The tableau of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and her father, former vice president Richard B. Cheney, standing on the floor of the House as the sole Republicans to honor the police officers who died as a result of the Jan. 6 insurrection should be seared into the minds of voters and reporters. It perfectly depicted a Republican Party utterly devoid of leadership, decency and honesty. (Apparently, Republicans no longer respect the “blue line.”)
The moment was a reminder that we have one “normal,” patriotic party and one overtaken by an authoritarian cult based on lies. The notion of reforming the GOP from within has become farcical. But the Cheney family must not be the only Republican soldiers for democracy.
There are others. Start with the six former defense secretaries who are either Republicans or served under a Republican president and wrote alongside the elder Cheney and three Democratic former Pentagon chiefs in a Jan. 3, 2021, op-ed warning about the need for a seamless transfer of power and reminding the country that the military is loyal only to the Constitution. “The time for questioning the results has passed,” they wrote. “The time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.” They correctly read the tea leaves and stepped forward to defend the rule of law and the sanctity of elections.
Other Republicans have done their part. Former president George W. Bush warmly congratulated the president-elect soon after the election and defended the integrity of the election. As he said at the time: “The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld and its outcome is clear.”
And do not forget former vice president Dan Quayle, who told then-Vice President Mike Pence that he had no power to alter the electoral college votes.
There was also a flock of Republicans, including former governors John Kasich of Ohio and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey, who appeared at the Democratic National Convention, not because they fell in love with the Democrats’ agenda, but because they believed the country had reached a critical juncture in its democracy. Likewise, prominent Republicans including former senator Jeff Flake of Arizona and the wife of the late senator John McCain of Arizona, Cindy McCain, endorsed Biden because they feared for the future of the republic.
These are people all out of office, you might say. True. But we must go to war for democracy with the troops we have. It’s time for all these Republicans and others (e.g., former senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, former governors Mitch Daniels of Indiana, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Jon Huntsman of Utah and Rick Snyder and John Engler of Michigan) to go on the road and get on the airwaves as part of the campaign for democracy.
While they are out there, these Republicans might call upon former national security officials who are either Republican or served under Republican presidents (e.g., Michael Hayden, Daniel Coats) to join the effort. They might even cajole some retiring Republican senators (e.g., Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio) to show some spine in their final year in office.
They need not and should not endorse candidates running for office. Their purpose would be to reaffirm the core requirements of democracy — that the people decide elections and politicians respect the outcomes. They can underscore of the sanctity of elections, condemn the “big lie,” defend election officials, deplore phony audits and denounce efforts to politicize election administration. They can travel around the country to meet voters, cut ads, write op-eds and do interviews to carry the message that every vote must be counted and every election respected.
Promoting these fundamental (and, once upon a time, anodyne) principles should not interfere with any of their current activities. Surely defense of democracy is not a partisan activity. (For those who are old enough, think back to the “Bicentennial Minutes,” the short patriotic PSAs issued on the 200th anniversary of America’s independence.) This effort is sadly necessary because of the depths to which the current Republican Party has sunk.
Many people wonder whether democracy can survive without two pro-democracy parties. The answer is no. The alternative to the Democratic Party cannot be today’s lawless, deluded, anti-democratic GOP. It must be the party whose banner was once carried by the pro-democracy Republicans mentioned above.
The contrast between those former GOP officials and the current crop of spineless MAGA followers might inspire the latter to buck up. More importantly, it might serve as inspiration for Americans of all political stripes to get on the bandwagon for democracy, to push back against lies and authoritarian tactics. And it could help the media to keep democracy front and center in the news. Plenty of good things might come of this.
So who’s game?
