Liz Cheney’s stand and what it means
Liz Cheney, representative from Wyoming, spoke last week on the floor of the House of Representatives, hours before she was booted from her leadership position by House Republicans.
Her words speak for themselves.
“… Tonight I rise to discuss freedom and our constitutional duty to protect it. Mr. Speaker, I have been privileged to see firsthand how powerful and fragile freedom is. Twenty-eight years ago, I stood outside a polling place, a schoolhouse in western Kenya. Soldiers had chased away people who were lined up to vote. A few hours later they came streaming back…, undaunted in their determination to exercise their right to vote.
“In 1992, I sat across a table from a young mayor in Russia and I listened to him talk of his dream of liberating his nation from communism. Years later, for his dedication to the cause of freedom, Boris Nemtsov was assassinated by Vladmir Putin’s thugs.
In Warsaw – in 1990 – I listened to a young Polish woman tell me that her greatest fear was that people would forget. … That they would forget the price of freedom.
“Three men,” Cheney said, “an immigrant who escaped Castro’s totalitarian regime; a young man who grew up behind the Iron Curtain and became his country’s minister of defense; and a dissident who spent years in the Soviet gulag have all told me it was the miracle of America captured in the words of President Ronald Reagan that inspired them.
“And I have seen the power of faith and freedom. I listened to Pope John Paul II speak to thousands in Nairobi in 1985. And 19 years later, I watched that same pope take my father’s hands, look in his eyes and say God bless America.
“… Mr. Speaker, … our freedom only survives if we protect it.”
She continued, “… Today we face a threat America has never seen before. A former president, who provoked a violent attack on this capitol in an effort to steal the election, has resumed his aggressive effort to convince Americans that the election was stolen from him. He risks inciting further violence. Millions of Americans have been misled by the former president, they have heard only his words, but not the truth. He continues to undermine our democratic process, sowing seeds of doubt about whether democracy really works at all.
“… The most conservative of conservative principles is reverence for the rule of law.
“The Electoral College has voted. More than 60 state and federal courts, including multiple judges the former president appointed, have rejected his claims. The Trump Department of Justice investigated the former president’s claims of widespread fraud and found no evidence to support them. The election is over. That is the rule of law. That is our constitutional process. Those who refuse to accept the rulings of our courts are at war with the Constitution. Our duty is clear. Every one of us who has sworn the oath must act to prevent the unraveling of our democracy.”
Cheney, the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, said, “This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans. Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence, while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president’s crusade to undermine our democracy.
“… We must speak the truth, our election was not stolen, and America has not failed.
“… This is at the heart of what our oath requires,” Cheney concluded, “that we love our country … so much that we will stand above politics to defend her. That we will do everything in our power to protect our Constitution and our freedom that has been paid for by the blood of so many. We must love America so much that we will never yield in her defense. That is our duty.”
You need not be in sync with Cheney politically to take to heart her warnings about the dangers posed by Donald Trump’s dire fantasy of a stolen election and the whip hand he holds over Republicans. As the congresswoman explains, his lies about the 2020 presidential election threaten the foundations of democracy itself. It threatens Republicans as well as Democrats and Independents, it threatens the righteous and unrighteous alike, it threatens the current generation and generations to come.
The duties of citizenship fall not just to elected officials like Liz Cheney. Even in ordinary times, the country’s well-being is entrusted to each of us.
With the breakdown of democratic norms already well underway, the stakes could not be higher. Our country’s democratic promise is being decided now. For that reason, every conscientious American must speak and act in the present emergency with a heightened sense of responsibility and with greater urgency.
Leadership is crucial. But like other turning points, the outcome will likely pivot on what’s done outside Washington, by us rather ordinary citizens.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. His latest book, “JFK Rising,” is available on Amazon. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.