Opinion
United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- Second Amendment supporters have a lot to learn from Liz Cheney. Loyal AmmoLand News readers may wonder why Liz Cheney should be someone to draw lessons from, and that is very understandable.
Simple: Sometimes, the lessons learned are what not to do, and the vast majority of the lessons to learn from Liz Cheney are in this category.
Many may wonder why we should spend time on a defeated incumbent who lost spectacularly. It’s better to learn from the mistakes of others, particularly when they are on the other side (and yes, Liz Cheney had functionally gone to the other side), rather than to have to digest the lessons learned after our side suffers a defeat.
Perhaps the biggest lesson learned is not openly and blatantly side with people who have previously shown that they hate our guts. It is an instant credibility-killer, for starters. The other thing that it that selling out does is you start surrendering on every issue that matters. She began to back gun control measures she previously opposed and has announced her intent to target Second Amendment champions in 2022 and 2024.
This will not win her points when everyone knows the anti-Second Amendment extremists she would empower via her actions seek to pack the Supreme Court and eliminate the filibuster. It will only secure well-deserved distrust in the future from those she purported to represent and lead. Cheney forgot that she worked for the people of Wyoming.
Cheney’s tone has also been a turnoff. I’ve discussed this multiple times, but it now bears repeating.
How we come across to our fellow Americans matters. The approach we take when we are making our case matters. Liz Cheney’s shrill tone, her scolding and virtue-signaling, and her refusal to acknowledge the valid concerns of her new opponents are things that Second Amendment supporters must not replicate. She deserved to lose her primary election and good riddance.
But the one major takeaway that readers need to think about – and learn from – Liz Cheney’s actions over the last 19+ months: Know that you cannot compromise on our RKBA.
Second Amendment supporters need to consider what limits we must personally set concerning those who we back and our right to keep and bear arms. This was touched on a little with the situations involving Madison Cawthorn and Eric Greitens, who displayed some questionable judgment, to put it mildly.
The fact that Greitens was subjected to an abuse of power by a Soros-backed prosecutor doesn’t change the flawed judgment and poor choices that opened him to that abuse. Cawthorn also displayed poor judgment and clearly lacked some basic maturity.
In some cases, the time to draw that line and insist on an exit will be easy – see the case of Jason Ravnsborg, the now-former attorney general of South Dakota, impeached after he killed a pedestrian – and there won’t be much pushback. Other times, it might not be easy, and there will be a cost in doing so.
The ease – or difficulty – of drawing that line could depend on the individual Second Amendment supporter and the exact circumstances of the case. But this is something Second Amendment supporters will need to work out as they seek to defeat anti-Second Amendment extremists via the ballot box at the federal, state, and local levels.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics, and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.