November 27, 2011 11:13AM # Idiosyncrasy in the New York Times By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE Webster’s defines “idiosyncrasy” as “a peculiarity of constitution or temperament” or “characteristic peculiarity (as of temperament); *broadly***:** eccentricity.” And what does the *New York Times* define as an idiosyncrasy? A headline this weekend [tells us](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/us/wyoming-holds-on-to-its-pioneering-ways.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=wyoming&st=cse) that > Idiosyncrasy Runs Deep in the Soil of Wyoming And what’s this idiosyncrasy? Cowboy poetry? Jackalopes? Being the first state to grant women the vote? No, here’s what the *Times* finds idiosyncratic: > Wyoming’s way — always idiosyncratic in the windblown, rural grain that mixes mind-your-own-business cowboy libertarianism and fiscal penny-pinching — is getting its moment in the spotlight. Yep, what the *New York Times* finds idiosyncratic in a nation formed to guarantee the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness is a libertarian spirit combined with fiscal conservatism. It’s not clear that Wyoming lives up to this picture: The Cato Institute’s Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors [noted](https://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa581.pdf) in 2006 that Wyoming’s budget had risen 60 percent in less than four years. And the Mercatus Center report “[Freedom in the 50 States](http://mercatus.org/sites/all/modules/custom/mercatus_50_states/files/Freedom50States2011.pdf)” put Wyoming barely above the national median for both personal and economic freedom. But the libertarian instincts are there, as Jason Sorens and I found in [calculations](https://www.cato.org/where-are-the-libertarians/) of voter attitudes in the states. So let’s hear it for “mind-your-own-business cowboy libertarianism and fiscal penny-pinching” — may it spread beyond the four corners of idiosyncratic Wyoming. ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).