I can’t help but wonder if Forrest Gump’s mother had the Freedom Caucus in mind when she said “stupid is as stupid does.”

I have to give the Freedom Caucus credit for its success in promoting the idea that Republicans are either true conservatives, as its members claim to be, or RINOs (Republicans In Name Only). But just because people are parroting Freedom Caucus messaging doesn’t mean they are good ideas.

If I had to simplify Wyoming politics, I would suggest there are two types of conservatives: 1) thoughtful conservatives willing to change with the times and 2) rigid, shortsighted conservatives as represented by the Freedom Caucus.

Greek philosopher Heraclitus said some 2,500 years ago, “There is nothing permanent except change.” This is just as applicable today as it was back then, except that unlike in the time of Heraclitus, change is taking place at warp speed. The late English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking said “intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

Our challenge, as conservatives, is to intelligently adapt to a changing world while conserving what is worth conserving. I wasn’t born in Wyoming, but I have made it my home for over half a century, and I want to intelligently conserve the good things that have kept me in Wyoming for all of my adult life. Shortsighted, rigid opposition to change isn’t the way to do it. Thoughtful adaptability is.

In an example of rigid shortsightedness, the Legislature recently decided to defund diversity at the University of Wyoming. I’m guessing a lot of the Freedom Caucus refugees who have recently moved here from other states aren’t aware of the Black 14 incident in the late ’60s that crippled the University of Wyoming football program for decades. Recruiting the caliber of players that can enable Wyoming to field a competitive football team is a challenge under the best of circumstances. Does the Freedom Caucus really think the university can effectively recruit a talented roster of players while being aggressively hostile to diversity?

In case the Freedom Caucus hasn’t noticed, the University of Wyoming football team wouldn’t even come close to being competitive without its current diverse roster.

Before the Legislature gets too aggressive in purging UW of diversity efforts, it might want to check out the diversity and inclusivity statement on the Athletics website. “The University of Wyoming Athletic Department is committed to diversity and inclusion to achieve and sustain excellence,” it reads. “We believe we can promote excellence by recruiting and retaining diverse student-athletes, coaches and staff, and by creating a respectful climate that supports their industry.” Is the athletics department going to be the next one on the legislative chopping block? I can’t wait to see how that plays out.

Abortion is another favorite issue for the Freedom Caucus. Members argue having one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion policies is a good idea for Wyoming. Their rigid and shortsighted efforts ignore the fact that the abortion issue doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Wyoming is one of the worst states in the country in terms of providing OB-GYN services. Believe it or not, such services depend upon being able to attract OB-GYN doctors to the state.

Natalie Eggleston, who grew up in Jackson and who attended medical school under the WWAMI program, is an excellent example of this problem. In a December article she told WyoFile, “To imagine myself coming back to a place where I would have to basically put my own security and my job potentially ahead of what I know to be the right type of care to offer patients … it kind of seemed like an impossible place to put myself in so early in my career.” As a result, she is willing to pass up about $250,000 in loan repayments by not practicing in Wyoming.

An additional consequence of this policy is its impact on economic development. Wyoming has long lamented the challenge of keeping our youth in the state. If you were a young person thinking about starting a family, how interested would you really be in taking a job in a state that is an OB-GYN desert? Maybe, but less likely. Thoughtful policy? I don’t think so.

The Freedom Caucus appears to want to follow the policies pursued by former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback. In case you have forgotten, when he first came into office, he signed a large tax cut. This caused state revenues to decline by hundreds of millions of dollars. This then led to cuts in education and transportation. I don’t know about you, but this sounds like the Freedom Caucus playbook, other than the fact that Kansas didn’t have the mineral revenues and investment income Wyoming has to fall back on. In the end, the legislature there reversed the tax cuts and overrode Brownback’s veto, and he left office with one of the worst approval ratings for a governor in the country. Kansas recently re-elected its Democrat governor.

During the most recent legislative session, House Bill 2 – Nonresident fishing license fee increase would have bumped single-day out-of-state fishing licenses by $2 and annual out-of-state fishing licenses by $10 so that we could get Coloradans, among others, to help pay to conserve the quality of fishing we enjoy in Wyoming. But because Freedom Caucus members think this could be akin to a tax increase, using their rigid, shortsighted thinking, they opposed it. Smart governing? I think not. It appears to be more of stupid is as stupid does.

I want to conserve the quality of our roads and conserve the quality of our snow removal in the winter. The cost of construction and repairs for our highways, and the cost of being able to pay snowplow drivers a competitive wage, increases over time. What makes the Freedom Caucus think revenues don’t need to keep pace with costs? A true conservative would be willing to adjust the gas tax periodically to generate the revenue needed to pay the bills.

There are many more examples of the inflexible Freedom Caucus thinking that would make Forrest Gump’s mother proud.

If one truly wants to conserve what we like about living in Wyoming, we should be willing to balance the cost of the services we want and need with the cost of providing them. This does not mean blindly spending money willy-nilly. It does mean thoughtfully considering the services we want and then being willing to generate the revenue needed to pay for them. That is conservative.

Kim Love is former owner and general manager of Sheridan Media and retired host of the talk show, Public Pulse.

WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.