When you think about our freedom being defended, you usually think of the men and women who fought wars to keep us free. Sometimes, though, this fight for freedom is not in some foreign country with weapons of war, but right here on our shores – and today this fight is in Washington with words, witnesses, and videotapes.
We almost lost the one thing we are fighting over, folks.
The freedom to vote.
An important responsibility as Americans that keeps America free.
Imagine what would have happened if Donald Trump had convinced Mike Pense to overturn the election results.
What if V.P Pence was more loyal to then-President Trump than he was to the Constitution?
What if he didn’t care about the American citizens – you, my friend – and agreed to discount the vote?
A precedent would have been set, and the process that has existed for 250 years in this county – gone with the swipe of the pen.
Is this what the Trump supporters want? Do they have any inkling of what they could be setting in motion? Do they think we Americans are so above the law that we do not have to follow the rules?
This is the message Donald Trump is sending out. If you don’t like it, then make a big enough racket and you will get your way. He is a sore loser. He cannot accept what many people have told him. He lost fair and square. Get over it.
What if Liz Cheney loses to Hageman? Will it be the end of the world? The term is only for two years.
It will take that long to figure out where the exit door is when the wolves start nipping at Harriet Hageman’s heels. Does she really think she will have Trump’s protection for good? Just like he said to Mike Pence, “if you don’t do this (decertify the elections), then we won’t be friends.” Taking his toys home and finding someone else to play with. How many people has he displaced because they don’t agree with him? If it were an idle threat, it would be one thing, but the raid on the capital endangered lives.
Hageman talks about our first amendment rights. Then why is the Wyoming Republican party censuring its members? If they believed in freedom of speech, they would “tolerate” Liz’s views, but not oust her from the Party! And she’s not the only they have “decided” they didn’t want on their team.
What goes around comes around.
The Natrona Republican Party learned the leader of the Wyoming GOP was at the Capital on January 6, participating with the Oath Keepers, a radical white supremist group supporting Trump. He is a loud critique of Liz Cheney, and for a while had his party convinced she was a traitor.
Hageman talks about her opponent being a RINO, and criticizes her stance on the Committee, but what is her platform? – Other than smear Liz.
Not a word is heard about what she plans on doing for Wyoming while she is in Washington. Will she just be a pawn and do what others tell her? This is not a sign of a leader. She supports Trump because he was the “best president everrr…” Some may agree, but the evidence is overwhelming that he was a power-hungry man with plans to take over the government.
What better way to start than screw up our voting rights? Putin has done the same thing, you know. He was “elected” into office, but once there he extended his term to 2032! Is this what you want? A leader that does as he pleases.
People seem to think Liz purposely signed on to the J6 Committee so she could dump Trump. She may have had a gut feeling things weren’t right in River City, like many of us, but you can bet she was surprised at some of the findings!
Facts are facts, the truth is the truth.
The Republicans think now if more of them had been on the Committee, the outcome would have been different. Why? Because they think they can change the facts? Or would they have impeded progress so we wouldn’t have found out the truth – through the facts.
Why is it wrong to stand up for what is right? People who stick to the truth get blackballed, ostracized, and made fun of. Wasn’t this country built on a group of men who wanted a constitution that would rule a country for hundreds of years?
But the minute someone sees this very Constitution violated by the one man who should be upholding it more than anyone – The President of the United States – when they see this and say something, they are the bad guy, the one who needs to be put on the street.
The United States Constitution has this to say about insurrections:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. (The 14th Amendment. Section 3.)
Engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same
If you didn’t watch the election certification on January 6, 2021, if you only saw slices of videos on the news reports, then you don’t get the full impact of the day we almost lost our freedom.
You missed seeing the fear on the faces of our congressmen and women as they were hurriedly escorted out of chambers.
You missed watching in horror as American citizens stormed the capital building, Our capital building, the seat of the US Government.
You heard the clip later of President Trump telling the crowd he loved them, but the impact wasn’t the same after watching for hours the destruction these people were causing and no one was coming to the rescue; wondering why the Capital police were left on their own, and then hearing Trump saying, “we love you!” to the crowd that just desecrated the nation’s capital.
This day will go down in history as the day we almost lost our freedom.
Think about that for a minute.
In her campaign flier, Liz Cheney says “In Wyoming, we believe in the Code of the West.” I agree with this, because I was also raised with this Code. It is this:
-
Your word is your bond. A person is as good as their word.
-
Know where to draw the line. Fences make good neighbors, and these boundaries are respected.
-
Some things are not for sale. Like your morals and values and standing up for what you believe.
This is not just spewing platitudes. These are the values of the Wyoming people.
These are obviously NOT the values of the small handful of dissenters in the Wyoming GOP.
Now the critics are bringing up the song, “Liz didn’t grow up in Wyoming.” Only about 30% of the people that were born in Wyoming stay here. Does that leave the 70% that support Trump and Hagemen “Not From Here”?
What the number crunchers don’t seem to understand is that Wyoming has only three votes in the electoral college. It doesn’t give us much chance to make any changes in Washington. Because this has always been a Republican state, people vote Republican. To many people, Trump was the lesser of the two evils in the 2020 elections – really, what choice did we have? Just because they voted for Trump doesn’t mean all those voters support Trump.
Whether it is the Code of the West or just the rough living conditions, but we are an independent lot, and when push comes to shove, I have not seen Wyoming voters make a bad choice. We elect the governor and other state officials because they seem the right person for the job, not because they are “pressured” by some charlatan. We even had a DEMOCRATIC governor, and the people loved him.
Bennie Thompson, the chair of the J6 Committee likened Trump wanting to overturn the election to a mayor who lost the election and telling the district attorney to give him the votes.
What bothers me is there is a string of Republicans who think they are above the law and have taken hold of some local governments throughout the state. These public officials that make the rules up as they go and ignore the ones in place. The local government is a microcosm of Washington. Little “indiscretions” are also present in local politics, more than we care to admit.
But what do you know? When we complain about them, we are told to “vote them out.” Don’t vote for them next time.
