So...as we know, Liz Cheney lost her primary race the other day for going against Trump. And, the reaction from much of the left I feel deserves some consideration. A lot of moderates act like she should become a democrat, putting partisanship aside in a united front against Trump. And of course, some of the new conservative forwardists seem sympathetic to Cheney's plight.
But, the left has a much harsher reaction, with a lot of them disgusted by this thought, and saying that Liz Cheney is not your friend, and that she has the same attitude as Trump, she just drew the line at treason. I am one of those guys by the way. While I respect her courage for standing up for Trump, I do NOT want to be political allies with her, or her faction of the GOP. So I wanted to discuss what is in Liz Cheney's head, as someone who is ex conservative.
Liz Cheney is Dick Cheney's daughter. You know, former vice president under Bush? One of the architects of the failed Iraq invasion? Accidentally shot someone in the face? Yeah, THAT Dick Cheney. This is one of those dynastic things where the child relies on the family name to build their career.
Anyway, Liz is presumably a more old school republican relative to the republicans today. You know, the ones who are a dying breed. But yeah, to address the left's point, these guys really aren't much different than Trump, other than the decorum.
Let's go back to Understanding the Times. The fundamentalist Christian worldview, or politically, the conservative worldview. Humans are sinful, can't be trusted, and as such, these conservatives really loved the founding fathers. They tend to worship the constitution and the founding fathers, and believe that government is inherently tyrannical, and that's why we need limited government. There's a massive paranoia about government intrusion in peoples' lives and as such, checks and balanced, separation of powers, limited government, all good things. But then they suddenly aren't afraid to impose their religious worldviews on you, because hey let's face it, they believe God is a higher authority than the state and the state should conform to the will of god in effect.
That informed much of the GOP from 1980 until around 2016. Trump was somewhat of a party realignment. But, it's one of those slow "secular realignments" that will likely continue over the course of several election cycles. Functionally, Trump advances much of the traditional GOP agenda. We all know deep down Trump is likely far more liberal on actual political issues than he governs as, but he ran as a republican, and he's enough of a showman to be able to deliver the goods for their constituents. Functionally, Trumpism is no different than traditional conservatism, except maybe with a heavier emphasis on protectionism and the like. What differs, is Trump's character. Rather than being the more limited government kind of guy, Trump is a wannabe tyrant. In a weaker political system, he would basically be like a Vlad Putin or a Kim Jong Un where he's ruler for life. He has no respect for the rule of law, he has no respect for limited government, and he basically would roll all over the constitution if he was able to.
Heck, one of the reasons his coup failed is because enough of the conservatives in his administration were still believers in the constitution enough to refuse his orders and act against him. And many of those guys are not people testifying in front of the January 6th committee, which Liz Cheney is a part of.
So let's tip our hats to Liz Cheney on the matter of being a decent enough person to stand up to Trump. That takes balls. BUT, let's not act like we want her on the left. We don't. A conservative influx into the democrats would kill its ability to be progressive. Which is the same reason I'm so critical of the Forward merger. Merge with ex conservative movements? Well, there goes UBI. There goes universal healthcare.
I really don't wanna be buddy buddy with these guys. I mean, functionally, they have the same views as the Trump administration. heck, Liz Cheney voted with Trump 93% of the time. If that number was inverted and it was 7% of the time, I would consider her a potential ally, but come on, that's almost complete agreement with Trump's administration outside of the window dressing.
For all the talk of how the GOP is fascist, it's views on most issues aren't changed. Maybe it's more openly racist, with many of its believers buying into a cult of personality and acting violently and being fascist that way. But let's be honest, the fascist aspect of it is really a matter of tone. In the past, the GOP was more respectful of rule of law. it was more respectful of the ideals of small government. It hasn't really changed other than being more forceful and subtle with its voter base becoming more and more unhinged and willing to commit violence against people to get its way. That's the only difference, it's one of tone and philosophy of methods for how to accomplish political goals. The more moderate republicans are still very conservative, they just have some conscience and dont buy into the cult of personality around Trump.
While we should seek to stop Trump and prevent him from ever running again (and given the charges he could be facing I believe we can do it), I really don't want to make nice with the Liz Chaney types. I mean, yay for not being a tyrannical piece of crap that doesn't wanna destroy democracy. But she's still effectively a conservative and supports all the same positions Trump does. Honestly, I left the right to get away from these people. Now the democrats and forward are welcoming them in. I have next to no common ground with them. Except we all hate Trump.
Honestly, you think moderate republicans aren't cheering over Clarence Thomas overturning Roe v Wade? Those "moderates" are the ones who put people like Alito, and Thomas, and Scalia when he was alive, and Roberts on the court. This has been a political goal of the GOP since the 1980s. That's why the court has been so politicized over the past several decades. The right started screaming about judicial activism and legislating from the bench due to decisions made in the 60s and 70s, regarding things like abortion, separation of church and state, etc, and then Reagan started nominating people like Robert Bork, who was seen as too extreme due to his strict constitutionalism. And then Thomas' hearing had the Anita Hill controversy, etc. The politicization of the court has been a concern for a while and the GOP actively made it their goal to take over the court by packing it with judges. And because Hillary lost in 2016, Obama was unable to fill Scalia's seat due to obstruction, kennedy retired, and RBG died, Trump was able to replace them with gorsuch, kavenaugh, and comey barrett. You think Trump himself cared about abortion? Dude probably had a few done in his day given his loose sexual nature. He was just a puppet delivering the goods for his base. All Trump was, was the same old conservatism repackaged. Again, the difference was that that repackaging including him being more blatantly authoritarian.
So...again, Liz Cheney, thank you for having a conscience vs Trump, but I don't want you in the democratic party, OR the forward party. I want nothing to do with that brand of politics. I'm a progressive. And while I may run afoul of some more radical progressive doctrines because of my own nuanced perspective, let's face it I probably agree with them, say....93% of the time. Just like Cheney agrees with Trump...93% of the time.
Okay, probably closer to 80-85%, you get the idea. Who's counting?
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