Liz Cheney: Republicans, Get Over the 2012 Loss—and Start Fighting Back
Those who counsel that the GOP should move left are wrongheaded or Democrats, or both.
- By LIZ CHENEY
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We
didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can
inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it
and then hand it to them with the well-taught lessons of how they in their
lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may
well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children
what it once was like in America when men were free."
—Ronald Reagan, March 30, 1961
President Reagan's words, spoken 52 years ago this weekend, still ring true, with one modification. If we don't defend our freedoms now against the onslaught of President Obama's policies, we won't have to wait until our sunset years for American freedom to be a distant memory.
These days Washington careens from crisis to crisis, most of them manufactured. The Obama White House and its allies are engaged in the kind of sky-is-falling melodrama normally reserved for the lives of teenage girls. (As the mother of teenage girls, I speak with authority on this, though the comparison does a disservice to teenagers.) With our attention diverted by each fiscal cliff or sequestration drama, we are at risk of missing the real threats to the republic.
President Obama is the most radical man ever to occupy the Oval Office. The national debt, which he is intent on increasing, has passed $16 trillion. He believes that more government borrowing and spending are the solution to every problem. He seems unaware that the free-enterprise system has lifted more people out of poverty than any other economic system devised by man.
Perhaps his ignorance of that fact explains his hostility toward the private sector. In one of his autobiographies, the president writes that he felt "like a spy behind enemy lines" during his brief stint working for private industry.
The president has launched a war on Americans' Second Amendment rights. He
has launched a war on religious freedom. He has launched a war on fossil fuels.
He is working to nationalize one-sixth of the economy with job-killing
ObamaCare. He wants to collect a greater portion of every American paycheck, not
for the purpose of paying down the national debt but to expand his governing
machine. He doesn't believe in creating a bigger pie with more opportunity for
all. He believes in greater redistribution of a much smaller pie. If you're
unsure of what this America would look like, Google GOOG -1.06%"Cyprus" or "Greece."
The president has so effectively diminished American strength abroad that there is no longer a question of whether this was his intent. He is working to pre-emptively disarm the United States. He advocates slashing our nuclear arsenal even as the North Koreans threaten us and the Iranians close in on their own nuclear weapon. He has turned his back on America's allies around the world and ignored growing threats.
Al Qaeda is resurgent across the Middle East. President Obama stood by and did nothing when its affiliates in Libya killed the U.S. ambassador and three other brave Americans in Benghazi on the anniversary of 9/11. Then he and his administration misled the American people about the attack. Today, more than six months later, no one has been held to account. The clear message of this episode to America's enemies around the world is: Attack us with impunity. You will suffer no consequences.
In the face of this reality, it is time for Republicans to get over their loss in 2012. We are all that stands between this president's policies and a damaged and diminished America. It is time to get back in the fight.
And I do mean fight. Republicans are being counseled to move the party to the left, but in my experience, those who advocate more liberal policies for the GOP are wrongheaded or Democrats, or both. You can be sure that President Obama would welcome an America in which the Republican Party is preoccupied with remaking itself into a watered-down version of the Democrats.
It is time to defend our values with vigor and courage. We are conservatives. We believe in limited government, low taxes, a strong national defense, individual freedoms, self-reliance, the importance of the family, and the miracle and authority of America's founding documents. We know that government is best that governs least and governs closest to the people. We know that the private sector is the engine of economic growth. We know that America is the exceptional nation, the best that has ever existed. We know that the men and women who wear the uniform of the U.S. military are the greatest fighting force and the greatest force for good that the world has ever known.
We know that preventing this president from enacting devastating policies is not obstructionism. It is patriotism.
The miracle of the Constitution resides to a large extent in the first three words, "We the People," placing sovereignty with us, not with our rulers. We are the inheritors of these blessings of liberty, and it is our solemn duty to fight for, protect and defend our freedom. Now is the time to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and man the barricades for freedom.
Ms. Cheney is chairman of Keep America Safe, a nonprofit organization focused on national security issues and education. She was a principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in the George W. Bush administration.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324105204578384692398126294.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
—Ronald Reagan, March 30, 1961
President Reagan's words, spoken 52 years ago this weekend, still ring true, with one modification. If we don't defend our freedoms now against the onslaught of President Obama's policies, we won't have to wait until our sunset years for American freedom to be a distant memory.
These days Washington careens from crisis to crisis, most of them manufactured. The Obama White House and its allies are engaged in the kind of sky-is-falling melodrama normally reserved for the lives of teenage girls. (As the mother of teenage girls, I speak with authority on this, though the comparison does a disservice to teenagers.) With our attention diverted by each fiscal cliff or sequestration drama, we are at risk of missing the real threats to the republic.
President Obama is the most radical man ever to occupy the Oval Office. The national debt, which he is intent on increasing, has passed $16 trillion. He believes that more government borrowing and spending are the solution to every problem. He seems unaware that the free-enterprise system has lifted more people out of poverty than any other economic system devised by man.
Perhaps his ignorance of that fact explains his hostility toward the private sector. In one of his autobiographies, the president writes that he felt "like a spy behind enemy lines" during his brief stint working for private industry.
Images.com/Corbis
The president has so effectively diminished American strength abroad that there is no longer a question of whether this was his intent. He is working to pre-emptively disarm the United States. He advocates slashing our nuclear arsenal even as the North Koreans threaten us and the Iranians close in on their own nuclear weapon. He has turned his back on America's allies around the world and ignored growing threats.
Al Qaeda is resurgent across the Middle East. President Obama stood by and did nothing when its affiliates in Libya killed the U.S. ambassador and three other brave Americans in Benghazi on the anniversary of 9/11. Then he and his administration misled the American people about the attack. Today, more than six months later, no one has been held to account. The clear message of this episode to America's enemies around the world is: Attack us with impunity. You will suffer no consequences.
In the face of this reality, it is time for Republicans to get over their loss in 2012. We are all that stands between this president's policies and a damaged and diminished America. It is time to get back in the fight.
And I do mean fight. Republicans are being counseled to move the party to the left, but in my experience, those who advocate more liberal policies for the GOP are wrongheaded or Democrats, or both. You can be sure that President Obama would welcome an America in which the Republican Party is preoccupied with remaking itself into a watered-down version of the Democrats.
It is time to defend our values with vigor and courage. We are conservatives. We believe in limited government, low taxes, a strong national defense, individual freedoms, self-reliance, the importance of the family, and the miracle and authority of America's founding documents. We know that government is best that governs least and governs closest to the people. We know that the private sector is the engine of economic growth. We know that America is the exceptional nation, the best that has ever existed. We know that the men and women who wear the uniform of the U.S. military are the greatest fighting force and the greatest force for good that the world has ever known.
We know that preventing this president from enacting devastating policies is not obstructionism. It is patriotism.
The miracle of the Constitution resides to a large extent in the first three words, "We the People," placing sovereignty with us, not with our rulers. We are the inheritors of these blessings of liberty, and it is our solemn duty to fight for, protect and defend our freedom. Now is the time to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and man the barricades for freedom.
Ms. Cheney is chairman of Keep America Safe, a nonprofit organization focused on national security issues and education. She was a principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in the George W. Bush administration.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324105204578384692398126294.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
No comments:
Post a Comment