Wyoming State Rep. David Miller, R-Riverton, introduced House Bill 85 that would have “create(d) a state-run government continuity task force, which would study and prepare Wyoming for potential catastrophes, from disruptions in food and energy supplies to a complete meltdown of the federal government,” according to the Casper Star-Tribune.
Miller wants to prepare his state for….Doomsday/End of Days/Armageddon…you know…the whole darn shootin’ match.
He’s concerned that with the National Debt ballooning, protesters in the streets, the dollar losing confidence around the world and, he claims, wealthy Americans fleeing the country, his state should be prepared in the event of an economic collapse. (Maybe, secretly, he worries about a zombie apocalypse, too. Who knows?)
He rationalizes his proposed legislation thusly: “Things happen quickly sometimes — look at Libya, look at Egypt, look at those situations,” Miller said. “We wouldn’t have time to meet as a Legislature or even in special session to do anything to respond.”
While the Department of Homeland Security in Wyoming has already prepared a crisis management plan for the state, Miller says it does not include plans for a total political and economic collapse.
Hence, Miller’s proposal for a task force made up of state legislators, the Wyoming Department of Homeland Security director, the state’s attorney general and the adjutant general in charge of the Wyoming National Guard.
Among the tasks the task force would assume under the legislation concerns dire economics. Again, according to the Star-Tribune, “in the event the dollar loses value entirely, Wyoming should issue its own state currency or rely on old U.S. currency that would still have value.”
On the one hand, Miller has the right idea about being prepared, on the other hand his proposed legislation smacks of election year politics and acute paranoia.
During these uncertain times, legislators in six other states “have introduced legislation to create a state currency, all unsuccessfully.”
Miller asked for $32,000 to fund his task force; however, the Joint Appropriations Committee cut the request to $16,000.
The bill advanced after some debate when it was first introduced in the House, although Jim King, a political science professor at the University of Wyoming said that the prospect of “a complete unraveling of the U.S. government and economy” in the foreseeable future is “astronomically remote.”
On February 28, the Wyoming Legislature killed Miller’s bill which in addition to having the state explore the possibility of creating its own military draft, would have considered Wyoming’s buying an aircraft carrier.
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