Cowboys aren't just from Texas

[venaja]

I think I am moving to Wyoming. It is the perfect place for me. It has mountains, pine trees, Yellowstone National Park, bison burgers, and one of the best school systems in the country. It is sparsely populated; only 500,000 people live in the entire state. And not only is it socially progressive (progressive - beyond liberal) and fiscally

Comments

[misworded]

Wow, people who actually aspire to live in Wyoming...

[venaja]

Not many people know, and we the privileged like to keep it that way.

[goulo]

A friend of mine who got a PhD in astronomy actually got a teaching position in Wyoming and has been living there a couple years.

Fiscal conservatism I can believe, but I'm having a tougher time believing the social progressivism. I think of stuff like the murder of Matthew Shepard. But of course there are horrible thugs no matter where you go, so I don't really know what the state is like generally speaking. So your post made me ponder; I've now emailed my astronomer friend to ask his impressions in this regard.

[venaja]

Wyoming has historically had a strong dedication to progressivism. What one's neighbors may be like depends on the county, city, or neighborhood. I don't plan on being around many people anyway.

[goulo]

Here's what my friend Mike Brotherton said about Wyoming to me just now (reproduced with his permission); I thought it was interesting and worth passing along anyway... :)
Yes, fiscally conservative. We had a billion dollar surplus last year and didn't spend it, in case this year wasn't so good. The money mostly comes from mineral rights, like Alaska, so that helps very much -- more than being conservative probably.

I would not call WY progressive. There is a strong Libertarian streak, but that isn't the same thing. We don't have many racial issues, but that's because WY is < 3% minority (all added together), so it doesn't come up. Matthew Shepard sensitized the region, and there are lip-service events, but I don't know about deeper change

[venaja]

"Utopia" was more tongue-in-cheek, but I liked his assessment of it.

Wyoming sounds like more my kind of place than a pot-smoking hippie state. (Sorry if you're a pot-smoking hippie; I love you regardless.)

[goulo]

Haha, yeah, I don't see you as hanging out with lots of pot-smoking hippies!

Although I'm not into pot, my sympathies pretty obviously lie in the peacenik mellow hippie direction (although since I cut my hair a few years ago, I guess I'd be a short-haired hippie. :)

In any case, a land of SUVs, K-marts, and Walmarts doesn't appeal to me though...

[venaja]

I doubt they have more SUVs over there than they have here. As for Wal-mart, it offers a fine shopping experience at affordable prices! ;)