All Praise to Liz Cheney
(I never thought I'd write those words)
Some of you, who might not know me really well, might describe me as a cynic. Some of you, who know me well, might disagree and say I passed cynicism about 15 exits ago, and am still flying down the highway.
I’m not here to say who’s right and who’s wrong, but I will plead the 5th. What I am here to do is to tell you about my (very short) list of political heroes.
It takes quite a lot to become a political hero for someone as cynical—allegedly—as me. But, for me there is really just one simple bar to clear; even if it is a high one.
I am not a particularly ideological person. I don’t like political parties in general, I don’t like either of our current parties, specifically. I don’t care if the government is big, or small enough to drown in a bathtub. Whatever size the American people decide the government should be is the size it should be. My concern is that whatever the government decides to do it should do with the goal of helping ordinary people. Right now, the American people want a bigger government, and that’s fine—as long as it helps people. So, being extremely conservative or extremely progressive does not earn or lose you any points on my political hero scale. I can even disagree with almost all of a person’s policy preferences (looking at you, Liz), and they can still become a hero, because policy is temporary, and can change with the next election.
For me, the bar to clear is putting other people’s interests above your own self interest, even when it has the potential to create enormous political or professional consequences. This includes the obvious, like Civil Rights leaders who put their lives on the line; news people like Edward Murrow, who took down McCarthy, Walter Cronkite, who told the truth about Vietnam, and Scott Pelley, who tore into the news-for-clicks-and-profit trend. (Watch it, it’s fire.)
It includes Al Gore because, despite winning the 2000 election, he let the Supreme Court decision stand, asked God to bless Bush’s presidency, and begged his supporters to follow suit.
It includes John McCain because he told the truth about Barack Obama to his base when he could have race baited them into more fervent support. At a time when the wisdom of the conservative machine was to tag Sarah Palin as VP, there is a case to be made that the same tensions that helped Trump win in 2016 could have been leveraged in 2008, had McCain simply been a terrible human being. But he wasn’t. His right thumb offers more good evidence of this.
The list includes Henry Hyde, whom you may know from the Hyde Amendment—which prevents the use of federal funds to pay for abortion in most cases. But, abortion has nothing to do with his place on my list. There is not video for this, so I’ll briefly explain it.
Hyde was a deeply conservative Congressman (clearly) who opposed the Voting Rights Act, and wanted to end it during the Reagan administration. Reagan agreed. Hyde had even introduced legislation to eliminate Section 5 of the VRA. The Supreme Court did this in 2013, and what resulted was an almost immediate waterfall of voter suppression—much of it based on race. It would have been even worse if Hyde had been successful. But instead, in the early 80s Hyde went to the deep south as part of a Congressional committee wanting to hear from the affected voters about the VRA.
The voters told him the VRA was essential to their ability to vote, and that race based intimidation and suppression still existed. Rather than take his party or ideological line, Hyde saw that the VRA was absolutely essential to equal access to ballots. Not only did he change course, but he convinced the Reagan administration to also support renewal of the VRA.
All of these people are on my heroes list despite serious disagreements I had with many of their policy positions.
Liz Cheney has now joined them.
Cheney is about to be forced out of her role as a leader of the Republican party because she cares more about the health of democracy than she does about her leadership role, or even about her reelection.
The Republican machine—which these days is really just an angry old man whingeing at open mic night in a Florida country club—has decided she has to go because she just won’t help spread The Big Lie that the election was stolen from Trump. What’s worse, she keeps saying that the January 6th insurrection actually happened, and that it was a bad thing. Kevin McCarthy, her boss, has had it with her and wants her gone because she serves as a constant embarrassment. Maybe it’s because the things she keeps saying sound an awful lot like what McCarthey was saying on January 7th and 8th, but who can tell?
At this point it’s a certainty that she is out, probably within the next few days.
And she doesn’t give a rats about it.
She understands democracy itself is at stake when 30% of the country allows itself to believe whatever nonsense one man spews out, and refuses to look at the reems of evidence disproving the verbal hazmat. Liz is for democracy.
It’s not like she is some rogue, liberal member of the Republican party. Quite the opposite—she’s one of its most conservative members. In fact, she voted with Trump about 93% of the time, far higher than her proposed replacement, Elise Stefanik, who only kissed the ring a measly 78% of the time.
But this is the Republican Party as it exists today. It is an all performative, zero substance party. If there were any substance to the GOP these days—even accepting that Trump is the party—party leadership might look at the voting record and think, “Hey, she isn’t really saying the things we like, but she’s far more likely to actually work to accomplish the Trump agenda.” But the Trump agenda has always been a facade. Principled conservatives, like Cheney, are now relegated mostly to archeological expeditions. Real life sightings are rare, and Trump is working to make sure they are soon entirely extinct.
The facade is covering the fact the Trump agenda has always been about Trump, not policy. This Trump First religion has exercised all the substance that was left in conservatism as though it were an evil evil spirit possessing their politics. A good Republican now spends their time trying to own the libs and one up their colleagues Qrazy statements, rather than legislate to create a more conservative country. It is all about performance—and that’s why Cheney can’t stay.
You probably don’t like her. Look, I get it. Cheney is no saint. But, this is not a political saints list. I know there is a laundry list of things she has done that I disagree with. But, this isn’t a political soulmates list. I know she’s never seen a war she didn’t like. I know she has a history of corporatism and support for oligopoly. I. Get. It.
But, all of that stuff can be done away with after one election. When nearly every other Republican is choosing the Mango Mussolini over democracy, Liz “is someone who stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.”
She is on my list, and I doubt there is anything you can say that will change my mind.
Maybe a counterfactual will help show why I have gained so much respect for Cheney.
I used to work in politics. I have worked with and for a bunch of politicians from both parties. One Republican in particular keeps coming to mind because of the contrast with Cheney’s courage. I am going to leave out names and genders, but honestly, this story could be about 200 or so different currently serving Republicans.
When I worked for this person (who I’ll call Jamie) we had to beat back primary challenges from the hard right. Jamie was an honest, principled, reasonable conservative. I disagreed with Jamie on a number of things, but the quality of Jamie’s character was high, and Jamie was certainly no extremist.
I happen to be good friends with someone who goes to the same church as this representative. My friend had an interesting story to tell. In 2016 Jamie was asked to lead a Bible study. Back then Trump was only a Mexican-rapist-and-drug-dealer hating candidate. Jamie spent a good chunk of the Bible study telling people how awful—deplorable, even—candidate Donald Trump was. My friend remembers this well, because they voted for Trump, both times.
Fast forward to Trump as President. Jamie had not only switched to Trump’s side, but became an outspoken defender. All the moral and character flaws that Jamie felt disqualified Trump from office in 2016 were now the things Jamie defended and celebrated. Jamie, who I had always thought of as a person of substance and integrity, had become entirely performative. Sadly, post Trump, it seems to have stuck.
But not for Liz.
So she is on the list. Don’t @ me.
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