Review of Liz Cheney’s Oath and Honor…
Oath and Honor. A Memoir and a Warning. Liz Cheney, author (2023). I have the official report from the January 6th Select Committee. While there are glimpses into the author’s political thoughts here in this book, I hasten to state that, like that committee’s report, her book is more a bipartisan indictment of the ex-president Donald J. Trump and proof that he’s a clear and present danger to democracy in America.
There are a few nits to pick besides those I might have about the author’s political biases, though. Let’s consider them:
This book is not a memoir! You really need to read closely to find details about the author’s life. The book is truly a warning, one good people don’t need very much (except for my third point below). But isn’t any book about Narcissus le Grand a dire warning if it’s worth anything at all? The whole subtitle is therefore unnecessary.
An oath to the Constitution should not be taken as “originalist” fealty to a dated document! The very event that required VP Pence to stand pat and do his “constitutional duty,” much to his credit, would never have have been needed if the Founding Fathers had decided not to create the Electoral College that clearly violates the one man-one vote principle. This, among other mistakes, puts chinks in the armor of democracy America’s fascists have found; the Electoral College has guaranteed that GOP candidates have won the White House without winning the popular vote ever since Reagan. That’s not democracy; that’s fascism. The Constitution that Ms. Cheney so loves badly needs editing. And the Oath Keepers, after all, claimed to be keeping their oaths to the Constitution!
The author commits the same sin that many authors do when criticizing today’s GOP. Too many are afraid of not saying a person who talks like a fascist, walks like a fascist, and threatens people and institutions like a fascist, is indeed a fascist! Good political writers should make every effort to choose the correct words. Not calling Trump and his marching MAGA morons fascists only leads to some people conflating true conservatives, so necessary in our political system, people like Cheney, Kinzinger, and Romney, along with a few others, with those fascists. Even a progressive like me recognizes that we need true conservatives if only to balance the exuberance of progressives in a democratic society. We don’t need fascists!
All that being said, the best way to treat this tome is to consider it a guide to the full report. In fact, I’ll place both books side by side on my bookshelf…and recommend them as guides to anyone who considers themselves to be a responsible citizen of this once great country that Donald J. Trump has damaged so much.
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“Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” series. These books are fiction, but they’re ample evidence for my continuing concern for America’s future. The fictional prose here can only help people like Cheney and many others on the right and left who are also concerned about America’s future continue to raise the alarms. None of that will help unless people heed them and take action, of course, using the democratically established tools of ballot boxes.
These two NYPD cops provide a great example, in fact, of how people can agree on the bigger dangers for free societies. Castilblanco, the progressive, is the type of guy far-right traitors and so many others love to hate, even though he’s more American than most. (FYI to them and DJT if they’re possibly reading this: Puerto Ricans are Americans!) Chen, the conservative who’d probably enjoy talking with Cheney about America’s future, is a Chinese-American who teams up with Castilblanco to thwart the bad guys. The eight novels (one, Defanging the Red Dragon, is a crossover and a free downloadable PDF) will provide readers with hours of reading entertainment…and hopefully spur them onto voting for truth and the American way!
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
