Thankfulness in hindsight gives hope in foresight.

Lovingly baked turkeys and hams, all over Wyoming, have become chaotic pots of leftover meat. Formal dinner rolls have been repurposed as sandwich buns. A bevy of side dishes now languish in refrigerators vainly hoping to be chosen before they spoil.

Black Friday shoppers have been up since the crack of dawn to snatch up deals to put under the Christmas tree. Thanksgiving Day 2021 is in the books.

For the past five years, this author has stoically accepted the fact that any Friday column that attempts to chime in on Thanksgiving will be embarrassingly late to the party. This year, however, I want to buck convention. After Thanksgiving celebrations that focused on present blessings, let’s use this day after Thanksgiving to be thankful for the blessings of the past.

I am thankful, first, that my parents had me. They didn’t have to. They were wed in the same year that the Pill was released on the world. After having two children, already, I was not needed to complete their perfect suburban family. By a mere daily dose of the new miracle drug, I would be a cipher.

It is impossible to imagine what non-existence would be like. Gone would be all the happy memories of childhood, achievements of adolescence, and satisfaction of raising a family under Wyoming skies. More than that, the kids and grandkids that laugh and fight around my table would be deleted from the universe, and the world would be less joyful, absent their love.

I am thankful that my grandfather attended youth group at St. John Lutheran Church in Ord, Nebraska. He might have frequented the bar, instead. As with most young men of his age, it is quite likely that he was Luke-warm to the meetings. Perhaps he had a few arguments with his parents over driving all the way into town for a mediocre Bible study and corny games. But despite any youthful resistance, he met my grandmother through it.

Over a century ago, there is no way on God’s green earth that a farm-boy from Ord, Nebraska should meet a girl who lived 70 miles away. But, facilitated by the Walther League, two Lutheran families intertwined. Rather than falling into the chaos of the roaring 20s, two kids built a nest of stability, warmth and value that still nurtures and protects generations of family scattered from Seattle to Sarasota. 

I am grateful to God for the freedom that enabled my great great grandfather, John, to travel the streets of Chicago in horse-drawn wagon and distribute bottles of fresh milk. Decades before anybody had refrigerators, there were a thousand ways for milk to spoil and sicken his many customers. But the relationship of conscientiousness and trust built between John and his customers enabled them to receive safe and nutritious milk without stifling government regulation.

For John, this freedom provided a stable home to share with his wife, Anna, and their seven children. It enabled them both to teach their children ethics of hard work, trustworthiness, sexual virtues, and faithfulness to God. Generations later, these lessons would still echo in the hearts of their descendants.

Words fail to describe the multitude of blessings that have fallen to me from their self-denial and hard work. Yet they are merely random examples—cherry-picked from dozens of generations known, and hundreds of generations unknown—who lived lives of extraordinary ordinariness. I don’t deserve to have their gifts. But I do.

Not just me, but all of us are infinitely richer because of the heroic lives they led. Yet, they did not consider their own lives “heroic.” As they trudged the dusty streets and cultivated the sunbaked ground, they were incapable of seeing over the horizon of time to the particular ways that they were storing up treasures for me.

Daily, they rolled out of bed, put on their shoes, and put their hand to the plow. Daily, they encountered pain, disappointment, and loss. Daily, they fought temptation to choose the easy way over the right way. But with each triumph over temptation, they were storing up a cornucopia of fruit for today’s bounty.

We live in a culture of individualistic, immediate self-fulfillment. We are saturated by preachers who tell us to scratch every itch and gratify every lust. We know, intuitively, that these are false preachers. Yet, in the middle of the struggles their message is tantalizing. 

That is why I am grateful not only for the benefits previous generations accrued for me. Even more, I am thankful for the example they left me. It is a light at one end of the tunnel. Looking back and seeing that light we are encouraged and assured that there is light at the other end, as well.

Also published in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, November 26, 2021, and the Cowboy State Daily, November 28, 2021.

Families are a force of nature.

Photo credit: Jessica Rockowitz on Unsplash

A human family is the most basic unit of human society. Its bonds of love are a force of nature. No human being since Adam and Eve ever came into existence without exactly one father and one mother. At the very moment of conception, the bond of love between a husband and a wife creates two similar—and yet distinct—bonds of love between the father and the child, and between the mother and the child.

These velvet chains of love make individuals responsible to care for one another. When they prevail, all three people thrive in tangible ways. The husband and wife receive economic, social, and health benefits. The child receives an entire set of specific and unique benefits from his or her father. And that same child receives another set of specific and unique benefits from his or her mother. Thus, a family is the most effective welfare program in the universe.

Bonds of love are not interchangeable. Human families are not Tinkertoys that can be disassembled and rearranged without harming the persons in them. Bonds of love, once formed, cannot be broken without damaging people. That is why husbands and wives make life-long promises before governments and God. That is why every child has the right to the love of both natural parents.

These bonds make the family pre-political. Families exist before the city (polis) exists; and, cities are built by families. A city is neither a mere collection of buildings nor a commune of individuals. It is a community of families. That is the most basic of all political truths. It is the one thing that Democrats, Republicans, and every other party can agree on.

Just governments recognize and protect family rights. They treat marriage contracts at least as seriously as they treat business contracts. Just governments protect the natural rights that every child has to the love of both parents. Governments cannot create families. But they are obligated to support them.

Totalitarians of every stripe deny that governments are for families. Evil governments always set about to dissolve the bonds of family and control individuals directly. They intentionally interfere in families and set themselves up as a better big brother. Universally, totalitarians fail to recognize that the dissolution of family bonds is destructive to the state.

When family structure is broken, not only are the individual persons harmed, but neighborhoods devolve into ghettos and nations fail. Governments that protect family rights simultaneously help individuals to thrive and preserve the state. 

That is why it is the direct responsibility of governments to encourage family bonds, protect them from destructive forces, and shield them from outside interference. And that is why citizens have an absolute right to this kind of government. 

We should insist that our government takes marriage vows seriously. We should insist that our elected officials enact policies designed to keep parents with their own children. We should be outraged when politicians run roughshod over parental rights and insert themselves between children and their parents.

Instinctively families across America are pushing back. They are showing up at school board meetings to object to the teaching of junk science and divisive social theories. They are showing up at libraries to assert their first amendment rights to protect children from inappropriate sexualization. They are taking schools and employers to court against meddling in family medical decisions.

While families are acting on instinct, totalitarians know what is at stake. Former governor, Terry McAuliffe, spoke for them all, “I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions. I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” He could not have drawn the battle lines more clearly.

Every school board, every library, every government official from the governor to the local health nurse should stand with families. Those who don’t are standing against a force of nature and the very foundation of society.

Wyoming families also know something else about forces of nature: They should be respected. It is unwise and extremely dangerous to get between a she-bear and her cubs. She does not care if the interloper has good intentions or bad. She only knows that he should not be there. Her reaction is instinctive and furious.

Politicians from every party should take note. Parents don’t care whether you have good intentions, or bad. They don’t care whether you are a Republican, a Democrat—or a Whig. Those who insert themselves between parents and children, are messing with a force of nature.

It took years for America’s parents to notice people and institutions encroaching upon the relationship between parents and their children. But now that the threat has been spotted, it can never be un-seen. A force of nature has been unleashed. Disrespect it at your peril.

Also published in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, November 19, 2021. 

The Wyoming Bar should be accountable to voters

Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash

The Wyoming Bar Association seems obsessed with overruling Cheyenne voters. Special Counsel, W. W. Reeves, not only filed highly disputed charges against the elected Laramie County DA, Leigh Anne Manlove, he continues to hinder her from mounting a proper defense. 

Most recently, Jim Angell reported that the Bar’s “Board of Professional Responsibility” (BPR) imposed an October 22 deadline for her to complete the discovery portion of her defense. But that same Bar has stalled and limited her ability to interview the seven judges who sent a letter to the Bar last December.

Stephen Melchior, Manlove’s attorney, explained that the deadline “is prejudicial to (Manlove) and does not provide her the time necessary to complete discovery in this case, and is further prejudicial in limiting her to the taking of 10 depositions, especially since 7 of the depositions are of the judges who waged the initial complaint in this matter, and since it is apparent on its face that both present and former employees of the DA’s office, and others, have information that is relevant to the allegations made in the formal charge.”

Leigh Anne G. Manlove

Reeves retorted that Manlove should have been preparing her defense since she “saw the seven judges’ letter in December of 2020.” This is a revealing claim. There is nothing on the December 21, 2020, letter to indicate that Manlove even got a copy. Why should she be expected to retain counsel and prepare a defense to a letter?

This mystery is partially solved in that, on the very next day, Wyoming Bar Counsel, Mark Gifford, filed a 48-page “Petition for immediate suspension” of Manlove’s license to practice law. You read that right. Seven judges conspired to submit an “unprecedented letter” against her on Monday, and immediately the Wyoming Bar filed an apparently pre-written petition to disbar her. 

While this explains how Manlove learned of the letter, it also raises many questions about how the seven judges and the Wyoming Bar were colluding behind the scenes. Who drafted the letter? Who reviewed, edited, promoted it, and solicited the signatures? Who, at the Wyoming Bar, was communicating with the judges, and what private information was being exchanged? These and many other questions should be answered under oath. 

Barely a month after the Bar’s petition was filed, the Wyoming Supreme Court rejected its bid to suspend Manlove’s license. Let me say that again. The Wyoming Bar has already had the chance to argue its case before the Court. On January 26, 2021, less than a week after Manlove presented her defense, the Court vindicated her. It wasn’t even close.

So, again, why should she spend any resources defending herself after the Supreme Court tossed out the charges? On June 11, 2021, we learned that only days after losing its case before the Supreme Court, the Wyoming Bar assigned Special Counsel Reeves to drag her before the BPR on many of the same charges. And those charges were not made public until months later when Reeves filed the Formal Charge.

That sure sounds like double jeopardy to me. But if the case is to be tried again, Gifford and all seven judges are material witnesses to the facts. When Manlove asked the Bar for permission to depose these witnesses, the Bar denied her request, gave her only restricted access, and did not leave her enough time to act before the October 22 deadline, at any rate.

You might wonder how the Wyoming Bar has the power to restrict witnesses in a case where it is, itself, the plaintiff. Those are the rules of the Wyoming State Bar. They do not have to follow the same rules as state courts. They are a private club that does its work behind closed doors.

Private clubs are entitled to do as they please, but this private club is trying to overturn a public election. On November 6, 2018, 21,083 voters in Laramie County elected Manlove to be their District Attorney. And yet, within months of beginning her tenure, the Bar began working behind the scenes to take her out. Next, it tried to suspend her law license. Now, it is re-trying her case “in-house.” 

Manlove’s thorough response, filed on July 20, shed much-needed light on the Wyoming Bar’s relentless attack on the voters of Laramie County. It is available at LA4DA.com. The Wyoming County and Prosecuting Attorney’s Association and the Wyoming Attorney General have registered their own objections to the Bar’s actions, as well.

The voters of Laramie County elected Manlove by a supermajority (67%), but the Wyoming Bar does not care about the ballot box. After nearly three years of unrestricted lawfare against an elected official, perhaps it’s time they did. The unaccountable power that the Bar has over elected officials is unhealthy. It needs to change. 

Also published in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, November 12, 2021, and the Cowboy State Daily, November 16, 2021.

Local athlete completes the Ironman challenge

Evanston resident, homeschooling mother of nine, and English professor at Western Wyoming Community College traveled to Waco, Texas with her family to compete in the first-ever Waco Ironman. April Lange joined nearly 800 fellow athletes on October 23, 2021, for the grueling 140.6-mile race.

It was the end of a long road. Lange’s rekindled passion for running (she had been a high-school standout in Texas) led to a first-place finish in a local 5k race after the birth of her youngest child. From there, she set her sights on ever-greater challenges. 

Her first triathlon was a modest, 32-mile Olympic distance. A triathlon is a race of three disciplines: swimming, biking, and running. Evanston’s “Thin Air Triathlon” was organized by the Proffit ranching family and held on the shores of Sulphur Creek Reservoir.

After conquering the distance—and her competitors—Lange went on to ever greater challenges. In July 2018 she ran her first marathon and qualified to run in Boston. Shortly after her return from the 124th running of the Boston Marathon, in 2019, she set her sights on the Ironman challenge.

The Ironman was first run in 1978 on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride, and a 26.2-mile marathon. All must be accomplished in under 17 hours.

The level of conditioning required cannot be long maintained. Athletes must ramp up training with a goal of reaching peak conditioning in the weeks before the event. Lange mapped out her training schedule to prepare for a July 2020 race. Then, COVID-19 struck the world. 

Among the many disruptions caused by the evil virus and widely varied responses to it, athletic events were canceled around the globe. Early on, the cancellations seemed to make sense. Athletes were disappointed but understanding. 

But as time progressed, politicization wreaked havoc on athletes’ well-being. In one case, an Ironman was canceled only two weeks before the start because Harris County Texas used COVID-19 as an excuse to prevent the athletes from riding bicycles on a ten-mile stretch of freeway—although swimming, biking, and running were perfectly “safe” just across the county line.

Arbitrary rulings such as these affected thousands of athletes for more than a year and a half. It’s not just that races were canceled. More harmful was that guidance changed every two weeks, making future planning all but impossible. Repeatedly athletes came near to peak conditioning only to have their race canceled. In disappointment, they had to start the cycle all over again. 

Lange struggled through three cancellations before finally being allowed to compete in Waco, Texas. It was a sort of homecoming. During her high school career, she had lived on farm near Waco and still has numerous relatives in the area. 

Awaiting the start, 10/23/21

On race day, a queue of competitors stood in the predawn darkness while the iconic voice of Ironman’s, Mike Reilly, whipped up the crowd. At 7:25 A.M. contestants started plunging into the Brazos River at five-second intervals. After an hour and 25-minute swim, Lange emerged to shed her wetsuit and mount her bicycle. 

The hazards of this leg were not limited to physical exertion. Competitors began experiencing flat tires—a lot of them. Race planners had warned the competitors that in a race of this size about 25 flat tires should be expected. But on this day, there were many more. 

A malefactor had deliberately sabotaged the bicycle course with tacks. He even defeated the precautions of race organizers who use leaf blowers to clean the course before each race, by gluing the tacks to the road. It is sad to contemplate the darkness of a heart that would deliberately hurt hundreds of strangers who had trained for months just to be there.

Blessedly, Lange avoided any flats. After six hours and 48 minutes, she traded her bike for a pair of running shoes. A marathon later, she crossed the finish line to hear the voice of Mike Reilly say, “April Lange, you are an ironman.” It was the 304th time he had intoned those words in Waco. Completing the course just shy of 14 hours she was the 12th of 27 women in her age group to finish. Thirty-five had started that morning.

Just to finish an Ironman puts a person in an elite fraternity. Counting both official and unofficial races held around the globe, there are approximately 50,000 finishers annually. That’s only 1 in every 140,000 people. A map posted at the entrance of Ironman Village, showed at least one other competitor from Wyoming. I was unable to learn his or her name. If it was you, or someone you know, please email me at the address below. I would like to learn your story.

Wyoming should be proud of anyone with the stick-to-it-ness and discipline to complete this iconic challenge. 

Note: This author is the proud husband, and biggest fan, of his wife, April.

Also published in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, November 5, 2021, and in the Kemmerer Gazette, November 16, 2021.