My May 15 blog post was about columnist Michael Gerson, whom I called a man of integrity. This post is about Rep. Liz Cheney, whom I see as a woman of integrity. But please note: being a person of integrity doesn’t mean that such a person’s ideas/opinions are always correct.
Rep. Liz Cheney, a Woman of Integrity
The Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives met on the morning
of May 12 to consider Cheney’s leadership role in their Party. The candid Wyoming
Representative spoke briefly at the beginning of that meeting and led a short
prayer, closing with these words:
Help us to speak the truth and remember the words of John 8:32 — “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” May our world see the power of faith.
 |
| Rep. Liz Cheney on May 12, 2021 |
Less than
twenty minutes later, Rep. Cheney was set free from her powerful position as
the chair of the House Republican Conference (HRC) because of her unwaveringly speaking
the truth about the lies still being propagated with regard to the 2020
election.
A person of
integrity is one who consistently speaks and acts in harmony with their core
beliefs in spite of the negative consequences that might result. In other
words, a person of integrity tells the truth when it would be to their personal
advantage to lie or at least to keep quiet.
Rep. Cheney
is a woman of integrity because she is speaking the truth to power, denouncing the
“Big Lie” about the 2020 election even though, as she knew well, continuing to
do so would likely lead, as it did on May 12, to her ouster as the third
ranking Republican Representative in the House.
Rep. Liz Cheney, an Opponent of the “Big Lie”
During the entire four years of the Trump
presidency, Rep. Cheney was a loyal supporter of the President. She voted in
line with Trump's position 93% of the time. But she consistently disagrees with
his persistent position that the 2020 election was stolen and that he was
actually re-elected.
To support his attempts to overturn the 2020
United States presidential election, DJT and his allies repeatedly and falsely
claimed there had been massive election fraud and that Trump had really won the
election.
U.S. Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz subsequently
contested the election results in the Senate. Their effort was characterized as
“the big lie” by then President-elect Joe Biden—and that designation has, for
good reason, been regularly used in this regard ever since.
On May 16, Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday asked
Rep. Cheney if House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Elise Stefanik,
Cheney’s successor as HRC chair, are “being complicit in the Trump lies.”
Cheney’s straightforward response was: “They
are, and I’m not willing to do that.” (See a 40-second
clip here.)
Rep. Liz Cheney, a Proponent of Problematic Ideas
Those who are not conservative Republicans
find much objectionable in Rep. Cheney’s political views and public statements
about political matters. To give just one example, she is sometimes called a “warmonger,”
and not without reason.
A May
16 post on NewYorker.com states that “Cheney, like her father [the Vice
President from 2001 to 2009], is a committed hawk and a believer in the
aggressive use of American power.”
Rep. Cheney has a right to her own opinions
and political views, but there is a difference between opinions and facts. We can
either agree or disagree with someone’s opinions, which cannot be objectively verified
to be either true or false.
But it is different with facts: they can only
be acknowledged as being true or denied by lying. Rep. Cheney accepts the facts
about the 2020 election and speaks that truth to the powers that oppose her.
So, in spite of her problematic
ideas, Cheney’s championing the truth about the 2020 election is a mark of her
integrity. And in this regard, as one D.C. newspaper headlined on May 14, “Incredibly,
Liz Cheney Is on the Right Side of History.” That is because, in expanding
words MLK, Jr., made famous:
The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward truth.
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You know, Leroy, I'm not sure you can consistently defend your use of "integrity" in these last two blogs. So far as I can tell, you're using it as a synonym for honesty, maybe including sticking to one's principles. But that raises all kinds of questions, such as whether a true believing Nazi or Ku Klux Klan member can be seen as a person of integrity if they don't lie and abide by their own principles. If I sincerely believed and promoted an authoritarian-single-party government, that my people are superior to the rest of the world's, that my nation should always be first vis-a-vis everybody else, that those of other political philosophies should be imprisoned or sent to re-education camps, and Jews, as racial pollutants, should be exiled or killed, could I be a person of integrity?
ReplyDeleteAnton, thanks for posting these thought-provoking comments. Part of my response is in the next you posted a little later, but let me respond more fully here, now.
DeleteThe online Cambridge Dictionary defines integrity as “The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change.” That is a short definition, but an adequate one, it seems to me. That definition, and my use of the word, includes “moral principles,” and certainly I would not assume that people who act consistently upon immoral principles could be called people of integrity.
In my post I wrote, “a person of integrity tells the truth when it would be to their personal advantage to lie or at least to keep quiet”—and the thrust of the whole article is about truth. I find it inconceivable that reasonable people could think that Nazis or Klanners were telling the truth--and, of course, I am certainly in no way implying that that is what you think.
On a more humorous note, I know I've acted and spoken with integrity a number of times in my life. And some people have even praised me for it. But would they call me a person of integrity if they knew the whole story of my life? I don't want to find out. LOL
ReplyDeleteBefore responding to your previous comments, Anton, let me say that perhaps I misspoke in referring to Rep. Cheney as a person of integrity. I do think that she acted/spoke with integrity regarding the "Big Lie," but perhaps that one instance is not enough to call her a woman of integrity. I don't know if there are enough examples to label her as I did.
DeleteThere is more reason to call Gerson a man of integrity, I think, for he has written opinion pieces for many years now that indicate that, it seems to me.
But yes, perhaps it is only knowing a lot about a person for many years that allows us to call someone a person of integrity. At the time of the tenth anniversary of my father's death, my 7/25/17 blog article was "A Tribute to My Father." In that post I wrote that my father "was an honest man. From him I learned what it means to be a person of integrity. I never had to worry about, or question, him saying one thing and doing something else." I am still deeply grateful for the blessing of having a father who was a man of integrity--and I certainly hope and pray that after my passing my children will be able to say the same thing.
That’s interesting, Leroy. Indeed, I too had a father who was an honest man. He and my mother had issues when I was young, thus divorcing when I was 14. But he didn’t ever, that I know of, deliberately lie, distort, or varnish the truth as he saw it. I don’t think I appreciated that about him as much as I should have while he was still alive.
DeleteBefore responding to Anton's comments, which will take some time, let me share what a couple of other Thinking Friends have written this morning. The first is from TF Eric Dollard in Chicago:
ReplyDelete"Thanks, Leroy, for your comments, with which I fully agree, about Liz Cheney.
"It is dismaying that so many Republicans still believe the 'Big Lie' along with a number of other Republican and right-wing lies. There is an epidemic of misinformation in this country affecting many issues; ending this epidemic will be much tougher than ending the Covid one. At least Liz Cheney and a few other prominent Republicans have stood up for the truth on the issue of the Big Lie."
And then Thinking Friend Michael Olmsted in Springfield, Mo., wrote,
ReplyDelete"The spread of this 'I believe what will serve my political agenda' (forget about the concept of truth or integrity) is a cancer growing in American politics. The danger that destroys our freedom and limits our potential as a nation is an eagerness to say whatever serves our desires no matter the long term results."
A few minutes ago, Thinking friend Glenn Hinson in Kentucky sent me an email with these comments:
ReplyDelete"I agree with your perspective, Leroy. On the one hand, I admire Cheney’s integrity, exhibited at great cost (how else?). On the other hand, I agree with few of her political views apart from her critique of Trump and Republicans who empower him."
Thanks for reading this morning's blog post and for responding, Dr. Hinson. Yes, what you wrote is the same as my position--and I hope people understand that, for as I wrote in the opening paragraph, "being a person of integrity doesn’t mean that such a person’s ideas/opinions are always correct."
DeleteRight after noon I received the following brief comments from local Thinking Friend Linda Schroeder:
ReplyDelete"Yes indeed, Leroy, and I agree. God bless you and Liz Cheney and all who speak truth to power."
Thanks, Linda! My stage is minuscule compared to Rep. Cheney's, but, yes, as small as that might be, I want to continue to do all I can to speak truth to power.
DeleteThis afternoon Sister Joan Chittister posted an article on National Catholic Review titled "Liz Cheney challenges us: With whom shall we stand?" Here is the link if you should want to read what she said:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/where-i-stand/liz-cheney-challenges-us-whom-shall-we-stand
Leroy,I enjoy and appreciate reading all your blogs. I believe majority of Republicans support the DJT lies in order to keep their position in the party even though the lies are such obvious. But Liz Cheney decided to take a stand even to losing her position in the party after years of supporting DJT evils. I would say, Liz Cheney is a courageous women.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ed, for your comments; it was good to hear from you again.
DeleteI agree that the majority of the Republican Senators and Representatives who support “the big lie" are doing such for personal reasons, mainly to keep their positions of power. That is why I think they can be justly criticized as having little integrity. And while Rep. Cheney may be wrong in many of her political opinions, at least in the matter of courageously standing up for the truth, I think she is showing admirable integrity at least in publicly speaking out against the "DJT lies."
To put Liz Cheney's "integrity" into perspective, she voted for Trump in 2020, and only broke with him after January 6. She was OK with all the things that made me call him "The Orange Antichrist." She is fine with all kinds of horrible things as long as they are done "legally." This is not an uncommon Republican stance. Fortunately for American democracy, a number of state officials across the country resisted Trump's attempts to meddle with the election, such as the Secretary of State in Georgia. Still, these people are willing to do all kinds of undemocratic things preceding an election, as long as these are "legal."
ReplyDeleteI am, therefore, reminded of something Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!” (Matthew 23:23-24)
Thanks for your comments, Craig, which I always take with great seriousness.
DeleteAs I have just written in response to Thinking Friend Ed Kang in Seattle, and as I wrote (but maybe not clearly enough) in the blog article, I think Rep. Cheney is wrong in many/most of her political opinions. But I called her a woman of integrity for her speaking out for truth regarding the 2020 election results and in opposition to what DJT has been saying about that as well as about Jan. 6.
Is not speaking out for truth, speaking the truth to power, the “weightier matter”? As I wrote, persons of integrity can be wrong in their opinions--and Rep. Cheney was, I think, wrong in her continuous support of DJT until after the 2020 election. But she is correct and outspoken about the facts of those election results and in opposition to "the big lie"--in spite of the negative consequences she suffered, at least in the short run. I continue to commend her for that, while disagreeing on much that she has said and done in the past.
Greetings Dr. Seat and thanks for your article. I am not an expert on politics and haven't studied about the differences closely since it is not one of my strengths, but what are your opinions on why people like Ted Cruz and others who once disliked DJT in the 2016 election would follow him and trumpism over morality, even when they denied that Biden took victory? Was he trying to make himself to be an autocrat which is against democracy? Thanks and blessings.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments and questions, Steven.
DeleteSadly, it seems that many politicians are far more interested in power and prestige than in being persons of integrity. I'm afraid that is the case of Sen. Cruz and Sen. Hawley (from Mo.) among far too many others.
Just after midnight last night, local Thinking Friend Mary Redmon posted the following brief comments:
ReplyDelete"Amen. Am planning to write her an email supporting her position, but not her politics. As is often the case, the women are the strong ones."
Thanks for your comments, Mary. But unfortunately, there are strong women on the "other side" as well. For example: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Delete