he wasnt one to
share his spacelet alone share it with someone not of his ilk yet when they go on recordwhen they choose to speak
the truth – rare these past five years out of a Republicans mouth – he couldnt help
but try to magnify their words with wha little influence he may have
this evening Wyoming
Republican House member Liz Cheney spoke in House chambers attended by one other Republican
House member
"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 how fragile freedom is.
28 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 in, risking further attack undaunted in their
determination to exercise their right to vote. In 1992, I sat across the table
from a young mayor in [inaudible] 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 Vladimir 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. They would forget what it was like to live under
Soviet domination. That they would forget the price of freedom. Three men, 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 the 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.” God has
blessed America, Mr. Speaker, but our freedom only survives if we protect it.
If we honor our oath taken before God in this chamber to support and defend the
constitution. If we recognize threats to freedom when they arise.
"Today we face a
threat America has never seen before. A former president who provoked a violent
attack on this capital 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 as he
continues to undermine our democratic process, sowing seeds of doubt about
whether democracy really works at all.
"I am a
conservative Republican, and 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. 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.
"As the Party of
Reagan, Republicans have championed democracy, won the Cold War, and defeated
the Soviet communists. Today America is on the cusp of another cold war. This
time with Communist China. Attacks against our democratic process and the rule
of law empower our adversaries and feed communist propaganda that American
democracy is a failure. We must speak the truth. Our election was not stolen
and America has not failed.
"I received a
message last week from a gold star father who said standing up for the truth
honors all who gave all. We must all strive to be worthy of the sacrifice of
those who have died for our freedom. They are the patriots Katharine Lee Bates
described in the words of America the Beautiful when she wrote, “O beautiful
for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved.
And mercy more than life.”
"Ultimately, Mr.
Speaker, this is at the heart of what our oath requires, that we love our
country more. That we love her 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.
Thank you."
2316,
Twosday, 11 5. 21
