We also confront the striking contradiction of pushing for school budget cuts during a time of inflation, especially when our state enjoys a 250 million dollar surplus and holds a clear constitutional mandate to fund public schools. This overreach by what we call the Control Caucus creates severe, unintended consequences for local school districts, resulting in massive shortfalls for essential student activities and sports programs like the Shoshoni football team. By altering funding mechanisms based on average daily membership, these state-level policies create an unstable economic environment that leaves our public institutions incredibly vulnerable.

It is time for us to get off the couch, stand together, and bring civility and honest accounting back to our political conversations. We must reject the divisive mentality of us versus them and remember that our true strength lies in looking out for one another as a community. Please make sure you are registered, join our movement to bring Wyoming back to the center, and cast your vital vote in the upcoming primary election on August 18th.

Join the movement at skovgard2026.org

We dive deep into the troubling trend of institutional overreach within our state politics, where party leaders try to dictate exactly who we can support in our primary elections. The group firmly rejects this idea, declaring that no one has the right to build a controlled hive mind or tell us how we should think and vote. Jimmy reflects on his experiences at the state GOP convention in Douglas, where we see why factions like the Freedom Caucus are more accurately described as the Control Caucus when we witness attempts to restrict our choices. By recalling our proud history as the Equality State, we remind ourselves of the time when Wyoming took a bold leap to lead the nation in voting rights, and we look forward to how we can lead once again by stripping away divisive labels to focus on our shared humanity.

Finally, we address the critical role of our younger generation, exploring why so many young people feel disconnected or hesitant to speak out in our hometowns. We emphasize that remaining oblivious at home serves no one, and that even before we are old enough to cast a ballot, we can make a massive impact simply by staying informed and sharing crucial messages with our communities. Jimmy invites listeners to visit our website at skovgard2026.org to share our grassroots message and volunteer for local precinct positions. By bringing a different energy into our neighborhoods, we can successfully tone down the toxic rhetoric of fear and retribution, stand against censorship, and build a more accountable future together.

We confront the core systemic challenges facing our current election landscape, particularly the restrictive nature of the closed primary system. Jimmy details how this mechanism effectively disenfranchises at least 25,000 voters across our state, locking everyday citizens out of the critical primary contests where the vast majority of our local leaders are actually chosen. We analyze the rising influence of political factions, which Jimmy terms the Control Caucus, and critique the ways institutional structures can restrict personal expression and centralize power. This systemic critique emphasizes our urgent need to return to a model of governance that respects individual association and ensures that every voice in our community has a meaningful vote.

Ultimately, our discussion anchors itself in the core cultural values that truly define our neighborhoods, centering on a neighbor-helping-neighbor ethos that transcends Washington politics. Lisa shares an inspiring message from a neighbor-to-neighbor campaign, emphasizing that when a car breaks down in our streets or a blizzard strikes on the road between Cheyenne and Laramie, we do not ask for voter registration cards before lending a helping hand. We lean heavily on the timeless tradition of the Good Samaritan, affirming that our shared humanity and local stewardship are far more powerful than divisive national labels. As we look ahead to the upcoming elections, we challenge ourselves to look past strict partisan lines and support leaders dedicated to serving our home communities.

Join the movement at skovgard2026.org

The conversation quickly turned toward the tangible pocketbook issues that drive citizen engagement in our communities. Dakota noted that high gas prices and soaring housing costs are the primary economic pressures that could force a person to get more actively involved. When exploring why housing costs keep rising, Dakota pointed to lasting pandemic-era construction supply disruptions rather than government regulation as the main culprit. Even with low interest rates failing to bring homeownership within immediate reach for our younger generation, the discussion underscores how everyday survival costs dictate whether we stand back or step forward into the arena.

We also shine a light on the stark contrast between corporate-backed campaigns and true grassroots movements. Jimmy shared that our citizen-led effort has raised a modest seven to eight thousand dollars, a massive contrast to the multi-million-dollar war chests of the political establishment. Dakota expressed genuine surprise at the total absence of entrenched politicians like Harriet Hageman, agreeing that it is unusual for a major candidate to completely ignore one of our larger Wyoming cities. As Dakota prepares to vote for the very first time, this episode serves as a powerful reminder of why we must continue building a digital town square that serves the people, ensuring that every voice in our neighborhood is heard.

Our defense against these pressures begins with recognizing the fragility of our modern infrastructure, which includes the digital systems sustaining our clinics, schools, and local offices. When we experience digital failures or frozen systems, we lose more than just data; we lose our agency and our ability to make independent choices. We must prioritize local resilience by implementing backup plans, cybersecurity training, and manual procedures to ensure that our communities remain functional even when technology falters. By reclaiming our attention from the constant alarms of the news cycle, we can focus on the quiet work of protecting the physical and digital foundations of our society.

To move forward, we must utilize the technology at our disposal not just for communication, but for radical transparency and accountability. We believe that implementing term limits and fostering a culture of openness will help us transition from being subjects of psychological management to active citizens of our own minds. By returning to our foundational values of fairness and the Golden Rule, we can learn to pause, verify, and question the motives behind the messaging we receive. Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that our towns, our minds, and our futures remain firmly in our own hands for the benefit of our children and grandchildren.

Join the movement at skovgard2026.org

Lionel and I recently gathered at a local coffee shop in Casper to discuss the fundamental challenges facing our country and our communities. Our conversation focused on how political parties have become a significant barrier to genuine representation, often presenting us with pre-approved lists of candidates rather than listening to the people. We recognized that many of our ideologies are being shaped by organizations within our government that prioritize control and wealth over the public good. It is time for us to reclaim our freedom of choice and ensure that no political party makes our decisions for us.

To build a more accountable system, we believe in the implementation of strict term limits and a shift away from automatically supporting incumbents. We have the technology today to hold our representatives accountable in ways that were never before possible, allowing us to monitor what they are doing and why they are doing it. We are at a threshold where transparency is no longer just a concept; it is a tool we can use to ensure that every citizen has the power to represent their neighbors truthfully. By utilizing these informational tools, we can move from being managed subjects to active participants in our own governance.

We are currently at a turning point in America where the power of information can finally be used to change our country for the better. By seeking openness and honesty in our leadership, we can move past the manufactured narratives and focus on what the people truly need and deserve. We invite every member of our community to join us in this effort to build a more resilient and transparent future where our voices are finally heard and our choices remain our own.

Join our movement at skovgard2026.org.

We must recognize that the attack on our physical systems often mirrors the attack on our collective mind. Just as a smoke alarm can be triggered by simple burnt toast, our modern media environment uses constant outrage to trigger our amygdala, keeping us in a state of reactive panic. By studying the history of mass psychology, we see how the focus of leadership shifted from appealing to our shared values to managing our reactions. To defend our infrastructure, we must first defend our minds by practicing the power of the pause and asking who truly benefits when we are kept in a state of perpetual fear.

True defense requires us to build backup systems both in our local institutions and within our own thinking. We need to prioritize cybersecurity training, offline paper procedures, and local drills in our schools and clinics so that we are never paralyzed by a technical failure. By reclaiming our ability to verify information and prepare for disruptions, we ensure that our towns and our futures remain in our own hands. This is how we protect the legacy we leave for our children and grandchildren while ensuring that our choices remain our own.

Join the movement at Skovgard2026.org.

While the political establishment and the media watch us with skepticism, we are testing whether a campaign funded by thousands can withstand a machine that measures power in millions. We recognize that our strength does not come from a massive war chest or a consultant army, but from the voices of neighbors speaking to neighbors across Wyoming. We are choosing to be an outlier because every meaningful movement begins small, spreading through coffee shops, front porches, and church parking lots. Our mission is to prove that the people still hold the ultimate power to choose our future without being managed by money or insider control.

Every conversation, volunteer effort, and small donation matters as we move toward the primary on August 18. We do not need millions of dollars to maintain our integrity, but we do need the courage to speak plainly about what is at stake for our children and grandchildren. By taking the field, we are reclaiming the idea that public office is a form of public service. We must think, work, and persevere together as we carry our message across every county, ensuring that the ability to decide our future remains firmly in our hands.

Share the campaign with your friends via email. Visit skovgard2026.org/share

To reclaim a politics of service over control, our blueprint establishes three fundamental pillars for our state. First, we demand agency so we can decide our own future without settling for pre-selected choices or being managed by fear. Second, we require broad access to the ballot, public meetings, health care, and vital information, ensuring the doors of government remain open to all of us. Finally, we insist on strict accountability, where our representatives must explain every vote, admit mistakes openly, and clearly outline who benefits and who pays for public policies.

Wyoming stands at a critical crossroads where we must choose between accepting managed political choices or demanding genuine representation. The episode serves as a powerful call to action for anyone among us who has felt ignored or shut out of the political process. We are encouraged to start conversations, question the current system, and demand clear answers from candidates to ensure we protect our children’s future and return power to all of us by joining the movement at Skovgard2026.org.

Chapter 11 Episode 12

We started Bring a Friend on May 7 at Donnell’s Coffee Shop in Casper. Keith invited Fred and Dan. Fred and Dan brought Angela and MJ. JR and Lionel joined in too. One invitation became several, and soon the table had its own energy. We talked politics, frustration, and the feeling that too many decisions are being made somewhere else by people with louder microphones and larger bank accounts. But around that table, something better happened: Wyoming people with different roles and different angles on the same future started listening to one another.

Fred, a scout leader serving central Wyoming, shared his frustration that scout recruiting had been closed off in Casper schools years ago. Dan, a local councilman, listened and asked a simple question: “Have you checked with the new superintendent in Natrona County?” Fred had not. Phones came out. Contact information changed hands. Fred walked in carrying frustration and walked out carrying a path forward. That is what self-government looks like when it is alive. People sit down, speak plainly, connect names to needs, and move a problem one step closer to repair.

The next phase of this campaign is built on that table. Bring a friend to coffee, a church basement, a library, a park, or a living room. Bring frustration, but also bring the willingness to listen. Sometimes the path forward is a phone number. Sometimes it is a name you needed. Sometimes the leader we were looking for turns out to be us. If you have felt the frustration of a door closed in your face, or sat with a problem and assumed no path existed, then it is time to rise. Volunteer. Share your story. Speak up. Bring a friend. Host a conversation. Because agency means the ability to decide our future for ourselves. We still hold that power, but only if we use it. Our children’s and grandchildren’s legacy is in our hands now.

Join the movement at Skovgard2026.org.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking: why would I want to do that?

Here’s why it matters. Wyoming is a one-party-dominant state. In most legislative races, most county races, most statewide contests , the Republican primary is the election. Whoever wins in August wins in November. So if you’re locked out of the primary, you’re not just sitting out a party formality. You’re sitting out the only vote that actually decides who represents you. Your county commissioner. Your state legislator. Your sheriff.

That’s what’s at stake.

And here’s what bothers me about this rule. These primaries are funded with public tax dollars. They’re administered by the state. They belong to everyone. Requiring you to pre-commit to a party months in advance , to prove your loyalty before you’re allowed to participate in your own government , that’s not election integrity. That’s treating a civic process like a club with dues.

And the rule can’t tell the difference between someone gaming the system and someone who has genuinely reconsidered where they stand politically. Someone who voted Democrat two years ago but wants a say in their county commissioner race this cycle , they’re not a raider. They’re a constituent. The law doesn’t care.

What it does do is cut off the window when organizing actually works. When campaigns build momentum, when conversations happen, when people start paying attention , that’s exactly when the deadline hits. It’s not a coincidence. It’s incumbent protection dressed up as party integrity.

So. What do we do about it this weekend?

We can’t undo the rule before Tuesday. What we can do is use the days we have.

First: check your own registration. The link is in the show notes. Takes two minutes. If you’re not where you want to be, you still have time.

Second: call one person. Not a mass text, not a social post , one person in your life who might not know this deadline exists. A neighbor. A coworker. Someone you’ve been meaning to follow up with. Tell them what you just heard. That’s the work.

Because here’s the thing , doing nothing before Tuesday is a decision too. Drift is a choice. The system depends on our exhaustion, our confusion, our assumption that someone else is handling it. Refuse that.

The window closes Tuesday. The work doesn’t. But this particular door , this specific chance to shape who’s even on the ballot in August , closes in days.

Use the time you have.

Share this episode before Sunday night if it meant something to you. Check the show notes for the registration link and your county clerk’s contact. And we’ll see you in the next chapter , where we talk about where organizing energy goes once this window closes.

Join the movement at Skovgard2026.org.

https://sos.wyo.gov/Elections/Docs/2026/2026_Key_Election_Dates.pdf

https://sos.wyo.gov/Forms/Elections/General/VoterRegistrationForm.pdf?07012025

I find it truly inspiring to see a group of women across our entire state working toward a common goal through the League of Women Voters in Wyoming. They are organizing to protect our rights, standing up for one another, and fighting back against silence and apathy. I want to give a heartfelt shout out to them because they are a bulwark against repression. They work tirelessly to bring people to the polls and ensure that we all have a chance to express our opinions. In a time when our democracy feels under attack, their work reminds us that our system belongs to us, not to a small handful of billionaires who wish to pull us along like puppets.

We need to be honest about the pressure coming from the top down. We are seeing legislation that attempts to restrict our freedom of choice and our ability to affiliate freely, all in an effort to exert control. When we see the creation of pre screening processes for legislators, we are seeing a move toward a system that values party loyalty over the voice of the people. We should not accept this kind of control lightly; in fact, we should not accept it at all. We live in a free society, and we were raised by mothers who taught us that honesty and independence are worth defending.

To protect what we have, we must protect our agency. When I talk about agency, I am talking about our freedom of choice and our power to decide for ourselves how we want to live. It is the ability to determine our own future without being told who we are allowed to vote for or how we are allowed to express our values. Our mothers taught us the discipline needed to maintain a free society, and now it is our turn to step forward and say that this is our system. We are the ones who must keep ourselves free.

If we want to see a change in direction, we have to be the ones to lead it. We need to reach out, start a conversation with a neighbor, and build that chain of friendship that is so hard to break. We are stronger when we work together and put our minds toward a shared goal of transparency and integrity. If you are ready to stand up against the forces of control and protect our collective future, please join us. Our legacy and the future of our children are in our hands today.

Call to Action

It is time to step forward and take the future into our own hands. We can build a Wyoming where every voice matters and where our agency is respected. Please reach out to a friend, bring them into this movement, and help us protect the foundation our mothers built for us.

Volunteer at skovgard2026.org/volunteer Join the movement at skovgard2026.org

We carry a serious responsibility to do the work of our people, and that means reading and listening before a vote happens. Policy lands in our kitchens and our grocery carts, and we see the reality of this when our paychecks no longer meet our basic needs. By using tools like dynamic surveys and clear cost estimates, we can exercise our agency, which is our freedom of choice and our power to decide for ourselves. We can set the boundaries for our leaders and ensure that our shared testimony is the foundation of every decision made on our behalf.

This movement is built on a chain of friendship that is hard to break. We start by bringing one neighbor to the meeting, and then we ask that neighbor to bring another friend. When we speak together in mass, we become a signal that cannot be ignored. The fine print and the future belong to us, and we are ready to take that future into our own hands. Please reach out to our friends today and join us as we hold ourselves accountable to the values we share.

Volunteer at skovgard2026.org/volunteer. Join the movement at skovgard2026.org.

In Wyoming, our healthcare often begins with headlights on a dark road and a silent prayer that we reach a facility in time. We face a unique geography where distance is the first and most daunting number, often leaving us medically stranded in healthcare deserts where help is hours away. These long miles are compounded by skyrocketing costs and insurance systems that fail to meet our minimum requirements, creating a broken cycle where we see massive price spreads for the same care while our doctors struggle under the weight of rising malpractice insurance.

We are learning that the answer does not lie at the top of a political ticket but within our own communities. Recent efforts from the Wyoming Department of Health show that we are simply asking for the basics to work, such as reliable ambulances, staffed emergency rooms, and a healthcare workforce that can actually afford to live and work in our towns. We see the power of this local resolve in places like Riverton, where a community owned hospital is rising from the ground because neighbors refused to wait for a perfect system to appear and instead chose to build their own lifeline.

To secure our future, we must exercise our agency, which is our freedom of choice and our power to decide for ourselves how our families will be cared for. We believe in a solution where we pay into a state level fund that directly supports our nurses, physicians, and practitioners, ensuring that our medical providers are answerable to us rather than to distant corporate interests. This movement begins with a chain of friendship where we bring one neighbor to the table and then another, because when we work together, we can provide the provision of care for every corner of our state. Join us and help build this legacy by choosing to volunteer at skovgard2026.org/volunteer.

This drift is more than a political disagreement; it is a heartbreak that reaches into our shop desks and our kitchen tables. We see our children looking elsewhere for a future because we have allowed truth to become secondary to winning. We have a choice to make between being discouraged and being defeated, and history shows us that recovery begins when we are willing to admit that right and wrong still matter. We must reject the loudest voices in the room and return to the steadiest hands, choosing leadership that cares more about the next generation than the next election.

Our path forward requires us to regain our agency and use our voices to demand accountability from our leaders and ourselves. We can restore the soul of our leadership and tackle the debt if we choose to build on a foundation of trust rather than excuses. By bringing Wyoming common sense into a place that has lost its way, we can make our state a place where our children do not just grow up, but find a home where we all choose to stay and lead. We must hold the yardstick of integrity together and get to work building a future that our families can be proud of.

Lets get to work Wyoming. Join the movement at skovgard2026.org.

History warns us that when a people surrender their voice to fear, a metaphysical kick to the groin often follows to wake them up. We see the warning signs today in the consolidation of power and the repression of our collective voice, yet we often remain silent because we are scared. I pray that a major global catastrophe is not the only way for us to regain our senses, but we are headed toward a dark destination if we refuse to act now. The solution is not to wait for a rogue leader to suddenly find a conscience; it is to hold every individual in the chain of command, from lawyers to local officials, personally and professionally accountable to the Constitution.

Our collective future rests on our willingness to reclaim our agency and choose leadership that actually represents us. We are the final guardrails of this republic, and we must hold the yardstick ourselves to ensure our government remains functional for our children and grandchildren. When we make the cost of following an unconstitutional order higher than the cost of refusing it, we restore the strength of our system. It is time for us to rise, speak up, and decide our future for ourselves while the power to choose is still in our hands.

Join the movement at Skovgard2026.org.

We cannot afford to let this managed system become our new normal. It is time for us to step forward and test the strength of our civic fence by showing up to county meetings and demanding accountability from those who claim to represent us. We must support candidates who answer to their neighbors rather than donor networks, and we must treat restrictive voting rules as things that we have the power to change. Our children deserve an honest system, and we must name these challenges and work together to rebuild a fence that truly holds for the next generation.

Join the movement at Skovgard2026.org.

We see the need for change in the stories of our neighbors, from veterans like Bob who rely on the emergency room because it is the only door that feels open, to families in Pine Bluffs facing insurance costs that exceed $32,000 a year. These discrepancies show us that our current model is ready for a transformation. By moving control closer to our families and creating a state level health fund, we can reward healing and prevention over simple volume. We choose to build a system that respects both our providers and our patients, ensuring that each of us has the agency to decide our future with clarity.

Restore our collective humanity by choosing specificity over labels and standing with us in the truth at Skovgard2026.org.

The counter to division is a shared purpose. We come back together when we change our focus from which side we are on to what we are trying to build together. We find strength in shared missions such as our children, our community, and our local government. By choosing specificity over labels, we restore our humanity and begin to understand the hopes and beliefs of our neighbors. This path requires a calm mental discipline that prioritizes facts and reflection over a rushed reaction.

We guide our nature through humility and character, directing our identity toward service. Truth channels our emotions into wisdom, while accountability ensures our shared power remains legitimate. The goal is for us to become more fully human, being quicker to listen and brave enough to stand in our truth. As we choose this path, we build a future based on understanding and common ground.

Restore our collective humanity by choosing specificity over labels and standing with us in the truth at Skovgard2026.org.

We pull no punches in addressing the groups attempting to weld the gates of representation shut. When private organizations try to prescreen our candidates and present us with a pre-approved list, they are attempting to strip away our agency and prevent necessary reform. We demand a return to the boring work of government, fixing roads, funding schools, and protecting constitutional rights, while rejecting the theater of performative outrage and the shielding of privilege. It is time to stop being spectators and start being the steel that keeps our system upright.

Take back our power to decide. Join the movement and reclaim our agency at Skovgard2026.org.