Core Principles

Every human person is a unique being capable of reason and action based in moral agency. No society can maintain its sovereignty for very long if it disrespects personal liberty. Therefore, we are alert to government’s tendency to do things to us in the name of doing things for us.

While we greatly value the individual, we also recognize that as citizens we are social beings who can affect one another for better or for worse. Fortunately America’s founding documents embody a rich cultural/moral inheritance that deserves to be applied to current challenges. We do believe that, “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights,” and, thus, we are clear that these same rights are not something given to us by any level of government.

Freedom and private property are like two ends of a line when one disappears so does the other. That is why aspiring totalitarians always target individual ownership, and even well-meaning governments tend to encroach at both ends. That is where we draw the line.

The United States of America would never have come to exist without independent voluntary associations such as the Sons of Liberty or, for that matter, the Constitutional Convention itself. Such associations are part of what Friedrich von Hayek called ‘spontaneous order’ that serve as a counterpoise to the almost inevitable insensibility of governments to vital local concerns. The Wyoming Liberty Group, through its educational efforts, is proud to be part of this American tradition of freedom loving associations.

We believe that transparency in government bears a relationship to human freedom parallel to that of wetness to water – they cannot be separated. We assume that often well-meaning government officials may not be fully aware of all consequences of their decisions (especially regarding fiscal matters) and that is why we place such emphasis on solid, disinterested research coupled with open-minded, civil communication between private citizens and public servants.

Almost 100 years ago a political sociologist named Robert Michels wrote about “The Iron Law of Oligarchy” which declared that it was inevitable for political elites to take over and control the people. At Wyoming Liberty Group we do not share this sense of inevitability because we appreciate the genius for limited government embodied in both the Wyoming and U.S. Constitutions, and because of our faith that we the people can make informed, vital decisions to preserve freedom for ourselves and our posterity. We are not naive about a variety of trends countervailing liberty, so that is why the only requirement for membership in our association is a willingness to see oneself as a free citizen, not as a dependent subject.

James Madison wrote, “The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” This insight is what we are about because we want to literally encourage with accurate information. When individuals, armed with the facts, meet with fair-minded others it can fortify their confidence to act reasonably and effectively in consonance with our remarkable inheritance as a brave and free people.

Abundance and liberty are as intimately linked as are poverty and statism. Thus our trust is in free markets, in the spirit of entrepreneurship and in the sacred desire of the individual to be left well enough alone to pursue happiness unencumbered by over-taxation, over-regulation or debilitating government handouts. Being at liberty to create and provide within a context of open competition does three good things: it fosters a healthy separation between the economic and political bases of power; it protects the endowed rights of private citizens who benefit from the separation of these bases; it generates broad-ranging affluence and ample opportunities for self-betterment throughout civil society.