pro-Constitutional bill during floor debate

-5       Public record manipulation (Voting the opposite of vocal statement during debate.)

-2        Committee chairman that fails to bring forth a Pro-constitutional bill in Committee

-2        House Leadership Chair that fails to bring forth a Pro-constitutional bill on House or Senate floor

 

  Legislative Actions that Add Points

+2        Sponsor of a Pro-constitutional bill.  (Committee Chairman and Vice Chair are credited for Pro-constitutional bills that are Committee sponsored.)

+1        Supporting vote for a Pro-constitutional bill

+2        Sponsor of a Pro-constitutional amendment

+1       Supporting vote for a Pro-constitutional amendment

BPR Actions that Add Points

+1       Vocal support for Pro-Constitutional bill during floor debate

All points will be added and subtracted to get a grand total for each State Legislator.

The greater the number of negative points (-) = the more Predisposed to Tyranny

The greater the number positive points (+) = the more Trustworthy a Public Servant

Click here for 2011 Wyoming Tyranny Index