David versus Goliath

1^st Samuel 17 (The Sagebrush Gospel) says, “Now the Republicans gathered their forces and assembled great war-chests filled with the plunder of campaign contributors. Gosar, Hardy, and Ceballos and the Democrats camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Republicans.”

From Elah, all Republicans looked like a giant named Goliath. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.

Any Democrat in Wyoming faces David versus Goliath odds. Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by roughly 167,000 to 52,000.

Goliath shouted to the Democrats, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Republican, and is that not enough to win any election in Wyoming? Choose candidates and have them come down to us. If they able to defeat me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome them, you’ll serve us.”

Now Gosar, Hardy, and Ceballos were sons Wyoming, who knew its land and had long lived among its people. They had heard the cries of the people for fair wages, healthcare and better education for their children. They had watched as Republicans ruled the land for many years without addressing those needs.

As they listened to the people, Goliath stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, “We are Republicans and you are not. In Wyoming that is sufficient unto itself.”

Gosar, Hardy, and Ceballos asked those standing nearby, “Who are the Republicans that they should defy the needs of the people and still believe they should be reelected?”

When Eliab, a reporter, heard them speaking, he burned with hubris and asked, “Why have you come down here? With whom did you leave those sheep in the wilderness? Your campaign funds are like drops of water compared to the ocean Republicans have amassed. You are Democrats. Your positions on issues matter little to people who vote a straight ticket.”

“Now what have we done?” said Gosar, Hardy, and Ceballos. “Can’t we even speak for the people?” They said, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servants will go and fight for the people.”

Some replied, “You aren’t able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are Democrats; they are Republicans in a state that elected even Cindy Hill simply because she was one of their tribe.”

But Gosar said, “Your servant believes in Wyoming. “We have an opportunity to lead in rural health care, to lead in education, to lead in economic diversity and do some really remarkable things,” he said.

Hardy said, “There are children in Wyoming who go to bed hungry. There are women raising those children who are not paid fairly. There are working families with multiple minimum wage jobs who cannot provide adequately for the basic needs of their family. The Goliaths of Wyoming politics have done nothing for these families.”

Celballos said, “I am running for Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction because of my business background and passion for Wyoming education uniquely qualifies me to bring stability back to the Department of Education.” Ceballos said he realizes, along with most parents of students in Wyoming, that the Wyoming Department of Education is paralyzed by years of arguments between the current Superintendent, the legislature, and the Governor’s office. He pledged to work to heal those rifts.

Meanwhile, the Republicans, with their massive campaign war-chests, counting on straight-ticket voters, planned their victory celebration. They looked over and believing that Gosar, Hardy, and Ceballos were mere Democrats, felt little need to listen to the people.

Wyoming people often vote against their own best interests. These Goliaths were counting on them doing so in 2014.

To be continued on November 4^th.