Most of us are so busy working, paying bills, raising children etc. that it is very difficult to closely scrutinize what is happening in our legislative process. We flip on the news of our choice, or read or hear from the politician of our choice and go back to the worries of daily life. As the largest business organization in the state of Wyoming, we work diligently to provide you with the happenings of government that impact your life, but moving forward, we need to ask your help.
If you haven’t watched the happenings of the Wyoming legislature this year, you have missed the fact that the citizen legislature of yore that carefully, and with appropriate gentility, approached our states problems has long since passed having been replaced by the sound bite cultural warriors that are so common amongst the brethren of legislative bodies across this nation. In the crossfire of all this almost religious fervor is the business community trying to bear down in their foxhole to keep the shrapnel from ill thought-out political diatribes from causing harm to the business that has been so carefully conceived and cared for. It is hard to believe that the Wyoming legislature was farther away from a budget (percentage) for a while than the US Congress is or that the thought of sewage running down the hallways of our schools does not spur immediate action, but both are reality.
I always taught my daughter that if you want to be somebody If you want to go somewhere you better wake up and pay attention. A great song from Sister Act 2! You can listen to it here. A good lesson for a child and an important lesson for all of us as we navigate the social political storms that we currently face. The Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce is proud to stand the gap for our business community, but in order for us to have the impact of true change we need you to pay attention and take action on the knowledge you garner. We need you to attend government affairs meetings, to attend candidate forums, to ask questions of us and elected officials. We need you to question everything and when you come to a conclusion act on it accordingly. We need you to speak with your voice and your wallet and join the fight with us as we continue to push this federation of businesses we call a chamber of commerce into the future.
What Wyoming’s future is like is not up to bloviating citizens or self-important politicians. It will be driven by the business community and its willingness to engage on important issues. If we don’t choose this path, we leave our future to the whim of social winds that give us a sudden burst of comfort but soon give way to the desperation of rough waters ahead. Pay attention Wyoming – we can have a great future, but if left in the hands of those who would rather be heard than get things done, we will surely fail.
Your Chamber is here to stand up for you and work for a better future. There is a simple slogan at our Chamber, “I believe in servant leadership”. It’s something we believe in with all our being, and ultimately, it is what the entire business community must believe if Wyoming’s future is going to be brighter than its past. Serve our Community and Lead it Forward! It seems simple, but in order to make it a reality, it’s going to take all of us.
