"We’re witnessing a daylight mugging of our democracy.
Thank you, Liz Cheney, for doing something vitally important and clarifying — something that only a conservative Republican like you could do: force the G.O.P. at every level to choose whether to stand with Trump and his Big Lie or with the Constitution and the most important conservative principle of all — reverence for the rule of law.
I saw close up what happens when democratically elected politicians think that they can endlessly abuse their institutions, cross redlines, weaken their judiciary and buy reporters and television stations — so that there is no truth, only versions, of every story. And they think that they can do it endlessly — cheat just one more time, break one more rule, buy one more vote — and the system will hold until they can take it over and own it for their own purposes.
Then one day — and you never see it coming — the whole system breaks down. Whatever frayed bonds of truth and trust that were holding it together completely unravel. And then it’s gone. And there is no getting it back." - Thomas L. Friedman, NYT
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We edited Liz Cheney's speech on C-SPAN to create a short 3 minute highlights reel. The was overlaid with images to make it more visually interesting. The video was first captioned in English by software and then proofread manually to fix any machine translation errors. The video was then translated and captioned in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog and Portuguese to reach a boarder audience.
Liz Cheney's video
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Partial transcript of Liz Cheney's speech
"Tonight, I rise to discuss freedom and our constitutional duty to protect it. God has blessed America, Mr. Speaker, but our freedom only survives if we protect it. If we honor our oath taken before God in this chamber, to support and defend the constitution. If we recognize threats to freedom, when they arise. Today we face a threat America has never seen before. A former president who provoked a violent attack on this capital, in an effort to steal the election has resumed his aggressive effort to convince Americans that the election was stolen from him. He risks inciting further violence. Millions of Americans have been misled by the former president. They have heard only his words, but not the truth. As he continues to undermine our democratic process. Sowing seeds of doubt about whether democracy really works at all. The most conservative of conservative principles is reverence for the rule of law.
The electoral college has voted. More than 60 state and federal courts, including multiple judges the former president appointed have rejected his claims. The election is over. Those who refuse to accept the rulings of our courts are at war with the constitution. Our duty is clear. Every one of us who has sworn the oath must act to prevent the unraveling of our democracy. This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans. Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president's crusade to undermine our democracy. As the party of Reagan, Republicans have championed democracy, won the cold war and defeated the Soviet communists.
We must speak the truth. Our election was not stolen. I received a message last week from a gold star father who said Standing up for the truth honors, all who gave all. We must all strive to be worthy of the sacrifice of those who have died for our freedom. Ultimately, Mr. Speaker, this is at the heart of what our oath requires that we love our country more. That we love her so much, that we will stand above politics to defend her. That we will do everything in our power to protect our constitution and our freedom that has been paid for by the blood of so many. We must love America so much that we will never yield in her defense. That is our duty." - Liz Cheney on C-SPAN