RESPECT
Today Liz Cheney was defeated in the Wyoming Republican primary election. There is almost nothing that Liz Cheney believes in and has voted for that I agree with any more than I agreed with her father, Dick Cheney. However, riding through the northwest this summer I did realize that they live in a completely different world than I live in.
What I, and I guess most other liberals, are struck by is how, under great, great pressure and shaming from MAGA Republicans, she has stood up for her belief in democracy and law and order and truth telling in her defiance of Donald Trump‘s lies and actions.
There are two parts about this which strike me. The first is that almost the only people in the Republican Party to insist on truthtelling and defending democracy are women, mostly young women, with everything to lose and nothing to gain except being true to themselves and their values. Almost without exception the leaders of the party waffled or flipflopped or wimped out. Some men insisted the election was fair but even they didn‘t attack Donald Trump. But the women were direct and honest and willing to sacrifice themselves for the truth. Why were the women different from the men? Why was Liz Cheney able to be honest and maintain her values, losing a great deal by being ostracized, when none of the men were able to? And why is it that we seem to trust men to be politicians more than women, with Trump, idolized by many, being the most awful example of misplaced trust? I don‘t donate much to Democratic candidates in spite of a daily bombardment from Democrats asking for money, but everything I donate is to women through Emily‘s list.
Why is it that so many women have more courage and honesty than men?
A second thing that strikes me is that if Liz Cheney can be such a good example of standing up for your beliefs in this case, so that I admire her greatly, why is it that I am tempted to mock her for her other Wyoming beliefs? If she is strong in her beliefs here she must be just as strong in her beliefs in other areas. Maybe, because her example is so strong, I should try a little harder to understand her other beliefs from her perspective such as Wyoming attitudes toward government control and individual independence. She deserves my respect in everything she believes in strongly even if I don‘t agree with her at all, probably because I was brought up in a different place among people with other values. I need to at least try to see from her perspective in order to understand her. She deserves it, she has earned it.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 